
The Secondary Education program is designed for students who want to become teachers at the middle or high school level and leads to recommendation by the State of Washington for a teaching certificate. Our related programs include:
- Undergraduate/Post-Baccalaureate Program (Bellingham)
- Master in Teaching Programs (Bellingham, Everett, & Renton)
- Education and Social Justice Minor
- Office of Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention
We believe:
- Teaching and learning are collaborative and are built on critical inquiry processes
- Learning is a reciprocal, on-going process, requiring openness to new ideas
- Effective democratic teachers build on the valuable knowledge and assets students bring to the learning process
- In honoring and supporting the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.
- In recognizing that all beings are interdependent, and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
- In promoting social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible
We center social justice with the assertions that:
- Systems of power and privilege give rise to inequities in society
- Justice requires a critical analysis of social, cultural and institutional systems and how they contribute to inequity
- Critical self-reflection helps us understand the beliefs and positions we hold, our world view, and where those perspectives come from
- Staying open to other points of view, and understanding and valuing the lived experiences of others is a central requisite of working toward a more just society