Teacher Apprenticeship Application

General Information for Teacher Apprenticeship Applicants

  • All application materials should be submitted in your Candidacy File by September 1, 2025, for Winter 2026 placements, so you have time to interview with your Placement Specialist before the due date: September 15, 2025.
  • The completed application and associated application materials must be submitted before scheduling your review meeting.
  • Soon after completing your Teacher Apprenticeship application online, an invitation to schedule your application review meeting will be sent via your student email. Meetings will be scheduled through Navigate.
  • Application review appointments will be available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and will be completed via Zoom.

Admission Criteria

All requirements must be met prior to Teacher Apprenticeship

  1. Academic Achievement.
    • A minimum 2.70 GPA (GVSU) in your overall, majors, and minor is required. Language Arts, Art, English, & History majors require a 3.00 GPA. GPA requirements must be met prior to being approved to register for Teacher Apprenticeship courses and arrangement of field placement. You may access your current GPAs on myBanner by going to your myPath. The GPAs are broken down at the top of each section for your majors and minors.
  2. Prerequisite Courses.
    • Select your program from the list below to view the prerequisite courses. All prerequisite courses must be completed or in progress during the semester of application.

Completion of a minimum of 24 credits from the Educational Studies major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315 Diverse Perspectives on Education (3 Credits)
  2. EDR/EDS 323 Teaching Students with Language and Literacy Learning Difficulties (3 Credits)
  3. PSY 301 Child Development (3 Credits)
  4. MTH 326 Math for Pk-6: Fractions, Decimals and Proportional Reasoning (3 Credits)
  5. MTH 328 Early Childhood Mathematics (3 Credits)
  6. ENG 401 Languages, Literacies and Cultures (3 Credits)

Completion of a minimum of 24 credits from the Educational Studies major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315 Diverse Perspectives on Education (3 Credits)
  2. EDR/EDS 323 Teaching Students with Language and Literacy Learning Difficulties (3 Credits)
  3. PSY 301 Child Development (3 Credits)
  4. MTH 326 Math for Pk-6: Fractions, Decimals and Proportional Reasoning (3 Credits)
  5. ENG 401 Languages, Literacies and Cultures (3 Credits)

Completion of a minimum of 24 credits from the Educational Studies major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315 Diverse Perspectives on Education (3 Credits)
  2. EDR/EDS 323 Teaching Students with Language and Literacy Learning Difficulties (3 Credits)
  3. PSY 301 Child Development (3 Credits)
  4. MTH 326 Math for Pk-6: Fractions, Decimals and Proportional Reasoning (3 Credits)
  5. MTH 328 Early Childhood Mathematics (3 Credits)
  6. ENG 401 Languages, Literacies and Cultures (3 Credits)

This program is only for students that began an Elementary program in Spring/Summer 2021 or earlier. If you began an Elementary Education program in Fall 2021 or later, please refer to the current Elementary/PCKET program options.

  1. EDF 315
  2. PSY 301
  3. EDI 337/338 or EDF 260 Educational Research and Assessment: Foundations of Practice
  4. EDS 378 or EDS 318: can be taken before or after admission to Teacher Apprenticeship but must be completed before Teacher Internship with a B- or better.
  5. ENG 308, or ENG 201 and ENG 301
  6. MTH 221 and MTH 222, or MTH 223. (Note that MTH 221 may be substituted with MTH 126 and STA 126; and MTH 222 may be substituted with MTH 226 and MTH 326.)

The GVSU GPA in all required courses must calculate to a 2.70 GPA. No individual grade can be below a “C”. Transfer equivalents will not be calculated in the GPA; however, the transfer grades must meet requirements or be C or higher.

  1. EDF 315 Diverse Perspectives on Education
  2. PSY 301 Child Development
  3. EDI 337 or EDI 339 Teachers as Decision Makers: Instruction and Assessment in Secondary Schools
  4. EDS 379 Universal Design for Learning: Secondary (Note: can be taken before or after admission to Teacher Apprenticeship but must be completed before Teacher Internship with a B- or better.)

This program is only for students who began a Secondary or K-12 program in Spring/Summer 2024 or earlier. If you began a Secondary or PK-12 program in Fall 2024 or later, please refer to the current Secondary Education and PK-12 Programs.

  1. EDF 315 Diverse Perspectives on Education
  2. PSY 301 Child Development
  3. EDI 337 or EDI 339 Teachers as Decision Makers: Instruction and Assessment in Secondary Schools
  4. EDS 379 Universal Design for Learning: Secondary (Note: can be taken before or after admission to Teacher Apprenticeship but must be completed before Teacher Internship with a B- or better.)

The GVSU GPA in all required courses must calculate to a 2.70 GPA. No individual grade can be below a “C”. Transfer equivalents will not be calculated in the GPA; however, the transfer grades must meet requirements or be C or higher.

Completion of a minimum of 27 credits from the Special Education major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315
  2. EDR 320
  3. MTH 326
  4. MTH 328
  5. ENG 301
  6. PSY 301
  7. PSY 304
  8. PSY 310
  9. PSY 325
  10. EDI 312 Recommended
  11. EDS 205 Recommended

Completion of a minimum of 27 credits from the Special Education major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315
  2. EDR 320
  3. MTH 326
  4. ENG 301
  5. PSY 301
  6. PSY 304
  7. PSY 310
  8. PSY 325
  9. EDS 205 Recommended

Completion of a minimum of 27 credits from the Special Education major, and the following prerequisite courses, which may be in progress during the semester of application. Courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit.

  1. EDF 315
  2. EDR 320
  3. MTH 326
  4. MTH 328
  5. ENG 301
  6. PSY 301
  7. PSY 304
  8. PSY 310
  9. PSY 325
  10. EDI 312 Recommended
  11. EDS 205 Recommended

This program is only for students that began a Special Education/CSAT program in Spring/Summer 2021 or earlier. If you began a Special Education program in Fall 2021 or later, please refer to the current Special Education/PCKET program options.

Required Courses (2.7 GPA):

  1. ENG 308
  2. MTH 221 & 222

Required Courses (2.7 GPA – no grade lower than ‘C’): 

  1. PSY 301
  2. EDF 315 
  3. PSY 325
  4. PSY 304
  5. PSY 310 (EI)
  6. PSY 326 (CI)
  1. Academic Progress.
    • Significant progress in the completion of university general education requirements.
    • Significant progress in the completion of the CLAS major (and minors) as determined by the content area major faculty advisor.
    • Completion of the prerequisite Education, Educational Studies or Special Education major courses is required.

Application Requirements

5 THINGS YOU MUST COMPLETE PRIOR TO THE APPLICATION DEADLINE

  1. Positive Personal Recommendation
    • One from an unrelated individual who can address the candidate's ability as a prospective teacher.
  2. Documentation of 25 hours of experience
    • NOTE: If you took EDF 100 or EDF 115, this requirement is complete and will be waived on your application. Students in the PCKET program automatically receive 25+ experience hours in their courses and do not need to submit documentation.
    • 25 hours of experience with children or youth (paid or unpaid). The experience must be with the age group for which the applicant intends to seek certification. You may use the Verification of Experience Form to document your hours.
  3. Current Résumé
    • Must include your email address and references on plain white paper. Please use this resume template as a reference.
  4. Teacher Apprenticeship Application
    • Includes important information about your address, contact information, and felony and misdemeanor background history.
  5.  Application review meeting with your Placement Specialist. 
    • Shortly after you submit the application documents listed above, you will receive an email to your GVSU email account requesting you schedule a meeting with your Placement Specialist. This is a Zoom meeting that you schedule through Navigate AFTER you submit your application and materials. The Placement Specialist will review your application materials and begin the process of finding your placement. This is the final step in applying for field placement: you will receive the email invitation to set up this meeting through Navigate: you must submit the application documents listed above to receive the invitation.

Requirements for Field Placement

  • Upon admission to the Teacher Apprenticeship, the Education programs will arrange an appropriate field placement for the Teacher Apprenticeship. The field placement will be contingent upon an interview and acceptance by the prospective mentor teacher and/or school administrator.
  • All Teacher Apprenticeship placements are arranged within 50 miles of the Pew campus (Grand Rapids), per GVSU Education Placement Policies.
  • Students who postpone the Teacher Apprenticeship after admission must reapply as new applicants if they seek readmission.
Frequently Asked Questions

Many students have asked the following questions regarding what happens once the application has been received. We hope that you find this information helpful as you wait to hear about your field placement decisions from the Education programs.


Page last modified April 2, 2025
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