Elementary BEd post-degree professional program (PDPP)

The Elementary PDPP program is an intensive 30.0 unit program, designed to take place over 16 months.

For a complete list of the required courses, refer to the program calendar entry

French immersion opportunities 

To learn more about French Immersion opportunities and necessary language requirements, please visit our French Immersion information page. 

Questions? Please contact the Teacher Education Office.

Certification process

Upon completion of this program, you will receive a Bachelor of Education degree (BEd) and will be eligible to apply for a BC teaching certificate. 

Eligibility for program admission requires:

• a bachelor's degree from an accredited university that is acceptable to the University of Victoria
• the course, grade, and degree requirements be completed by April 30 for program entry in September of the same year.

Note: 3.0 UVic units are equivalent to two, half-year courses or 6 credits at most BC colleges and universities.

Consult an adviser in the Education Advising Office if you have any questions.

As part of the program admission requirements, you’ll need a minimum of 75 hours of practical experience working with children or youth from Kindergarten - Grade 12 in educative ways.  

• experiences listed must be within the past three years.
• these experiences must be in face to face settings, interacting with groups (i.e. 4 or more) of children or youth.
• can be in either one or two settings, but at least 50 hours must be from a single, continuous experience. If all hours are in one setting, you will still need two references from that experience.
• experience in international settings is valuable, but we require at least 50 hours of experience be in domestic settings.
• all hours must be completed by the time of the application. Hours that may occur in the future will not be considered. 

In the event of a GPA tie with other applicants, we will use experience to determine the successful candidate.

Types of experiences

What qualifies as experience with respect to your application? These can be either paid or volunteer experiences, or a combination of both.

Typical experiences for applicants include:

• coaching team sports
• working as a camp counsellor, summer program leader, or after school program leader
• group tutoring or teaching (e.g. teaching music classes, specialty extra-curricular activities, etc.)
• working with faith-based K-12 groups or other K-12 youth groups
• working in a K-12 school classroom as a volunteer or assistant
• cultural work in Indigenous communities with K-12 youth
• cultural, social justice, and inclusion themed work with K-12 youth

What does not qualify as experience with respect to your application?

• 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 tutoring
• peer tutoring as a high school student
• teaching, being a TA, or residence advisor at the college or university level
• parenting, babysitting or caregiving
• online experiences

Experience forms

You will need to submit the following information when applying:  

• Summary of Experience 
• Two Confidential Reference form (to be submitted directly by the referee) 

Both the Summary of Experience and the two confidential reference forms must be submitted by January 2

Summary of Experience  

You will need to list the organization(s) where you acquired your experience, describe your duties and significant learning from these experiences.

Please ensure your two references are directly linked to the experiences you list in your summary of experience. One must be a supervisor. 

Confidential Reference (two)

The confidential reference must be from the two people who you have identified in the Summary of Experience. Ensure that those you ask to be referees can speak to your experience working with children and youth. One of your references must be a supervisor.

Referees must use the form provided; reference letters are not acceptable. References must meet the described criteria or your application will be considered incomplete and ineligible.

Both references must recommend or highly recommend your application and results of references are not released to applicants.

Reference reports are due at the same time as your application, so it is beneficial for you to ask potential referees well in advance of the deadline. Late references will not be considered.

When approaching your refereee, please ensure they know: your full name, program you are applying for, and your student or applicant number. 

It is your responsibility to follow up with referees to ensure they have submitted the Confidential reference form. 

References cannot be:

• relatives or other family members (including in-laws, step-family, etc.)
• a classroom teacher whose only relationship to you is as your teacher,
• friends or family friends,
• co-workers,
• someone you taught or tutored,
• someone you have supervised,
• somebody who is also applying to a UVic teacher education program.

Questions?

Contact the Teacher Education Office

For September 2025 Entry, admission is based primarily on GPA as long as all eligibility requirements are met.

In the event of a GPA tie with other applicants, we will use experience to determine the successful candidate.

Before applying:  See the admission requirements above for this full-time program

• Ensure you will have all course and grade requirements listed above under "Admissions requirements", along with examples of approved course lists. These must be completed by April 30.
• Ensure you will have met all the experience requirements listed above under "Admission requirements". This must be completed by January 2. 

Completed all or part of a teacher education program? Please consult with Education Advising before submitting your application to determine if you are eligible to apply to the program. In this case, please email adve@uvic.ca at least one month before the program’s application deadline.

Not ready for this year? To attend UVic to complete the above admission requirements, please apply for the Faculty of Humanities or Social Sciences (or your previous faculty if you are returning to UVic), for “non-degree” studies.

Start your application

Please confirm your January-April 2025 course registration(s) before applying, and include this information in the in-progress courses section of the application. 

When filling out your application:

(only applicable to continuing or returning UVic students)

• Under 'Institution information' and specifically 'Acknowlegement of post-secondary institutions', be sure to list every college and university where you’ve registered. This includes exchange studies, studies transferred to another institution, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) studies, if applicable. The IB declaration appears under “high schools attended.” The AP declaration appears as “College of Advanced Placement.”

• Under the 'In-progress courses' section of the application, accurately include the January-April 2025 course information, as well as the Fall 2024 courses.
  
  
  
• For those interested in applying for the off-campus Elementary PDPP in Cranbrook, BC., please select East Kootenay Teacher Education program under 'Program of study'
  
  

Late applications will be considered only if space remains in the quota after all on-time, eligible applicants have been admitted. 

Application questions? Contact Undergraduate Admissions at adms1@uvic.ca 

Experience Requirements

Please ensure you have referred to the experience requirements listed above under Admission Requirements. These requirements are due at the same time as your application, January 2

Note: Applicants may also be invited to meet with the Teacher Education Office during their experience review. Only applicants who are conditionally admitted will have their experience reviewed. Please do not assume that you have satisfied this experience requirement based on applying or being wait-listed for program admission in a previous year.

Please remember that official transcripts are those sent directly from the issuing institution to UVic. Transcripts in languages other than English or French must be submitted together with notarized English translations.

Check with the issuing institution about how and when to place your transcript order to meet our transcript deadlines. Processing and mail delivery times will vary. Order as early as possible, while also ensuring your grades are all included. Your application will be considered ‘late’ if any transcripts are received after the published deadlines. 

Please remember to submit an official transcript from every* college and university that you’ve attended. This includes exchange studies, studies transferred to another institution, withdrawals/ incomplete/ failed/ repeated studies, College Board Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) studies, if applicable. We cannot review your application if any transcripts are missing.

*UVic students do not need to order UVic transcripts, as we have access to those records.

Transcript Deadlines

Deadline for official transcripts showing grades for courses attempted to December 2024: January 31 

Deadline for official transcripts showing in-progress course registration in the January to April 2025 term: January 31

Deadline for official transcripts showing grades for courses attempted January to April 2025: May 31

At least one of your transcripts must indicate “degree granted” based on coursework to April 30. If your May 31 transcript doesn't show "degree granted", an additional transcript including your degree notation must be submitted by June 30.

You must not be registered in a graduate program, or any other program, while you are completing this degree program.

If you’re currently registered in a graduate program, provide a letter from your university stating that your graduate program requirements will be completed before the start of the program, or that you’ll be taking a leave of absence from that program for the duration of this B.Ed. program (September 2025 to December 2026). Undergraduate Admissions may require a transcript showing final grades for any attempted summer courses by July 31. Please consult with Education Advising if applicable.

Submit your Graduate student status letter to the Admissions Assistant at adms1@uvic.ca 

Due: February 28 

The Faculty of Education is committed to increasing the number of First Nations, Métis and Inuit teachers and has reserved 5% of the positions in teacher education programs for applicants who meet the Faculty of Education’s admission requirements.

If you have Indigenous ancestry, and would like to be considered for this quota, please email the supplementary form to iedlpa@uvic.ca.

Note: If you need help with the form or have questions, please call (250) 721-7824

Due: January 2

Checklist 

☐ Step 1: Submit your online application along with the Summary of Experience (see Step 2)

Deadline: January 2 

☐ Step 2:

Submit the following documents for the experience requirement as follows:

• Submit your Summary of Experience through the survey monkey link (above under Admissions Requirements)
• Ask two referees to submit their confidential Reference Forms directly through the survey monkey link (above under Admissions Requirements)

 Deadline: January 2 

☐ Step 3: Order official transcripts in time for them to arrive by the following deadlines: 

By January 31, we require transcript(s) that show: 

• grades for all courses attempted to December 31, 2024
• in-progress course registrations January 1 to April 30, 2025, if applicable 

By May 31, we require transcript(s) that show: 

• grades for all courses attempted January 1 to April 30, 2025. Order the transcript(s) as soon as second-term grades are available.

By June 30, if applicable:

• At least one of your transcripts must indicate “degree granted” based on coursework to April 30. If your May 31 transcript doesn't show degree granted, an additional transcript including your degree notation must be submitted by June 30.

☐ Step 4: Submit a graduate student status letter, if applicable, by February 28     

☐ Step 5: Indigenous applicants may submit a supplementary form for Indigenous applicants by January 2 

To check your status and application checklist log into My UVic Application. Use the checklist to see that all transcripts and other required items, including the two references, have been received.

 Notes:

• If you are attending the same institution (other than UVic) in the January to April 2024 term as you are in the Fall 2023 term, you’ll see at least two entries for that institution on the checklist: one with a January 31 deadline and another with a May 31 deadline.
• It can take two to three weeks from the time an item is received at UVic for it to be recorded on the checklist.
• The date a transcript is received at UVic determines whether it is considered on time or late, not the date that UVic staff upload it to your checklist.

Application status updates:

Education Advising will email you at least once by mid-June:

Please be aware that Admission offers are time sensitive. If you will not have email access for more than one week, contact Education Advising.

If you are accepted into one of the Teacher Education programs, you will receive an email from Education Advising outlining the next steps.

You will also receive specific information about which timetable courses to register in, based on which program cohort you are assigned. 

Please wait to receive this email from Education Advising with your specific timetable information before registering for your courses.

Some students recieve an email from UVic with your registration date and time before you receive your timetable information, and that's ok! We will email you as soon as we can, as we finalize program offers