Professional Training Requirements, and Academic Requirements and Considerations
6.1 What are the academic and professional training requirements for the program?In order to complete the Religious Education Credentialing program, participants must have attained the following:
- Credentialed Religious Educator, Associate Level: At least 75 hours of
professional training appropriate to religious education leadership.
- Credentialed Religious Educator: Attain an undergraduate (B.A./B.S.) degree
or equivalent.
A minimum of 7 structured learning experiences appropriate to
religious education leadership beyond the basic 75 hours of professional
training.
- Credentialed Religious Educator, Masters Level: A graduate degree (masters level in any field) or equivalent. Graduate credit (or equivalency) in the following areas: Unitarian Universalist history and polity, philosophy and history of Unitarian Universalist religious education, teaching methods, and learning theories.
6.2 I don’t have a Bachelor’s degree. Will I be shut out of this
program?
No. You have two options. The first is to work towards
achieving Credentialed Religious Educator, Associate Level which has a
requirement of 75 hours of professional training, but no academic requirement.
The second option is to work towards achieving the Credentialed Religious
Educator level, and determining if an equivalency fulfillment of the Bachelors
degree requirement is possible. See a description of the guidelines to requirements
for this and other equivalencies. Please note two things: the equivalency for a Bachelors degree does
require some undergraduate course work; and an equivalency for a Masters degree
cannot not be requested if a equivalency for a Bachelors degree has already been
granted.
6.3 I want to work towards the Credentialed Religious Educator,
Masters Level. I have a Bachelor’s degree but no time to take any graduate
courses, let alone a Master’s degree. What do I do?
In most cases an
equivalency for a Masters degree can also be requested, as well as equivalencies
for the graduate-level work in Unitarian Universalist (UU) history and polity, history and philosophy of
UU religious education, and teaching methods and learning theories. See the
equivalency guidelines for more details.
6.4 Do I have to take graduate courses for credit? This makes them so
expensive.
For a graduate course to fulfill a Credentialed
Religious Educator, Masters Level requirement in and of itself, it must be taken
for credit. But a non-credit class might be used as part of a request for an
equivalency, as long as the other equivalency requirements are met. There is no
getting around it. Graduate study can be expensive. But keep in mind a few
things: the requirement is only for the Credentialed Religious Educator, Masters
Level, and then only for UU History and Polity, the History and Philosophy of UU
Religious Education, and Teaching Methods and Learning Theories. Also, there is
some financial assistance available for these courses from the Office of RE
Credentialing.
For more information contact recredentialing @ uua.org.
This work is made possible by the generosity of individual donors and congregations. Please consider making a donation today.
Last updated on Thursday, August 18, 2011.
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