Academic Programs
The Bryn Mawr/Haverford Education Program is based on the belief that education rests on dialogue. Focused on teaching and learning as social, political, and cultural activities, the Education Program challenges students to explore the relationships among schooling, human development, and society as they gain and create knowledge and skills of educational theory and practice. Students who complete one of the Education Program options are prepared to become lifelong learners, educators, researchers, leaders and agents of change. Each course includes a field experience—from two hours each week to full-time practice teaching—through which students learn to integrate academic and experiential knowledge.
Learning Goals
Students study education in order to:
- approach learning as a pivotal human and cultural activity.
- explore ideas about how people, communities, and institutions change and grow.
- investigate schooling as a powerful and problematic setting for personal and societal development.
- examine educational institutions in the context of political, economic, cultural and social dynamics.
- specialize in such topics as urban schooling, special education/disability studies, math and science education, literacy and language diversity studies, and educational psychology.
- experience and reflect on fieldwork placements in classrooms and others educational settings.
- prepare for future study and work in teaching, academia, counseling, leadership and other positions serving the public good.
Curriculum
The Bi-College Education Program offers several options. Students may:
- explore one or more aspects of education in areas of particular interest—such as urban schooling—by enrolling in single courses.
- pursue the Minor in Educational Studies.
- pursue the Concentration in Education, if majoring at Haverford in mathematics or physics.
- pursue a minor in Education leading to secondary teacher certification.
- complete the secondary teacher certification program after they graduate through the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Program.
Students in the Tri-College community may also apply to sub-matriculate as juniors or seniors into the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education’s elementary or secondary education Master’s program.
The requirements for the two tracks of the minor (educational studies and teacher certification) and the Concentration in Educational Studies are described below. Students interested in these options should meet with the Education Program Advisor as early as possible for advice on scheduling, preferably by the sophomore year.
Minor Requirements
The following two minors are available to Haverford and Bryn Mawr students via Bryn Mawr:
Educational Studies Path
The Bi-College Minor in Educational Studies is an interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural, political, developmental, and interactional dimensions of teaching and learning and is designed for students with a broad range of education-related interests, such as graduate study in education, pursuit of elementary or secondary certification after graduation, or a host of activities that require educational expertise. Many professions and pursuits—management and training positions, research, administration and policy work, and careers in social work, health and law—involve using an educator’s skills and knowledge. Civic engagement, community development, and work towards social justice also require knowledge of how people learn and change. Because students interested in these or other education-related pursuits major in different subject areas and have different aspirations, they are encouraged to design a minor appropriate to their major area of study and their anticipated futures.
Requirements for the Minor in Educational Studies include:
- EDUC 200 (Critical Issues in Education)
- Four education courses. At least two must be offered by Education Program or affiliated faculty (J. Cohen,/A. Cook-Sather/H. Curl/ V. Donnay/D. Flaks/A. Lesnick/ K. Rho/ C. Wilson-Poe/K. Zuckerman). Up to two may be education courses offered by faculty in other departments (of these, one may be taken at Swarthmore, Penn, or while studying away)
- One of the following as a culminating course: EDUC 311 (Theories of Change in Educational Institutions), EDUC 301 (Curriculum and Pedagogy Seminar), SOWK 676 (Making Space for Learning: Pedagogical Planning and Facilitation), or an intensified version of EDUC 295 (Advocating Diversity in Higher Education).
Secondary Teacher Certification Path
The Bryn Mawr/Haverford Education Program is accredited by the state of Pennsylvania to prepare undergraduates and alumnae for certification in the following subject areas: English; languages, including French, Latin, and Spanish; mathematics; the sciences, including biology, chemistry, and physics; and social studies. Pursuit of certification in Chinese, German, and Russian is also possible but subject to availability of student teaching placements. Students certified in a language have K-12 certification.
To qualify for a teaching certificate, students must complete an academic major in the subject area in which they seek certification (or, in the case of social studies, students must major in history, political science, economics, anthropology, sociology, or Growth and Structure of Cities and take courses outside their major in the other areas). Within their major, students must select courses that help them meet the state standards for teachers in that subject area. Students must also complete the secondary teacher certification track of the minor in education, taking these courses:
- EDUC 200 (Critical Issues in Education)
- PSYC 203 (Educational Psychology)
- EDUC 210 (Perspectives on Special Education)
- EDUC 275 (English Learners in U.S. Schools)
- EDUC 301 (Curriculum and Pedagogy Seminar) (fall semester, prior to student teaching)
- EDUC 302 (Practice Teaching Seminar) and EDUC 303 (Practice Teaching). These courses are taken concurrently for three credits.
Students preparing for certification must also take two courses in English and two courses in math, maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, and pass a series of exams for beginning teachers (state requirements). To be admitted to the culminating student teaching phase of the program, students must earn a grade of a 2.7 or higher in both EDUC 200 (Critical Issues in Education) and EDUC 301 (Curriculum and Pedagogy) and be recommended by their major department and the director of the Education Program. To be recommended for certification, students must earn a grade of 2.7 or higher in EDUC 302 (Practice Teaching Seminar) and a grade of Satisfactory in EDUC 303 (Practice Teaching).
Note: Students practice-teach full time for 12 weeks in a local school during the spring semester of their senior year. Given this demanding schedule, students are not able to take courses other than the Practice Teaching Seminar and senior seminar for their major.
Graduates may complete the requirements for secondary teacher certification at Bryn Mawr in a post-baccalaureate program.
Title II Reporting
Title II of the High Education Act (HEA) requires that a full teacher preparation report, including the institution’s pass rate on assessments as well as the state’s pass rate, be available to the public on request. Students may request a report from Kelly Gavin Zuckerman kzuckerman@brynmawr.edu.
Concentration Requirements
Students majoring in mathematics or physics at Haverford may declare an Area of Concentration in Educational Studies. For the Concentration, students take four courses in the education program:
- EDUC 200 (Critical Issues in Education)
- Two education courses (must be courses offered by Education Program or affiliated faculty (J. Cohen/A. Cook-Sather/H. Curl/ V. Donnay/D. Flaks/A. Lesnick/K. Rho/ C. Wilson-Poe/K. Zuckerman)
- One of the following as a culminating course: EDUC 311 (Theories of Change in Educational Institutions), EDUC 301 (Curriculum and Pedagogy Seminar), SOWK 676 (Making Space for Learning: Pedagogical Planning and Facilitation), or an intensified version of EDUC 295 (Advocating Diversity in Higher Education).
In addition to these education courses, students take two courses in their major field of study. A unit of Independent Study within the major may be used to fulfill this requirement.
Mathematics majors
To complete the concentration in educational studies, mathematics majors must:
- Earn credit for MATH 460 (Teaching Assistantship) in two different semesters, one half-credit each; and
- Choose the Mathematics Education option of the senior thesis, as outlined in the Standards for the Mathematics Senior Thesis.
Physics majors
Students take the following courses:
- PHYS 459b (Teaching Laboratory Physics), typically in the second semester of the junior year; and
- PHYS 460a (Association in Teaching Basic Physics), typically in the first semester of the senior year.
All senior physics majors prepare and present to the department a talk and paper based on independent work. Education concentrators have the option of choosing a topic related to physics pedagogy for their research.
Study Abroad
We encourage students pursuing a teacher certification in a language to study abroad in a country where the language is spoken. Also, we accept towards the minor in education one education-related course a student takes while abroad.
Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Program
Graduates of Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges may complete requirements for certification to teach at the secondary level by enrolling in the Bryn Mawr/Haverford Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Program. In general, students complete the program in one academic year if they have majored in the subject they plan to teach.
The program offers certification in the English, mathematics, sciences (biology, earth and space sciences, and physics), languages (French, German, Latin, and Spanish; Chinese and Russian are also possibilities if student teaching placements can be found), and social studies.