The Educational Theory and Social Foundations area offers concentrations in the philosophy of education, history of education, educational sociology, and interdisciplinary foundations of education.
Areas of Concentration:
Philosophy of Education: This concentration seeks to provide students with a rigorous methodological and theoretical training in philosophical research. The general purposes of the program are to foster the understanding and development of educational theory in the context of the broader questions of philosophy and to develop the capacity to engage in effective discussion of theoretical problems pertaining to education, especially educational justice, peace, and democracy.
History of Education: This concentration seeks to provide students with a rigorous methodological and theoretical training in historical research, so that they acquire and are able to advance a deep understanding of the origins and development of American education within the context of American social and intellectual history. This concentration involves an understanding of the history of social injustice and the political and economic history of the social and educational reproduction of inequality.
Educational Sociology: This concentration seeks to provide students with a rigorous methodological and theoretical training in sociological research. Sociology of education explores the school-society/educational-cultural interface – how socio-cultural forces define the limits and possibilities of schooling and how education impacts society. Of particular interest is an understanding of how social institutions produce injustice/justice, the nature and dynamics of social stratification, an understanding of the dynamics of racial, gendered, and ethnic discrimination, and the nature and development of a pluralistic democratic culture.
Foundations of Education: This concentration seeks to provide students with a rigorous methodological and theoretical training in interdisciplinary research involving sociology, philosophy and history of education.
The strength of the faculty and thus the current organizing focus of these concentrations is social justice. We seek to critically examine the multidimensional nature of justice and education in a way that explores the basic assumptions, policies, and practices of our educational institutions in order to contribute to the creation of a more just, peaceful, and democratic society and world. We believe that at the core of an education for democracy and justice is the capacity for critical reflection. Reflection is a process of examination and analysis that is significantly informed by an understanding of the phenomena that underlie and contextualize educational ideas, practices and problems. We seek to understand education as it is shaped by social, cultural, and ideological forces in order to enhance the reflective practice and thus decision making of educators, leaders, and scholars.
The following questions constitute broad categories of inquiry that frame the inquiry-based model of graduate education in the field of Educational Theory and Social Foundations.
Social Justice
Power
Knowledge
Culture
Ideology
Society