Teacher Education | Primary / Junior program

You’ve dreamed about stepping in front of the classroom. Take your first step in a rewarding career. Apply to our Teacher Education – Primary/Junior program.

If you enjoy working with young children, our primary/junior program is for you. You’ll develop the skills and confidence to step into the classroom and teach all subjects from kindergarten to Grade 6.

Choose from 6 specialties

Spend half your time teaching

Develop your 'soft' skills

Learn from mentors

Belinda Berberi

What I like about my BEd program is it is structured for success. This program gave me the tools to prepare for the demand in classrooms today. Learning from educators, principals, guest speakers and students made my program worthwhile.

- Belinda Berberi

Primary/Junior program details

Admissions

Minimum Academic Requirements for Primary-Junior, Junior-Intermediate, and Intermediate-Senior Programs, September 2025 Entry:

  1. For admission in September 2025, you must be on track to complete your undergraduate degree at an accredited university by August 31, 2025. The degree must be conferred no later than the Fall of 2025.
  2. You must have successfully completed the equivalent of 10 full (or equivalent) university credits at the time of your application. Transfer credits from community colleges and CEGEP courses can’t be considered. Preference is given to those who have a four-year degree with the equivalent of 20 full credits.
  3. You must have a minimum average of 70% in your best 10 full or equivalent undergraduate credits.
    1. If you are completing a bridging program (two years at an accredited college and two years at an accredited university), you will need a minimum of 70% in your best 5.0 full or equivalent degree-level credits and must be on track to graduate with a university-level degree. (Condition only applies to programs at Fanshawe College).
    2. If you’re applying to the Junior-Intermediate or Intermediate-Senior programs, you must also have a minimum average of 70% in those credits, which support your teaching subjects.
    3. Courses taken after August right before the application cycle cannot be included in the calculation of overall and teaching subject averages. These courses will be counted in support of program requirements only. List these and other courses, which will be completed to meet final degree requirements in your OUAC/TEAS application under "Current Courses".  
  4. In addition to meeting the general admission requirements, you must also meet your program stream requirements:
Primary Junior
  1. Applicants who have completed at least one-half undergraduate or graduate credit in four or more of the following areas receive preference in the admissions process: English, Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education, Mathematics, Science, Social Science/Humanities (Canadian History/Geography preferred).
  2. Core and Related Courses: Core courses are those offered by a department directly related to your teaching subject (e.g., English 1020 in the Department of English). Related courses are those with significant content in your teaching subject area but offered through another department (e.g., Classical Studies for History). List of some acceptable primary/junior courses (PDF).
Primary-Junior Stream (French) – special requirement
  1. Applicants must possess oral and written fluency in French and a thorough knowledge of grammar. Normally, five full French credits with a 70% average (or the equivalent), at least two of which should be language credits, are required. One or more full credit(s) equivalents in French literature are desirable for those hoping to teach in French-immersion settings.
  2. Fluent French speakers who don’t have university-level French courses may apply for special consideration by emailing rcole22@uwo.ca. You will be required to either complete a DEFL B2 or our Faculty French proficiency test (the result must be within one year of the application cycle). A fee is required for testing. Successfully completing one of the tests will be equal to having the five(5) credits required for the French stream/teachable.
  3. Applicants who have completed at least one-half undergraduate or graduate credit in four or more of the following areas receive preference in the admissions process: English, Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education, Mathematics, Science, Social Science/Humanities (Canadian History/Geography preferred).
    1. Core and Related Courses: Core courses are those offered by a department directly related to your teaching subject (e.g., English 1020 in the Department of English). Related courses are those with significant content in your teaching subject area but offered through another department (e.g., Classical Studies for History). List of some acceptable primary/junior (french) courses (PDF).

English Language Proficiency
If applicable, English language proficiency tests must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar before an offer of admission can be made.

Offers
Offers of admission will be made online via the Student Center mid February. Access to the Student Center requires the activation of your Western identity. Account activation instructions are available here (PDF).

Equity Admission Application

Western’s Faculty of Education is strongly committed to equity, diversity and inclusivity in all that we do. One of the ways that we do this is through recruiting and supporting applicants to our initial teacher education program who reflect the student population in Ontario schools.

Specifically, it is our goal to admit and support more Indigenous and Black teacher candidates, women teacher candidates, teacher candidates living with disability, and LGBTQ2S+ teacher candidates and other equity deserving or underrepresented groups. We recognize that this starts with recruitment of a diverse range of applicants into our initial teacher education programs and we enthusiastically encourage individuals from all equity deserving groups to apply.

We aim to support our commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and decolonization by using responsible collection and consideration of personal information and data that accurately reflect the unique characteristics of those applying to our initial teacher education program. The information that we invite you to share will help to inform us of the effectiveness of our recruitment efforts and, more importantly, will enable us to approach our admissions in a more holistic manner, taking into consideration the characteristics of each applicant as a whole person rather than limiting our admission decisions to reliance on standard academic criteria.

Completion of each part of this application is entirely voluntary.

Those who choose to apply for an equity admission will be considered both under the general admission and the equity admission processes. Information gathered in this document will be considered alongside other factors, including ensuring all program prerequisites are met, and applicants have achieved the minimum grade point average of 70%. Equity applicants will also be required to complete the CASPER assessment.

To be considered under the equity admission process, applicants need to provide a sufficiently detailed explanation of their experience and personal circumstances as they relate to systemic barriers in education and life and reasons they should be considered for admission to the teacher education program. Equity Applications will be reviewed by members of the Equity Committee who make recommendations to the Teacher Education office.

Those wishing consideration under the equity admissions process must submit the Equity Admission Application Survey by the application deadline.

Direct Pathway Admission

Western offers several opportunities for a direct pathway to the Faculty of Education, capacity for each pathway is limited. For more information, please contact your faculty’s direct pathway coordinator.

 

1. Western Main Campus

 

2. Kings' University College:

  • Catholic Studies for Teachers program offers a direct pathway to Junior/Intermediate and Intermediate/Senior with Religious Education as a teaching subject.
  • Social Justice and Peace Studies program offers a direct pathway to Intermediate/Senior with Social Science-General as a teaching subject.
  • French program offers a direct pathway to Primary/Junior, Junior/Intermediate and Intermediate/Senior with French as a Second Language teaching subject.
  • The Childhood and Youth Studies program offers a direct pathway to the Primary/Junior stream only.

 

3. Huron University College:

  • Huron University College’s French program offers a direct pathway to Primary/Junior French as a Second Language or Junior/Intermediate and Intermediate/Senior with a French as a Second Language teaching subject.

 

 *CASPer Assessment is a mandatory requirement for all applicants including direct pathway applicants.

Tuition

The University decides tuition fees and they’re updated annually each July. For the most up-to-date tuition information, please visit the Office of the Registrar's Fee Schedule page. Here, you'll find PDFs that outline program fees as they relate to you (such as international vs. domestic student). Please note that all fees are annual amounts and must be paid in both year 1 and year 2 of the program.

Funding

Funding

Learn more about funding.

OSAP

Learn more about the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

Scholarships and bursaries

Learn more about scholarships.

Personalize your P/J program

At Western, you’ll be able to personalize your BEd program by choosing a Specialty Area. The following Specialty Areas are available for those admitted to the Primary/Junior program.

Primary/Junior Specialty areas

Primary/Junior Program Options

Primary/Junior

Our Primary/Junior program prepares you with the skills and confidence to teach Kindergarten to Grade 6.

You don’t select a teaching subject because, as a primary/junior teacher, you will be teaching every subject in your classroom.

Primary/Junior French

Our Primary/Junior French program prepares you with the skills and confidence to teach core and immersion French from Kindergarten to Grade 6. You must select the following program that matches your passion:

  • Primary/Junior French

Other Teacher Education program areas

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