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Educational Foundations

About the Department

Mission Statement
Relationship of the Department to the College of Education & Human Services
Objectives of the Program

Mission Statement

The Department of Educational Foundations seeks to clarify the relationship between educational theory and practice through academic inquiry and programmatic involvement. The department meets this responsibility by offering two concentrations in the College of Education and Human Services' Master of Education program for certified teachers: one concentration in Critical Thinking and one in Philosophy for Children. The department's Project THISTLE brings many of these graduate courses to inner-city teachers, serving as the basis for the ultimate completion of the masters degree. The Department offers a Graduate Certificate in Philosophy for Children, which may be applied toward the M.Ed. or combined with the Master's of Arts in Teaching, which includes teacher certification. The department also offers a specialization in Philosophy for Children in the University's first doctoral program: the Ed.D., Concentration in Pedagogy.

In addition to these degree programs, the department offers core courses required of all undergraduates and graduates seeking teacher certification. As the theoretical wing of the College of Education and Human Services, many of the department's courses in the foundations of education are required of other graduate programs in the college. Some of the department's graduate courses also satisfy the universities Multi-Cultural Awareness and Human and Intercultural Relations Requirement, and some of its undergraduate courses satisfy current general education requirements.

The department's degree programs and foundations courses are designed to prepare public and private school educators, administrators and policy-makers, and to satisfy specialized educational demands emanating from the social, political, and cultural contexts within which education takes place. Along with this charge to serve professional and pre-professional educators, the department has a responsibility to prepare students from all disciplines to acquire a sophisticated understanding of education as it relates to culture, as well as the tools of inquiry and democratic interaction that will enable them to transform their own educational experiences. The faculty considers the mastery by the general citizenry of critical, creative and independent thinking, coupled with an understanding of the role of educational institutions in society, to be crucial to the success of a democratic society.

In these various efforts to educate students, the department has two primary emphases: (1) the analysis and critique of educational forms, practices, and theories from philosophical, historical, social, political, psychological, and economic perspectives with a view toward the pursuit of a just and democratic society; and (2) the promotion and development of critical, creative, and independent thinking in educational contexts.

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Relationship of the Department to the College of Education & Human Services

The Department of Educational Foundations understands its role within the College of Education and Human Services as a locus for inquiry into the broader goals, motivations, traditions and ideologies, not only of schooling in general, but also of teacher education itself. It is a major aspect of our mission, for example, to problematize such notions as "professional," "national standards," or "enculturation," concepts which are found within the CEHS mission statement itself. We consider this form of problematization to be an essential skill for critical, reflective educational practitioners committed to continual educational reconstruction. Our broadest aim is to help develop in teachers the skills, dispositions and knowledge that equip them for collaborative transformation of educational structures and institutions. This requires the capacity to discern the larger forces and configurations that have shaped and continue to shape educational theory and practice. These forces and configurations can be analyzed in the languages of a number of disciplines--history, philosophy, sociology, political science, economics, and psychology. A teacher who is able to think educationally in these multiple languages is able, we hold, to respond both dialogically and transformatively to a changing educational universe.

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Objectives of the Program

Our faculty has elaborated our department mission in terms of specific objectives that fall into the following three categories:

To provide a quality curriculum at bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels that develops in students:
1. An understanding of the philosophical, historical, sociological, political, psychological, and economic foundations of education.
2. An understanding of the local, national, and global contexts of education, including a focus on urban education.
3. An understanding of schooling as a social, political, and intellectual institution, with an eye to making schooling more democratic.
4. An understanding of the methods, theoretical bases, purposes, possibilities, limitations, and ethical dimensions of research and evaluation in education and related fields, and practical experience in applying this understanding.
5. creative thinking, as well as the ability and disposition to think critically and creatively.
6. The ability and commitment to engage in a critical analysis of educational issues and the professional knowledge base of teachers, and to apply the results of that analysis to educational reconstruction.
7. An attitude of care for and empathy with others and an awareness of and sense of responsibility for social problems.
8. An understanding of the role of philosophy in the elementary and secondary curriculum, and in educational reconstruction.
9. An understanding of childhood and youth from the perspectives of the disciplines other than education--e.g., history, philosophy, literature, art, anthropology, law--which promote reflection on educational theory and practice.
To promote collaborative inquiry within the department, the college of Education and Human Services, the university, the surrounding community, and the global community, including:
1. Ongoing inquiry into the educational implications of the search for an inclusive and just society.
2. Forums for the analysis, critique, and reconstruction of forms of educational governance, administration, and institutional organization.
3. Forums through which schools and communities outside the university have access to departmental resources, e.g., faculty consulting, service learning activities, and student and faculty research.
4. Analysis and critique of the practice of schooling from philosophical, historical, social, political, psychological, and economic perspectives.
5. Specific practices that instantiate the results of our inquiries, e.g., outreach programs, intra- and inter-department faculty collaborations, action research, and team teaching.
6. Analysis and critique of the extent to which educational systems and discourses promote critical and creative thinking.
7. Analysis and critique of the role of technology in education from philosophical, historical, social, political, psychological, and economic perspectives.
8. The formation of an inter-college Child Study program that considers childhood in light of all the relevant disciplines represented in the university.
To continually reconstruct department goals and functions by:
1. Cultivating financial and other resources from the university and from external sources that will enable the department to fulfill its mission and goals.
2. Seeking opportunities for professional growth in teaching, research, scholarship, and service.
3. Continually collecting information regarding social trends and movements in the foundations of education and reassessing the needs served by the department; and evaluating and reconstructing department goals, programs, and procedures on an ongoing basis in light of that information.
4. Further integrating technology into department programs, procedures, and services.
5. Continually assessing the relationship of our department programs to the goals of the college and university and to the programs of other departments.
6. Providing avenues for student input into department goals, programs, procedures, offerings, and services.
7. Establishing a departmental environment for students, faculty, and others that is safe, fair, open, and inviting.