The University of Toledo

Educational Theory and Social Foundations Masters

Master of Education in
Educational Theory and Social Foundations
The Judith Herb College of Education, Health Science, and Human Service
The University of Toledo

It’s not about earning a degree.
It’s not about sitting in stuffy out-of-touch classrooms.
It’s not about passively listening to stuffy out-of touch professors!

The purpose of a Masters Degree in Theory & Social Foundations at The University of Toledo is to prepare citizen leaders with the knowledge, skills, and supportive intellectual environment necessary to act for effective change in the real world.  We’re breaking the mold and reinventing education by creating a vibrant community of scholarship and professional development:

• Powerful, effective professional growth
• Critically reflective professional practice
• Experiential and transformational learning
• Focus on change, development & lifelong learning

Faculty and Students at the University of Toledo work with colleagues throughout the nation and world, bringing cross-disciplinary approaches from history, sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy and others to bear on understanding policy and practice issues including democratic education, social justice, minority and gender studies, equity and access.  (Visit http://www.educationalstudies.org/ to learn more about the field.)  Together, we can create new ways of thinking about our professions – with new technologies, new practices, & new and better ways of focused research to solve problems that really matter – here, now and in the real-world.

Requirements
(from the JHCOE Description of Masters Degrees)

Core Courses - 12 hours
Specialization - 21 hours
Thesis or Project - 3 hours
Total - 36 hours 

Outcomes

Classroom teaching.  Many of our graduates continue in the same career they chose and love, classroom teaching, but with new understandings and abilities to collaborate with colleagues, students, parents, and community organizations to address issues that face P-12 students and their families.  Some graduates choose to become school or district curriculum directors.  Our graduates find themselves positioned as leaders in schools because they grasp of the relationships between schools and their social and political environments, and they have collaborative research skills to understand and address those issues.

Administration.  Knowledge gained through our program serves as a firm theoretical and practical foundation for those preparing to work as administrators in community agencies or to pursue licensure as administrators in schools.  Effective administrators need to know how to recognize and address race, class, and gender issues, and how to work collaboratively with their constituents.  Administrators are well served when they can draw on their own action research insights for real solutions to real-world problems.

 University Teaching and Research.  Many of our past Masters students have pursued teaching in community college or undergraduate settings, either as adjunct instructors or through building on the foundation they have developed in our program to pursue Ph.D. degrees.

Designing your Program of Study

Each Masters student is matched with a Faculty Advisor with similar research and practice interests.  Together they create the student’s plan of study, drawing on resources from throughout the College, the University, and the Community.  Here are three examples of what your Masters work might entail.  These are ideas only; students work with their advisors to develop a Masters program that best suits their interests and aspirations.

Urban Education Focus

A focus on urban education prepares teachers to assume leadership roles with the knowledge and skills to effect change in PreK-16 urban school settings.   The program is based on the belief that by working with historically-marginalized parents and children to create coalitions built on the strengths and unique opportunities of urban culture, teachers can revolutionize urban education.  While focusing on learners in urban environments, participants will also develop understanding of how urban social forces affect school systems and how policies and practices can be developed to benefit schools and communities.    Through the recurring cycle of thought and action, teacher-leaders can apply research skills to uncover the wealth of resources in urban communities, to advocate for the necessary support of urban schools, and thus to provide solutions to problems faced by urban students and their families.

Goal

Graduates will be prepared to work effectively with students, parent/guardians, and community members to gather and analyze the information needed to assess school curricula and culture toward continuous improvement of the students’ learning opportunities and contributions to the larger community.

Objectives

Graduates will be able to:

• Understand the historical development of urban communities and schools, with particular attention to factors of social class, “race,” and gender
• Understand the contemporary sociological nature of urban environments and the political and social systems that drive them
• Analyze schools and other institutions as social systems, the role of the individual in institutions and the interaction between agency and structure, and the processes of institutional discrimination
• Analyze schools and other institutions as sites for social change and the processes by which organizational change is accomplished
• Articulate questions about their students, classrooms, schools, and communities; collect and analyze data; and interpret findings to propose and implement solutions

Recommended Coursework

Core courses:  TSOC 5100, 5110, 5200, 5210, 5230, 5300, or 5400
(12 credits;  EDP 5110, 5120, 5210, 5220, 5230, 5310, 5320 or 5330 required)
RESM 5110, 5210, 5330, or 5330
CI 5860, 5870, 6800, 6810, 6830, or 6840

Specialization  

TSOC 6240 Sociological Analyses of Urban Education 15 credits;  (for the focus in urban education, this course provides basic theoretical
At least 9  frameworks and methods for understanding urban society and credits should be  institutions)in TSOC; courses TSOC 5110  Modern Educational Controversies listed are  TSOC 5190  Summer Institute on Diversity in Education recommended for TSOC 5200  Sociological Foundations of Education  
this focus; other TSOC 5210 Multicultural Non-Sexist Education courses may be TSOC 5300  Philosophy and Education selected in  TSOC 5400 History of Schooling & Teaching in the U.S. consultation with TSOC 6120  Comparative Education advisor)  TSOC 6140  History of Socio-Political Issues in School-State Relations

TSOC 6220  Problems and Issues in Multicultural Education
TSOC 6310  Major Educational Theorists
TSOC 6320 Education and the Democratic Ethic
TSOC 6500  Anthropology and Education
SOC 5450 Sociology of Cities
SOC 5760 Juvenile Delinquency
SOC  5830 Social Movements
SOC  6560  Seminar in Social and School Policy
PSC  5360 Ethics in Public Policy and Administration
PSC 5320 Urban Policy and Administration
   
Thesis/Project  TSOC 6960  Master’s Thesis in Theory & Social Foundations
(3 credits; choose 1) TSOC 6980 Master’s Project in Theory & Social Foundations

Democratic Communities Focus

A focus on democratic communities prepares community service providers, organizers, administrators, and teachers to interact with their publics toward creating more democratic institutions, i.e., institutions that nurture development of, and draw their strength from, all individuals.   Democratic society is never an accomplishment but rather a process.  A Democratic Communites focus will support participants in articulating concepts of democracy and identifying niches and arenas where democratic participation already occurs, as well as developing practices and strategies for increasing democratic participation in community agencies and institutions including schools.

Goal

The goal of this area is to give people an understanding of how education in both formal school settings and in informal community settings is fundamental in the maintenance of democracy

Objectives

Graduates will be able to:

• Provide those working in schools and community organizations the tools to work effectively within their communities
• Provide graduates with an understanding of the political and policy processes that influence their work
• Provide graduates with the tools to work within their organizations using democratic principles.
• Provide graduates with experiences that will nurture leadership skills for effective organizational development.

Courses

Core courses:  TSOC 5100, 5110, 5200, 5210, 5230, 5300, or 5400
(12 credits;  EDP 5110, 5120, 5210, 5220, 5230, 5310, 5320 or 5330 required)
RESM 5110, 5210, 5330, or 5330
CI 5860, 5870, 6800, 6810, 6830, or 6840

Specialization in TSOC 5110  Modern Educational Controversies TSOC; courses listed TSOC 5190  Summer Institute on Diversity in Education
are recommended for TSOC 5200  Sociological Foundations of Education this focus; other TSOC 5210 Multicultural Non-Sexist Education
courses may be TSOC 5300  Philosophy and Education selected in  TSOC 5400 History of Schooling & Teaching in the U.S.consultation with TSOC 6120  Comparative Education advisor)  

TSOC 6140  History of Socio-Political Issues in School-State Relations
TSOC 6190 Folklore & Democratic Culture  
TSOC 6220  Problems and Issues in Multicultural Education
TSOC 6320 Education and the Democratic Ethic
TSOC 6310  Major Educational Theorists
TSOC 6500  Anthropology and Education
HIST 5830 Theory of Public History
HIST 5840 Public History Practicum
ENGL 5770 Folk Poetry: Ballads & Blues
PSC 5410 Management of Non-Profit Organizations
SOC 5610  Sociology of Organizations
SOC  5830 Social Movements
SOC  6560  Seminar in Social and School Policy
PSC  5360 Ethics in Public Policy and Administration
PSC  5410 Management of Non-Profit Organizations  

Thesis/Project  TSOC 6960  Master’s Thesis in Theory & Social Foundations
(3 credits; choose 1) TSOC 6980 Master’s Project in Theory & Social Foundations

Social Justice Focus

The focus in social justice provides community organizers, social activists and teachers interested in human rights and peace issues with the knowledge base and research skills needed to be effective agents for change.  

Goal

Graduates of the program will be equipped to contribute to producing and sustaining a more just society at the local, national, and global level.

Objectives

Graduates will be able to:

• Understand the nature of social justice
• Critically analyzed issues of social justice as they relate to race, social class and gender in contemporary society
• Critically examine the ways in which schools and other social institutions reproduce social stratification and systemic injustices
• Identify factors that unite and distinguish issues of race, social class and gender
• Understand the historical and political contexts of various approaches to multicultural education
• Apply critical action research to social justice issues.

Courses

Core courses:  TSOC 5100, 5110, 5200, 5210, 5230, 5300, or 5400
(12 credits;  EDP 5110, 5120, 5210, 5220, 5230, 5310, 5320 or 5330 required)
RESM 5110, 5210, 5330, or 5330
CI 5860, 5870, 6800, 6810, 6830, or 6840

   TSOC 5210 Multicultural Non-Sexist Education Specialization   (For the Social Justice focus, this course provides basic analytic tools) in TSOC; courses TSOC 5110  Modern Educational Controversies listed are  TSOC 5190  Summer Institute on Diversity in Education recommended for TSOC 5200  Sociological Foundations of Education this focus; other TSOC 5300  Philosophy and Education courses may be TSOC 5400 History of Schooling & Teaching in the U.S.
selected in  TSOC 6120  Comparative Education consultation with TSOC 6140  History of Socio-Political Issues in School-State Relationsadvisor)

TSOC  6190 Philosophy of Social Justice
TSOC 6220  Problems and Issues in Multicultural Education
TSOC 6310  Major Educational Theorists
TSOC 6320 Education and the Democratic Ethic
TSOC 6500  Anthropology and Education
PSC  5360 Ethics in Public Policy and Administration
PSC 5530 Civil Rights
PSC 5540 Race and Public Policy
PSC 5770 Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Int’l Justice
PSC 5860 Feminist Political Theory
PHIL 5400 Ethics Seminar
PHIL 5610  Critical Thinking and Education 

Thesis/Project  TSOC 6960  Master’s Thesis in Theory & Social Foundations
(3 credits; choose 1) TSOC 6980 Master’s Project in Theory & Social Foundations