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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] According to the
National Center for Education Statistics,
176,572 individuals were conferred masters degrees in education
by degree-granting institutions in the
United States in 2006-2007. The number of masters degrees
conferred has grown immensely since the
1990s and accounts for one of the discipline areas that awards
the highest number of masters degrees
in the United States.[2]
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.
Types of programs[edit source | editbeta]
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.
Common areas of interest[edit source | editbeta]
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
