School of education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences encompassing sociology, psychology, linguistics, economics, political science, public policy, history, and others, all applied to the topic of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education. The U.S. has 1,206 schools, colleges and departments of education and they exist in 78% of all universities and colleges^[1].

In the United Kingdom, following the recommendation in the 1963 Robbins Report into higher education, teacher training colleges were renamed colleges of education in the UK. For information about academic divisions devoted to this field outside of the United States and Canada, see Postgraduate Training in Education.

Contents 1 Types of programs 2 Common areas of interest 3 Notable schools of education 4 Notable scholars from schools of education 5 Criticism 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Types of programs

Typically, a school of education offers research-based programs leading to Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) or Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) degrees, as well as professional teacher-education programs leading to Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), or Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degrees. Schools of education also offer teacher certification or licensure programs to undergraduate students. Generally schools of education have graduate programs related to teacher preparation, curriculum and instruction (or curriculum and teaching), public policy and education, and educational administration. In addition, some schools of education offer programs in school counseling and counseling psychology.

[edit] Common areas of interest

Schools of education have several areas of interest in both their research and practice. The first is teacher education, curriculum, and instruction. With their historical roots in the 19th century normal school, they train the vast majority of teachers. A second area of interest is educational administration. As the main institution for the training of principals and superintendents, there is a focus on the administration of schools and school districts. A final area of interest is education policy and reform. Many graduates of schools of education become involved in education policy. As such, issues such as equity, teacher quality, education assessment have become focuses of many schools of education. The issue of equitable access to education particularly is common, specifically focus on low-income, minority, and immigrant communities, is central to many areas of research within the Education field.^[2][3]

[edit] Notable schools of education

The annual rankings of U.S. News & World Report placed the following schools of education in the top twenty of all graduate education institutions in the United States.^[4] They follow in order:
1. Stanford University
2. Vanderbilt University
3. University of California at Los Angeles
4. Teachers College, Columbia University
5. University of Oregon
6. Harvard University
7. University of California at Berkeley
7. University of Washington
9. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
10. University of Pennsylvania
10. University of Texas at Austin
12. Northwestern University
12. University of Wisconsin at Madison
14. Michigan State University
14. New York University
16. Ohio State University
17. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
18. Boston College
19. Indiana University-Bloomington
20. Johns Hopkins University
21. University of Connecticut
22. University of Kansas
22. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
24. Utah State University
25. Arizona State University

[edit] Notable scholars from schools of education

• Michael Apple
• Charles Beard
• David Berliner
• Benjamin Bloom
• Jere Brophy
• Jerome Bruner
• Marilyn Cochran-Smith
• George Counts
• Larry Cuban
• Linda Darling-Hammond
• John Dewey
• Paulo Freire
• Nicholas Gage
• Howard Gardner
• Henry Giroux
• David Labaree
• Gloria Ladson-Billings
• Patti Lather
• Peter McLaren
• Deborah Meier
• Sonia Neito
• Nel Noddings
• David Perkins
• Jean Piaget
• Diane Ravitch
• David Tyack
• Lee Shulman
• Kenneth Zeichner

[edit] Criticism

Traditionalist scholars have been critical of the status quo within most schools of education. Prominent figures contributing to this school of though include E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Diane Ravitch, Chester Finn, and Lynne Cheney.^[5] Common assertions made by these critics include that the typical school of education has a Left-wing political bias, favoring Socialist philosophies such as Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy and the "Teaching for Social Justice" movement, and are of lower academic standards and include "Mickey Mouse" courses ^[6]. They also argue that many schools of education are academically, professionally, and socially inhospitable toward students whose political views do not conform to the predominant Left-leaning ideology^{[7][8][9][10]} and that the field's interest in educational equity sometimes crosses over the line between academic research and political activism.^[11]

In reaction, other scholars argue that these criticisms lack recent research to support claims. Instead, these criticisms may be rooted in the traditional and historical low-status view of teachers and schools of education within academia. Others have suggested the low status of schools of education relates to sexism in academia, pointing out that education and teaching is a highly feminized field while the academy tends to be dominated by males ^{[12][13][14][15]}

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Teacher education
• Student teacher
• Certified teacher
• Alternative teaching certification
• Teacher education
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (United Kingdom)
• Postgraduate Diploma in Education
• Postgraduate education
• Postgraduate diploma
• Education Specialist
• Teacher training college