Education

Student Work: Daniela Moreira's Ed Portfolio

Education is Not Neutral; Education is Political

The BiCo Ed Department sees teaching and learning as fundamental to human life, and fundamentally connected to struggles for liberation.

See more student work from the Education Department

Prof. Cook-Sather sesrved as international expert on Student Engagement and Teaching and Learning Committee of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in Ireland

Professor Alison Cook-Sather joins HEA in Ireland

In April of 2024, Alison Cook-Sather was invited to serve as an international expert to the the Student Engagement and Teaching and Learning Committee of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in Ireland. The HEA leads the strategic development of the Irish higher education and research system with the objective of creating a coherent system of diverse institutions with distinct missions, which is responsive to the social, cultural and economic development of Ireland and its people and supports the achievement of national objectives.

Learn more about the TLI here

Authors Kathryn Gonzoles, Alice Lesnick, Jada Ceasar, Torr Mundy, and Princess Jefferson

Prof. Lesnick and Posse Students Publish Mentoring Guide

To say it most succinctly, this is what I learned:

Be honest
Be yourself
Listen with the intent to learn
Respect, trust, and believe the student
Be ready to question institutional norms
Remember that you can’t know what is realistic for someone else
Keep your promises
Be accessible
Expect to move in ways not familiar to you
Lift your students up
Let yourself be lifted up by your students

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

"what if school was the scale at which we could care for each other"

“[Schools are]…organizational structures for learning, nurturance, and survival, both intergenerationally and within generations....what if school was the scale at which we could care for each other and move together” (Gumbs, Undrowned, p. 55, p. 56). As Grace Lee Boggs, Bryn Mawr College 1940, asserted, if we could work intergenerationally as solutionaries to all the challenges to our well-being and existence that would be all the school we would need.

Learn more about the Internships and Partnerships in Education

Classroom image of small group discussion

Bi-Co Students can now major or minor in Education Studies

Education Department Major Announced

“The Curriculum Committee found the proposal for the educational major compelling for its demonstration of curricular depth and clearly articulated pathways for majoring students,” wrote Associate Professor of History Anita Kurimay on behalf of the committee.

The designation as a major also recognizes the importance of education as a field of study that extends well beyond teacher preparation.

Read the full announcement

Student Work: Courses

Teaching Within, Against, and Beyond Systems

Coursework challenges students to explore relationships among schooling and other contexts of learning, human development, and social change

Learn more about education courses.

Revisiting Education, Justice, and Technology

Departmental Statement on Use of AI

The proliferation of generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Dall-E, Claude) and non-generative forms (e.g., Google Translate, Grammerly) offer opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to revisit the purpose of education broadly conceived and of learning in any given course. The Education Department takes and advocates an inquiry stance on the ways in which the proliferation of AI can inform thinking, attribution, research, and sharing in the production of knowledge with integrity. AI, like all technologies, can be put to positive and productive or harmful and detrimental use, and its various forms re-raise both new and age-old questions about creativity and ownership in knowledge production. Individual faculty members in the Ed Department will explore particular uses of AI in individual courses.

A useful resource about generative AI from the University of Michigan

Our Department

The Bryn Mawr/Haverford Education Department centers on teaching and learning as fundamental to human life and growth, and fundamentally connected to struggles for understanding, liberation, and justice. With a primary focus on relationships, facilitation, and change as the heart of the study and practice of education, we address our students as past, current, and future stakeholders of public education systems, as participants in many other systems and structures, and as prospective teachers, school leaders, researchers, policy makers, activists, artists, and theorists. Defining teaching and learning as social, political, and cultural as well as personal activities, the Education Department challenges students to explore the relationships among schooling and other contexts of learning, human development, and social change as they gain knowledge and skills of educational theory and practice.

See the Student Guidebook for an overview of the major and minor options, requirements, declaration processes, and course offerings.

"So, every day, I’m challenging myself, 'What are you doing, bell, for the creation of the beloved community?' Because that’s the underground, local insistence that I be a fundamental part of the world that I’m in.’’ — bell hooks

Fall 2024 Welcome Back & Course Openings

Welcome to the new semester! We in the Education Department are looking forward with joy to working with you.

For our second full year of the Education major, we continue to have four exploratory entry point courses, and are offering several capstone options. You can find here our full course listings for the 2024-25 Academic Year!

While this new system settles in, we are taking a responsive approach with the capstones this year, such that students not yet ready to complete the major or minor course of study can still take a 300-level course with the understanding that they will be flexibly designed to meet students where they are.

For those seeking an Education course this Fall, there is space in Education 105: Education Studies: Theories, Practices, & Possibilities; Education 275: Emergent Multilingual Learners; Education 308: Inquiries into Black Study, Language Justice; and Education/SOWK 676: Making Space for Learning.

You can find out more about these courses in the trico course guide, or by emailing the instructor directly!

To a meaningful and nourishing Fall together,

The Education Department

Education Department COVID Policy & Guidelines

The Education Department's COVID masking policy is consistent with the Bryn Mawr and Haverford College's policies overall. Our course classrooms are mask-friendly, meaning masks are welcome, but not required, unless the instructor working with the class decides to create a class requirement informed by the class community’s needs. We will continue to emphasize care and consideration for each other's needs and desires, and make ongoing decisions, centering these.

When students are attending their educational internships, they should learn and follow the COVID guidelines of the school or program community.

Bryn Mawr College's COVID 19 Policy and Protocols

Haverford College's COVID 19 Policy and Protocols