What are the Essential Beliefs?

The following Essential Beliefs provide the framework for our conceptual model. These beliefs, which are shared by the Professional Education Unit faculty, provide the foundation for courses and experiences that ensure the development of the educational competence and confidence required to assume the role of a Collaborative Professional.

The Professional Education Unit believes:

Essential Belief One
The Professional Education Unit believes teaching and learning are enriched by a liberal arts foundation that provides in-depth experiences with knowledge construction, inquiry, and collaboration.

Essential Belief Two
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning require active participation in carefully organized educational experiences that are reinforced and extended through practice.

Essential Belief Three
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning integrate the intensive study of pedagogy, wisdom of professional practice, and professional development experiences.

Essential Belief Four
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning include the study of varied perspectives through experience and practice opportunities.

Essential Belief Five
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning must address knowledge of the ethical and programmatic connections between theory and practice.

Essential Belief Six
The Professional Education Unit believes teaching and learning must address knowledge construction in diversifying instruction and provide experiences in increasing access to the curriculum for all children and youth.

Essential Belief Seven
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning must address opportunities to develop capacities in inquiry and problem solving to support a proactive approach to educational issues and problems.

Essential Belief Eight
The Professional Education Unit believes that teaching and learning must address the development of competence in communicating and collaborating with school and community partners.

The power a school derives from being a community, where each person is responsible for educating the children and youth who attend, can not be under-valued. Interest in the whole school community, and all the children, creates the collective capacity required by the profession to ensure that each child receives the highest quality of education. A collegial community of learners offers multiple opportunities for interaction.