About Us

"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity OR it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." Paulo Freire

The Education department at Connecticut College aims to develop teachers as intellectuals and mediators of social change with solid academic records and a strong commitment to their professional life. Critical pedagogies underlie our teacher certification program, therefore, teacher candidates must attain high levels of achievement within their discipline(s). That is, they must demonstrate understanding of the major concepts, assumptions, processes of inquiry and ways of knowing central to their discipline(s). Moreover it is expected that candidates learn to interrogate this knowledge base as they critically engage power/knowledge relations that (re)produce social and educational inequalities.

The teacher certification program at Connecticut College is designed for students who wish to become certified as professional educators. However, we are not a "how to" program, nor do we offer lock-step "training." Our goal is to prepare educators who see schooling as an opportunity to create a multiracial, multi-vocal democracy capable of addressing the serious social, economic and environmental issues in contemporary society. We are proud that our alumni teach in schools and educational settings throughout the world.

The goals of the program are:

• To develop teachers who understand that excellence in teaching begins with superior and critical knowledge of subject matter as the grounding for developing high standards of excellence and achievement for their K-12 students.
• To develop teachers who understand K-12 classrooms as microcosms of larger socio-cultural and economic contexts and, in turn, create classrooms as critical places where students are taught to pose essential questions about power, equality and inequality.
• To develop teachers who construct pedagogies that are grounded in the lives of students and their communities.
• To develop teacher who can create K-12 classrooms that are multicultural, antiracist and anti-bias.
• To develop teachers who create K-12 classrooms that are participatory and experiential, allowing students and teachers to engage in work that often lies outside the traditional boundaries of the "classroom."

For further information about these goals, we invite you to read the department's Conceptual Framework.

The Education Department at Connecticut College is a member of the Consortium for Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE), along with Barnard, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Dartmouth, Harvard, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Princeton, Smith, Swarthmore, the University of Pennsylvania, Vassar, Wellesley, Wheaton, and Yale. These 16 member institutions share a common commitment to a broad liberal arts education for those entering the teaching profession. Their teacher education graduates are characterized by breadth of study, a major in liberal arts discipline, and work in education that enables them to meet state certification in reciprocal states.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 13, 2008 14:49