Course Description
Students observe, investigate, analyze, and write about critical and contemporary state and national educational issues influencing social and political contexts from multiple vantage points both within and outside the school. Students reflect on and interpret the meaning of educational, moral, and ethical responsibilities in a diverse democratic culture.
Athena Title
Critical and Contemp Ed Issue
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ARED 2110
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will learn to investigate and describe contemporary schools and the interplay of school and society via selected social, historical, political, economic, philosophical, and cultural issues that influence those schools.
- Students will learn to discover, explore, describe, and write about current issues and trends in schools (e.g., bullying, curriculum mandates, vouchers, privatization, testing and evaluation, federal and state policy, reform initiatives, standards, and changes in curriculum) using disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields and the lenses of analysis, critique, and interpretation.
- Students will learn to analyze their legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities as future teachers.
- Students will learn to explore their core values and reflect on how their values influence their beliefs about "good" teaching and schooling in democratic contexts.
- Students will learn to develop and refine a philosophy of teaching for contemporary schools by exploring who they are as a potential teacher (e.g., examining their own agendas and prejudices as they relate to teaching and learning) and what dispositions they have for teaching diverse students in current Georgia and U.S. school contexts.
- Students will learn to analyze the implications, benefits, and challenges concerning the use of technology in contemporary Georgia and U.S. classrooms.
Topical Outline
- The content of the course will be contextualized institutionally and individually depending on the disciplinary or interdisciplinary expertise of faculty. The overarching framework for the course is grounded in intensive reading, writing, dialogue, and action. A field component (totaling 10 hours) is required, where "field" includes schools, but also extends beyond schools to include the broader community. For example, future educators can gain important insights into contemporary issues facing U.S. schools by experiencing community-based, non-school settings like community outreach centers and youth clubs.
- Course content is aligned with knowledge, dispositions, and performances outlined in the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Council for Learned Societies in Education (CLSE) as this content complies with both diversity standards and foundations standards set by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GAPSC). Six "standards" guide the integration of contemporary issues with foundational disciplines and link the content with knowledge, dispositions, and performances.
- Future educators understand and can apply disciplinary knowledge from the humanities and social sciences to interpret the meanings of education and schooling in diverse and contemporary contexts.
- Future educators understand and can apply normative perspectives on education and schooling in contemporary contexts.
- Future educators understand and can apply critical perspectives on education and schooling.
- Future educators understand and can apply moral and ethical principles related to how democratic institutions can inform and direct schooling practice, leadership, and governance.
- Future educators understand and can apply moral and ethical principles related to how democratic institutions can inform and direct schooling practice, leadership, and governance.
- Future educators understand the full significance of diversity in a democratic society and how that bears on instruction, school leadership, and governance.
- Future educators understand how philosophical and moral commitments affect the process of evaluation at all levels of schooling practice, leadership, and governance.
