If you love commerce and want a career where your knowledge can shape other people's futures, this is a route worth considering
When you're choosing what to study after school, it's easy to follow the obvious path.
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You enjoy Accounting? BCom.
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You like Business? BCom.
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You're interested in Economics? BCom.
But here's something you may not have considered. Pursuing a commerce stream at university doesn’t only apply to business. Commerce can also take you into education, health sciences, science, engineering, or even law depending on your career goals. At Nelson Mandela University, the Bachelor of Education (BEd) Senior Phase and Further Education and Training (SP-FET) Commerce stream gives you the opportunity to combine your interest in commerce with the skills and knowledge to become a high school teacher.
The BEd SP-FET Commerce stream allows you to specialise in commerce-related subjects including Accounting | Business Studies | Economics | Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy as your FET specialisations, while in the Senior Phase subject specialisation is extended to Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) or Mathematics. By combining commerce and education, you aren't simply learning how to teach, you are also developing knowledge in various commerce subjects while gaining the professional skills, practical experience and expertise needed to pursue a career in education.
Now you may ask yourself, if a BCom degree wouldn’t be a better choice for entry into a commerce field? And the answer is not necessarily. It depends on what you want to do with your interest in commerce. If your ambition is to pursue a career directly in business, finance, accounting, economics or management, then a BCom degree may be the route you need to consider. But if you enjoy commerce and enjoy working with people, explaining concepts, mentoring others or making a difference, then the BEd (SP-FET) Commerce degree could offer you’re a different route.
Today's teachers need to communicate, problem-solve, adapt, think critically, understand different perspectives and help young people navigate an increasingly complex world. One of the advantages of the BEd SP-FET programme is that students don't spend four years learning about teaching only from textbooks. School-Based Learning (SBL) forms an important part of the qualification. Students spend dedicated, supervised time in schools, gaining experiential learning in real school classrooms.
That means you get the opportunity to connect what you learn at university with what happens in the real world. You begin developing confidence in communicating with learners, presenting information, applying teaching and learning methodologies, and understanding the realities of South African schools.
In other words, you don't just prepare for your future career – you start experiencing it. Your commerce knowledge becomes the foundation. Your education training gives you the tools to share that knowledge and make it meaningful. So, in summary, it’s not about choosing between commerce and education. It's about combining them, as the strongest careers often bring together different interests, strengths and skills.
To find out more about this qualification, as well as all of the courses offered by the Faculty of Education, click on the following link: https://education.mandela.ac.za/
Late applications to study at Nelson Mandela University in 2027 closed on the 30th of September 2026. Apply online here: https://www.mandela.ac.za/Study-at-Mandela/Application/Apply-Undergraduate
