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Our Philosophy
The Professional Education Unit is committed to preparing Urban Professional Multicultural Educators. The Unit's conceptual framework illustrates the expectations we hold for the educators we prepare. Urban Professional Multicultural Educators bring knowledge and understanding, skills, dispositions, appropriate attitudes and above all, judgment to their roles as educators. Exercising good judgment as educators involves not just knowledge of teaching, learning, and of subject matter content. Judgment also involves understanding the social and cultural contexts in which teaching and learning take place, as well as understanding the role of education in the lives of individuals and in society. It also entails a solid knowledge base of ever-changing methodologies, technologies and resources. The various programs in the School of Education create the foundation for the development of Urban Professional Multicultural Educators by preparing them to examine the implications of difference for schools and society, challenge assumptions, and support diversity. The School's several Outreach Programs extend our urban, multicultural mission.
Engaging students mentally and emotionally in interactions that involve theory and practice provides the foundation for the occurrence of positive transformations for faculty and students. Intellectual, ethical, and social transformations in turn create the ethos and beliefs that educating children and oneself are lifelong processes. The Unit's conceptual framework indicates that we prepare educators that:
DePaul University's Mission and Ten Learning Goals are an integral part of the Urban Professional Multicultural Educator conceptual framework. Faculty members expect that students will monitor their progress in attaining a foundational level of competence in each of these areas, that can then be built upon throughout their careers as successful urban professional multicultural educators.
Multicultural Perspective and Supporting Diversity
Throughout all its programs the faculty encourages students to examine carefully their beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, and practices about differences involving gender, culture, ethnic and racial groupings, disabilities and other aspects of diversity. Students are involved in classroom and clinical/field experiences that promote the inclusion of all children and support quality education in diverse settings.
Integrate Inquiry, Theory and Practice
Research and theory guide practice; practice informs theory and research. Practice and research help educators understand, create, and modify theory based on the context of particular educational settings. Operating from this interplay means that students should:
Have a pluralistic repertoire of theories. The complex processes of teaching and learning (or counseling, supervising, administrating) are not adequately explained by a single theory. Professional educators must understand and wisely select from available frameworks and appropriate theories to help understand educational processes. Sometimes in an urban context educators operate on the cutting edge of practice where their work is the basis of theory development.
Engage in self reflective practice. Active, systematic reflection on one's educational practice and judgments enhances connections between theory and practice and is the hallmark of a professional.
Engage in critical and creative thinking. Operating from an interplay between theory and practice requires that students think critically and creatively. They must be capable of integrating knowledge and making reflective judgments.
A clinical, experiential emphasis is paramount. Early immersion in clinical/field experiences promotes hands-on learning that provides students better opportunities for development of skills, attitudes, dispositions, and understanding about teaching and learning. A clinical emphasis is characterized by careful planning, setting goals, participating in activities, projecting performance levels, evaluating progress and growth, and reflecting on the relationships between theory and practice.
Consider Multiple Perspectives
In educational activities we may begin with the notion that someone (an educator) is engaging in dialogue about something (the content) with someone else (a learner) in a network of social and cultural milieu (contexts). Exercising professional judgment means, in part, systematically considering all four when making educational decisions. This in turn means that educators must be acute observers of these crucial elements so they may weigh and choose them carefully when reflecting on educational practice.
Diverse Educators. An educator's personal style, teaching/learning style, values, breadth of knowledge, and level of preparation all have implications for the nature of interactions within educational contexts.
Diverse Learners. A learner's physical and mental health, personal, and cognitive development, learning style, values, language, ethnic and cultural background, level of motivation, and background knowledge also impact on each educational interaction.
Content. The nature of the content or bodies of organized knowledge to be studied, organizing principles, intrinsic interest, level of abstraction and difficulty, and the availability of appropriate materials are crucial to educational interactions.
Contexts. The nature of the milieu in which learning takes place is critical. The classroom, school, principal, family, peers and community, as well as broader social conditions are all part of the context. Other influences such as the impact of media, sociopolitical context, and state mandates need to be considered as well.
Promote Positive Transformation
The educational process aims at an internal transformation (intellectual, emotional, and ethical) of the individual, not simply an external shaping of behavior. As individuals grow in responsibility and service to the larger society, society is then transformed through collaboration of persons and institutions within the society. As educators, we emphasize personal and institutional (school and community) transformation through the collaborative actions of individuals.
Exhibit Vincentian Personalism
In a letter to the dean of the School of Education, former President Fr. John Richardson wrote: "One of the School of Education's greatest strengths ... has been the affective goals for its students. Graduates of our education programs bring heart as well as mind to their professional careers. This is most appropriate, if not essential, for a Vincentian university. I would like to cheer you on in making these personal and social values a key component in the education of our students." Vincentian personalism means that students should take with them attitudes which VALUE above all the dignity and integrity of the person and which will encourage educators to be:
Ethical. The School of Education encourages the development of values in its students and an ethical framework that reflects DePaul's mission. Emphasis is placed particularly on development of respect for persons who are different from oneself.
Collaborative. Learners construct knowledge through interaction with teachers, a variety of media, and, importantly, with other learners. Encouraging collaboration is central at all levels (students, teachers, faculty, administrators and other school personnel) and in many types of activities (teaching/learning, research, administration). Collaborative endeavors require and promote recognition of the VALUE of the contribution of each individual.
Socially Responsible. DePaul's urban mission in the context of education requires a commitment to educating all children and a recognition that ethnicity, culture and language are a vital part of the social context in which learning occurs. Transformation of individuals and institutions occurs, in part, as a result of understanding and valuing these contexts.
Service Oriented. The Vincentian orientation is one of service to the community. In this spirit, the School of Education develops partnerships with community educational organizations to improve learning opportunities for all children.
Function as a Lifelong Learner
The School of Education prepares its students by providing foundational experiences that support lifelong learning. Reflective teachers are always learning, constructing knowledge in dialogue with their students The faculty model for students a love of lifelong learning. They promote their own lifelong learning through ongoing professional development. Students are expected to be:
Discipline Experts. Each student acquires depth and breadth of knowledge and skills not just in pedagogy but also in a discipline in the liberal arts and sciences.
Literate. Students acquire mastery of multiple literacies including computer literacy, information literacy, math literacy, linguistic literacy, visual literacy and scientific literacy.
Articulate. Communication is at the heart of teaching. Students develop communication skills in the spoken and written word so that they may listen critically, read carefully, and write clearly.
Goal directed. Students are encouraged to take initiative and enhance their capacity to work toward accomplishing goals both independently and collaboratively.
Aesthetically Sensitive. Students cultivate their personal understanding of the creative arts as they develop keen judgment, flexible imagination, self-expression, and moral sensibility.
Historically Conscious. Students develop knowledge and appreciation of the past and its role in shaping the present and the future.
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