The purpose of the School of Education is to provide academic study and training to students seeking teaching careers in the field of public, private, or Christian education. The teacher education programs at Southern Wesleyan University are fully approved under the standards of the South Carolina State Board of Education. However, the School of Education is actively pursuing accreditation of its programs by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Based on its conceptual framework, the School of Education has adopted the mission statement, “Educators who demonstrate scholarship within a Christian ethic of care.” Teacher candidates are guided in the acquisition of skills that are necessary to plan and implement instruction of content area subjects at the elementary and secondary school levels. Further, teacher candidates are instructed in specific aspects of assessment and classroom management that facilitate the improvement of student learning and teacher instruction.  This is accomplished through interacting with experienced university faculty in the classroom and pre-clinical experiences in actual classrooms with mentor teachers. Finally, the School of Education seeks to instill in teacher candidates dispositions related to a “Christian ethic of care” towards self, learners, colleagues, and the community.