A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate academic degree which qualifies the graduate as a teacher in schools.

In North America the degree is awarded for coursework completed within a program lasting one to four years, depending on the requirements established by the province or state in which the university is located. In Canada, a BEd degree is required for a teaching certificate.

A BEd program may have direct entry from high school; as a combined degree with another bachelor's degree (e.g., BA/BEd); or as an after-degree program where the candidate has obtained a bachelor's degree, usually, the field in which the student wishes to teach. A good rapport or previous experience with young children or teens is also a desired characteristic of applicants.

There are several streams to a Bachelor of Education, each corresponding to the particular level of instruction. In the United States, this includes elementary school education, middle school education, and high school education. Students in the elementary education stream generally study towards a Liberal Studies degree. In the high school (secondary education) stream, the student specializes in one to two subject areas. Upon completion of the degree, they will prepare and eventually sit for the state's Board of Education certification examination.

The tractate Of Education was published in 1644, first appearing anonymously as a single eight-page quarto sheet (Ainsworth 6). Presented as a letter written in response to a request from the Puritan educational reformer Samuel Hartlib, it represents John Milton's most comprehensive statement on educational reform (Viswanathan 352), and gives voice to his views “concerning the best and noblest way of education” (Milton 63). As outlined in the tractate, education carried for Milton a dual objective: one public, to “fit a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war” (55); and the other private, to “repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love Him, to be like Him, as we may the nearest by possessing our soul of true virtue” (52).

The influences at work in the tractate are an interesting blend of Renaissance humanism with its emphasis on the via activa, tempered by the more contemplative medieval concern with personal redemption. It is clear, however, that the overwhelming thrust of Milton’s educational programme as outlined in the tractate is centred in the public objective. This is likely a reaction to the scholasticism that dominated the medieval university from the twelfth century, which still held sway in Milton’s time (Ainsworth 25).