printable versionEducation minor offered to undergraduates
The program doesn't come with a teaching credential, but it is designed to help undergraduates get a better sense of what a career in education might look like.
Jennifer Wolf
BY ADAM GORLICK
Hoping to better prepare students for careers in teaching, crafting educational policy and managing schools, Stanford's School of Education is now giving undergraduates the chance to minor in education.
The school does not offer an undergraduate major, and the minor does not mean graduates are credentialed to teach. Instead, the program focuses students on one of three topics designed to get them thinking about job possibilities: teaching and learning, educational policy, or educational technology.
The School of Education has long fielded inquiries from undergraduates asking to take classes. But because of its role as a professional graduate school, it never had an organized way to make its resources available to undergraduates, said Jennifer Wolf, director of the minor and a lecturer at the school.
"Undergraduate students who found their way to us had a scattershot approach to education," Wolf said. "We wanted them to understand our overarching philosophy, which is that education is an integrated field. There are a wide range of topics and fields that we want you to consider when thinking about a career in education."
To complete the minor, undergraduate students must take a minimum of six courses in the School of Education that add up to no fewer than 20 units and no more than 30.
The one required course, designed specifically for undergraduates and taught by Wolf, is an introduction to the theory and practice of teaching. Students meet the other requirements by choosing from a menu of classes covering topics such as the history and philosophy of education. They also must choose a subfield dealing with teaching and learning, policy or technology.
Interest in the minor program has so far been strong. Wolf said there are 16 students enrolled in the required course being taught this fall.
While California requires aspiring teachers to complete a bachelor's degree in a specific academic field before they begin their professional training, Stanford's new minor helps those thinking about a career in education better develop their career plans. It also helps better prepare those who enter Stanford's graduate school.
"Students in this program are not getting a teaching credential," said Pam Grossman, a professor of education who has spent the past two years helping arrange the minor. "It's not designed as a terminal degree program. Teachers should study a subject matter and then do a fifth year to get their credential. At the same time, we have a lot of undergraduates at Stanford who are interested in education but haven't had the opportunities to explore it."
The minor program was approved by the Faculty Senate in April and has received about $100,000 from the university to cover new administrative costs, Grossman said.