This is a collaborative program involving two departments: the Department of Educational Studies and the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. The Program was created in response to increasing interest in the study of a combination of curricular leadership on the one hand, and organizational leadership in schools on the other. The applicants for this collaborative program will be teachers in K–12 education who wish to increase their level of understanding and skill in both areas. Upon completion of the program, the students will assume positions of formal or informal leadership in schools, making important contributions to the education of children.
Master of Education (MEd) – Art Education
Our mission is to inspire, engage and provoke educators to understand, inquire into, and model curricular and pedagogical possibilities of deep involvement with the visual arts in culture and society. Within a large research orientated university situated on traditional Musqueam land, the Art Education Program strives to:
Stimulate and conduct research within a vibrant and collaborative research community that focuses on methodologies and content relevant to the visual arts in culture and society.
Provide for, model, and develop socially responsible and ecologically aware exemplary teaching practices in and across contexts with a focus on the visual arts in culture and society.
Provide leadership, and engage with local, national, and international arts and culture organizations and professionals.
The research interests of faculty in Art Education are diverse. They encourage a wide spectrum of student inquiry: art based research, a/r/tography, art curriculum, early childhood, teacher education, First Nations art and education, histories of art education, multiculturalism, museum and gallery education, perception and cognition, studio practices, technology and visual culture, theory/practice relationships, and gender studies. For more information on research in art education, please see the a/r/tography site.
The University of British Columbia Art Education Program ranks in the top eight in North America and is one of two PhD programs in Canada (Concordia is our counterpart).
Certificate – SoTL Leadership in Higher Education
International Faculty SoTL Leadership Program: UBC Certificate on Curriculum and Pedagogy in Higher Education
Universities around the world recognize the importance and complexity of offering high quality and high engagement student learning experiences in diverse and internationally-responsive undergraduate and graduate programs. Senior educational leaders are thus increasingly required to account for research-informed, evidence-based, effective, efficient and strategically aligned curriculum and pedagogical practices.
In response to these scholarly, professional and institutional challenges, The International Faculty SoTL Leadership Program: UBC Certificate on Curriculum and Pedagogy in Higher Education prepares senior educational leaders to develop expertise in scholarly approaches to, and the scholarship of curriculum and pedagogical practices in complex higher education settings.
Master of Education (MEd) – Media and Technology Studies Education
Technology Studies Education provides a forum for exploring and studying information and communication technologies (ICT), new media, and the philosophy of technology. Curriculum, pedagogy, research, and development interests of faculty and students include affective computing, cyberculture and cyborg relations, digital ecology and diversity, distributed cognition, gaming, ICT integration in K–16 formal and informal learning environments (face-to-face, hybrid, and online distance education), intellectual property, open source, and cultural studies. The program offers a common core of courses, a range of electives, and a variety of professional education opportunities.
Master of Education (MEd) – Social Studies Education
Social Studies prides itself in offering a rich environment with unparalleled opportunities for graduate students desiring a wide range of backgrounds and interests including visual culture, anti-oppressive education, gender studies, historical consciousness, moral education, and the history and politics of curriculum. In addition to the required coursework, a vibrant graduate student community is fostered through speaker series, research centres, seminars, and study groups. Many social studies faculty and students are actively involved in the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness and the History Education Network (a seven-year project, sponsored by a $2.1 million SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Clusters Grant awarded in March of 2008).
Master of Education (MEd) – Science Education
Our graduate programs in Science Education offer students opportunities to pursue a wide range of research and professional interests in the areas of science education, including teacher education, learning and teaching at elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels and in diverse contexts, such as museums and other institutions and technology-enhanced settings. Current research projects includes the Intergenerational Landed Learning on the Farm project.
Master of Education (MEd) – Physical Education
This master’s program is offered to physical educators who are ready to move up a gear by refining and expanding their ideas of teaching, learning and knowing. Using Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) as a catalyst for thinking about ontological and epistemological issues in physical education, teachers will start to explore constructivist, student-centered and holistic approaches as possibilities for their own practice.
They will also examine their position on continuums of belief from inclusion to elitism, transaction to transmission, integration to dualism, tactical understanding to skill acquisition, discovery to representation, concepts to techniques and finally between demonstration and creation of understanding rather than mastery.
It has long been argued that research by teachers about their own classroom and school practices functions as a powerful mechanism for professional change, as it generates new ways of thinking about practice. The first cohort (2009-2011) focused on TGfU research and published an edited book titled ‘Reconceptualizing PE through TGfU’ (2012) made up of condensed versions of their final graduating projects.
This has started a change that should generate health and sustainable programs of teacher research, distributed across schools, teacher groups, school-university partnerships and regional and national forums. This master’s program focusing on physical education is advertising the third cohort to begin in June 2014.
Our internationally known program instructors have built upon the practical ideas, shared research, and reflections that presenters brought to the 2008 International TGfU Conference at UBC. Courses and texts will examine current teaching perspectives, constructs of ability, and curriculums, move into analyzing TGfU from pedagogical and learning theory perspectives, and finally, consider, define, and implement developmentally appropriate TGfU activities.
Master of Education (MEd) – Music Education
Situated spectacularly at the western edge of the culturally vibrant city of Vancouver, the University of British Colombia offers exciting opportunities for graduate study in Music Education.
UBC graduate programs in Music Education are designed to meet a variety of needs and interests, including those of the busy professional teacher, the researcher, the administrator, the curriculum developer, and the future university professor. Specializations include conducting, music pedagogy, early childhood music, curriculum development, cultural studies, music and media studies, music and related technologies, and teacher education.
Music Education faculty members have a wide range of research interests and specialties, using methods that are both qualitative (based in philosophy, history, psychology, sociology, arts-based educational research, and a/r/tography) and quantitative (involving quasi-experimental research, survey research, and large-scale multivariate designs). Courses across the university are also available to our graduate students, and cross-faculty inquiry is actively encouraged.
UBC Music Education graduates have successful careers and have risen to leadership positions in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Master of Education (MEd) – Mathematics Education
The graduate programs (MEd & MA) in Mathematics Education are part or the graduate offerings in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Students can pursue a wide variety of research and professional interests in mathematics teaching and learning. The math education program has a legacy of large-scale research projects, such as the Early Numeracy Project and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), which involve a network of regional, national, and international scholars.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) – Curriculum Studies
The PhD in Curriculum Studies is a flexible, research-oriented doctoral program designed for students interested in curricular and pedagogical issues within educational settings. Two 3-credit doctoral seminars are offered in the Program as required courses. In addition to these six credits, one is required to take two research methodology and two specialization courses (12 credits total). Students select courses in consultation with their faculty supervisors or program advisory committee, based on prior academic work and research interests. Students in the PhD program typically are expected to complete coursework in the first 18 months of their program and reach candidacy within 24 months before starting their dissertation research. Students are expected in the next two years to develop and carry out a research project designed to make an original contribution to knowledge in the area of specialization. The university allows doctoral students up to six years to complete program requirements, however students are encouraged to complete their programs in four years.
