Concentration in Educational Foundations with a Socio-Culture Studies Focus
MASTER OF ARTS
Program overview
Students in our Educational Foundations program will explore the socio-cultural and philosophical contexts of educational practice.
Why educational foundations at Western Michigan University?
Each student is encouraged to meet with a faculty advisor to design a program to study specific educational problems. Because educational issues tend to be complex, interdisciplinary inquiry is often a part of this concentration. The size of this program is controlled, providing students with a personally and professionally meaningful experience.
Program mission
- Develop skills necessary for ongoing critical inquiry concerning ways that educational aims and practices reflect and emerge from taken-for-granted cultural assumptions as well as formal institutional and political policies.
- Develop an understanding of the ways professional aims and practices are embedded in institutions and reflect their socio-historical contexts and cultural assumptions;
- Increase awareness of historically pertinent and current issues related to schooling;
- Develop an understanding of moral and political assumptions that affect schooling, and how these shape political relationships, particularly with regard to social justice and environmental sustainability;
- Expand and refine academic discipline-based skills.
Curriculum
Core Courses (9 credits)
- ED 6010 - Intro to Research in Educational Settings
- ES 6330 - Education and Human Flourishing
- ES 6340 - Culture and Politics of Educational Institutions
Program Concentration (12 credits)
Students can take a variety of courses in and outside the department related to their chosen concentration. Courses can include:
- ES 6030 - Sociological and Philosophical Foundations
- ES 6300 - History of US Education
- ES 6730 - Class, Ethnicity, Gender in Education
- ES 6750 - Multicultural Education
- ED 6980 - Special Topics
- ES 5850 - Social Justice and Community Organizing
- ED 6280 - Curriculum Theory
- ED 6020 - School Curriculum
Electives (6 credits)
- Advisor approved graduate courses, normally from outside the department, which support a particular scholarly interest
Masters Thesis or Capstone (3-6 credits)
- ED 7000 - Masters Thesis
- ED 6790 - Capstone Project
Admissions
Applicants are asked to include some program-specific information, with a summary for these requirements found below:
Applicants are encouraged to bookmark this information for quick reference while working through the graduate application process.
Documents and Resources
- Capstone
- ED 5980—Application to elect an independent study
- Graduate program change
- Notification of appointment to a dissertation, project or thesis committee
- Program planning sheet (to be completed with a faculty advisor)
Helpful Links
- Graduation Process Information and Deadlines
- Master Thesis Forms and Deadlines
- Writing Center
- Library Services for Graduate Students