Department of Education

The Department of Education at Connecticut College offers a major and minor in Educational Studies as well as coursework to other Conn students who wish to learn about educational systems and student experiences across the P-20 continuum.

While the department does not offer a teacher certification program, the major and minor do prepare students to enter graduate certification programs around the country. Majors and minors are also prepared to enter a range of other professions and graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences. Though doing so is not required, many Educational Studies students choose to double-major.

Through a range of course dialogues, participation in community and school experiences, critical reading of texts, self-reflection and argument construction in writing, and engagement with other course and program activities, the department supports students' continuous understanding of topics and tensions in Educational Studies.

As a department grounded in critical approaches to the study of education, we are particularly attuned to the power and politics of education and the ways educational systems in the U.S. have historically been spaces of exclusion, cultural erasure and political oppression for many while simultaneously being vibrant spaces of opportunity for some. Students in Educational Studies coursework will engage these tensions, studying the past and present of educational systems in the U.S. while also imagining and enacting the possibilities of future educational systems that are culturally relevant and sustaining for all students, families, and communities.