Program Overview
The Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Education program, approved in November of 2003 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, is an excellent preparation for those students who wish to be certified to teach family and consumer sciences in kindergarten through twelfth grade in public or private schools. The FCS education major is also a wonderful educational background for those who desire to pursue advanced education and become a school guidance counselor, since many schools prefer those with teaching experience for this role.
Crafted to meet the revised academic standards for family and consumer sciences education, the FCS major is a collaborative program which incorporates course work from a variety of disciplines across campus, including human development and family science; nutrition and dietetics; early childhood education; and education. The curriculum includes at least four public school (e.g. urban and suburban, middle and high school) and early learning center practicum/student teaching experiences throughout the four-year program.
Graduates of the Family and Consumer Sciences Education major, with careful planning, can meet all the standards and criteria needed for the Provisional Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) designation from the National Council on Family Relations, the premier professional organization for family scientists and practitioners. Professionals certified as Family Life Educators are nationally recognized as having knowledge and skills in each of the ten family life substance areas (e.g., internal dynamics of families, parenting, interpersonal relationships, human sexuality, family resource management). See www.ncfr.org/cfle-certification.
There is a national shortage of FCS teachers, so job prospects are excellent. According to the Pennsylvania Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, FCS professionals “develop, integrate, and provide practical knowledge about the things of everyday life—human growth and development; personal behavior; housing and environment; food and nutrition; apparel and textiles; and resource management—that every individual needs every day to make sound decisions which contribute to a healthy, productive, and more fulfilling life” (http://www.pafcs.org/pafcswhatis.htm). In short, family and consumer sciences teachers enhance individual, family, and community well-being through the work that they do.