Educational Foundations & Policy Studies

Educational Foundations & Policy Studies

Welcome!

Mission Statement

The ability to function effectively as an educator of young people, while navigating this rapidly-changing world, requires that educators cease to be cast as passive objects within their schools and communities and instead become engaged and active leaders. The increasingly oligarchic nature of our society, which is manifested in both public and private power structures, has had a profound effect upon our educational systems. We have witnessed a steady rise in repressive control, which comes increasingly from outside local communities and schools. Therefore, now more than ever, educators need to be able to work for change, not only within their classrooms and schools, but also in their communities and in society at large if democracy is to be a defining and organizing force within our institutions. To make such a transition, educators need to examine and comprehend the political, social, and historical structures that shape educational policy and, by extension, the context of their work. The Department of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies is dedicated to fostering the development of educators with the requisite critical consciousness and pedagogical skills to act as public intellectuals; citizen-teachers capable of creating pedagogical spaces and practices that are relevant, impactful, and liberating for their students.