The School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences offers a program that prepares students to become certified teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences in the State of Illinois. This initial certification is for teaching grades 6-12.
Undergraduate students may pursue teacher certification as an undergraduate major or postgraduate. Graduate students can meet certification requirements as a student-at-large or in a graduate program. Students must be admitted to Northern Illinois University to participate in the certification program.
Return to the NIU homepage to learn about the admissions processes for an undergraduate or graduate student. Return to the NIU Teacher Certification page for information regarding other certification programs.
Students interested in FACS teacher certification should meet with a school advisor and develop a plan for completing certification requirements. The following section lists the requirements for family and consumer sciences certification and the courses generally used to fulfill those requirements.
The certification program, in itself, does not lead to a baccalaureate degree. Students wishing to pursue Family and Consumer Sciences Education need to declare a major in Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences (if they do not already hold a degree in Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences) as well as complete the below listed requirements. Students need to demonstrate current knowledge in discipline coursework that is more than ten years old.
For more information about teacher certification in family and consumer sciences, please contact Sandi Splansky.