Master of Arts in Teaching Program

An MAT is widely recognized as the best preparation for a demanding and rewarding teaching career. The curriculum is focused on what you need to know to be a successful educator. Whether you’re seeking initial licensure or strengthening your credentials, the MAT is the degree to have.

Why an MAT at MBC?

Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top-tier university in the South, Mary Baldwin has been preparing teachers for over 160 years in a liberal-arts setting that emphasizes small classes and individual attention.

Our inquiry-based method of learning — in which you ask and answer questions that cross disciplines and invite broad and deep exploration of significant subjects — is also a model for teaching.

For each course, in the initial teacher licensure program, you’ll have two instructors instead of one: our “teaching partners.” Professors with doctorates team up with experienced classroom teachers, blending theory and practice — what should work and what does work.

You’ll have the convenience of four locations (Roanoke, Charlottesville, Richmond, and our main campus in Staunton), a year-round schedule, courses that may be taken in any sequence, late-afternoon and evening classes meeting once a week, helpful and attentive advisors, and close relationships with schools and scholars.

Environment-Based Learning

Mary Baldwin’s MAT Program is a source of expertise in environment-based education, an approach that uses the student’s environment, broadly defined, as an interconnecting, organizing theme for study. Environment-based education is a natural way to engage students in studies that are both real and relevant to their worlds. Students design and implement learning projects, and actively work to answer questions and solve problems related to their natural and cultural environments. They develop skills such as critical thinking and communication, while also learning content across many disciplines.

MAT’s environment-based education program involves grant-funded partnerships with school divisions and natural resource agencies around the state. The program assists classroom teachers (grades K-12) and schools in developing projects such as schoolyard gardening, oyster restoration, and watershed studies. Courses in environment-based learning are offered for teachers each year. The project is headquartered in MAT’s Edmondson House on Mary Baldwin’s main campus in Staunton.