MA Critical Pedagogy

Designed for alumni of the ASPIRE to Teach alternative licensure program, but open to all teachers, to earn an MA in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in critical pedagogy. Graduates collaborate effectively at all levels-with other teachers and learning specialists, parents, students, administrators, counselors, and community members-to facilitate the success of all students.

As a graduate student, you will embark on a study of curriculum and instruction in P-12 contexts. This means that you will be thinking deeply about both classroom and school practices (your own and those of others’) as well as the larger theoretical frameworks that influence educational policy and pedagogical design. You will have the opportunity to continue your development as an educator under the tutelage of the ASPIRE faculty and alongside other ASPIRE alum whom you met in your licensure work. Curriculum & Instruction faculty emphasize the importance of teachers as scholars and reflective practitioners.

A thread running through all courses of the MA program is that of Critical Pedagogy. As a stance towards teaching, learning and school systems, Critical Pedagogy recognizes the political nature of education and the systemic inequities (social, economic, gender, ethnocultural background, racial geography, etc.) that help create unequal educational opportunities for a variety of learners.