The King's University Academic Program Review Bachelor of Education, Elementary and Secondary Education 31 October 2016 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Self-Study ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Description of the Self-Study Process ............................................................................................... 4 2. Department Profile ............................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. History and Context of the Education Program ............................................................................. 5 2.2 Goals, Priorities and Principles ........................................................................................................ 9 2.3. Staffing .................................................................................................................................... 12 2.4. Other Resources ...................................................................................................................... 14 1.4. Scholarly Activity ..................................................................................................................... 16 3. Program(s) ....................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1. Program Description and Requirements................................................................................. 20 3.2. Program Outcomes ................................................................................................................. 34 4. Curriculum ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Courses offered by the Faculty of Education ...................................................................................... 36 (See Appendix for Course Descriptions) ............................................................................................. 36 5. Assessment ..................................................................................................................................... 38 5.1. Statistical profile of population, course enrolments, degree conferrals ................................ 38 5.2. Graduate profile ...................................................................................................................... 48 5.3. Current student survey/focus groups on qualitative program aspects .................................. 48 5.4. Alumni survey/focus groups on qualitative aspects of the program ...................................... 51 5.5. Resources (budget and facilities) ............................................................................................ 52 External Assessment ................................................................................................................................... 54 Response to Considerations ................................................................................................................... 54 Response to External Review Report Recommendations....................................................................... 57 Summary and Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 60 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 67 Course Descriptions ............................................................................................................................ 67 External Reviewers Report .......................................................................................................................... 79 Faculty CVs ................................................................................................................................................ 157 2 Executive Summary This review of the two Bachelor of Education after-degree programs was complicated by the close links between the Elementary and Secondary programs. As a result, the two programs were reviewed together, and many of the recommendations apply to both programs. A large number of recommendations have emerged from this effort. A number focus around King’s character as a faith-based postsecondary institution. Hence the development of statements on how a foundational Christian faith commitment is expressed in the program and in a religiously diverse society are looked for. Equally, the development of a research plan that produces wide engagement over the role of religion in Alberta schools and teacher preparation is called for. Another group of recommendations revolve around the development of, mapping to and assessment against a set of Student Outcomes for the program. Both students and sessional faculty will be oriented to those outcomes. Finally, the theme of extending the relationship of the Faculty of Education emerged. This is reflected in proposed workshops on supporting pre-service teachers, and in more intentional connection with and support for graduates as they proceed through their teaching careers. Within the institution, the faculty will pursue appropriate presentations of the program as well as suggesting target audiences both inside and outside King’s. 3 Self-Study 1. Description of the Self-Study Process This self-study follows on the heels of a challenging period of change for the The King’s University Faculty of Education. Within the last eight years, the Faculty designed and launched its Secondary Program, inducted an entirely new roster of faculty members, and sustained a total turnover of its administrative team (cf. Section 2.1). Now that this period of change is almost past, the time is ripe for taking stock through a program review. The self-study was conducted through a recursive process involving many voices and activities. The report, itself, was generated by a three-member committee of the Faculty of Education which wrote initial drafts of many of the sections, placed them before the Faculty of Education for discussion, and then redrafted each on the basis of feedback from the full Education Faculty. The King’s Institutional Research Office was a partner with the Faculty of Education throughout the self-study. The Office described the steps involved, provided and interpreted the statistics used in the report, served as a sounding board during the development of the self-study, and assembled the final document. One of the important sources informing the Self-Study was an informally gathered list of questions related to possible program changes which the Faculty of Education generated during busy times. Although we never stopped discussing each of the questions—and discovering new ones—arriving at answers was postponed until a time when we would be able to attend to them properly through a program review process. Questions of this kind now surface in Section 3 of this Self-Study. The Faculty of Education’s first step in launching the Self-Study was a visioning exercise. This was conducted on August 20, 2015, and led by a King’s staff member from outside the Education Faculty. We used a modified version of McGill Action Planning to probe the history, dreams, fears, identity, and priorities of our Faculty. Faculty members’ comments were recorded on chart paper and later transcribed as a Word document. The records of the visioning exercise were a significant source for the themes which inform our Statement of Principles and Priorities (cf. Section 2.2). We moved many of the questions left open in August toward resolution through further steps in the self-study process. One of the Faculty’s activities early in the process was to conduct an audit of the priorities set in Shared Vision 2020 , the strategic plan for The King’s University which was adopted by our Board on March 4, 2015. Strategic priorities which fell within the scope of the Education Faculty were identified and threaded into the self-study drafts developed by the program review committee. Discussion by the full Faculty followed. Given the many changes of programs and people which the Education Faculty had experienced, Faculty members believed that we needed to develop a statement which describes our identity in terms of foundational principles and priorities. This statement now appears within Section 2.2, the section dealing with Faculty goals. On December 4, 2015, at a mid-point in its development, we placed a draft of our Statement of Principles and Priorities before our Teacher Education Advisory Committee (cf. Section 4 2.4 for a description of TEAC’s role and membership). TEAC members were unreserved in their responses which helped us identify priorities that we hadn’t seen and clarify our language. TEAC’s responses also helped us locate ways in which our foundational principles make us distinctive as a faith- based program and spurred us to envision a program of scholarship of teaching and learning related to questions of faith within the context of education in Alberta. Nevertheless, the Education Faculty regards the Statement of Priorities and Principles appearing in Section 2.2 as a draft statement requiring continued exploration and discussion. The time