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The Faculty of Education at UBC is advancing educational research and understanding in ways that celebrate diversity, equity, and innovation, and welcomes international collaboration in an increasingly borderless world.

UBC’s Faculty of Education, one of the world’s leading education faculties, has served the local, national, and international education community through leadership in research, teaching, service and advocacy for more than 60 years. As the largest Faculty of Education in British Columbia, it plays a critical and influential role in the advancement of education in the province, shaping and participating in education’s possibilities and potential as a social good. 

Today, the Faculty of Education creates conditions for transformative teaching, innovative learning, and leading-edge research guided by the highest standards of scholarship and the principles of collaboration, social justice, inclusion and equity. Offering undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional development opportunities, the Faculty of Education enrolls thousands of students each year on two campuses and ranks 10th in the world, according to QS World University Rankings (2021).

UBC’s Faculty of Education prepares more than 45% of the elementary and the majority of secondary educators in British Columbia, and a significant proportion of British Columbia’s school counsellors, administrators, special education professionals, and school psychologists. With more than 57,000 alum located in 100 countries, the UBC Faculty of Education truly is a global entity. 

The Faculty of Education is home to four departments (Curriculum and Pedagogy, Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, Educational Studies, and Language and Literacy Education) and two schools (the School of Kinesiology and the Okanagan School of Education).

Mission
To advance education's role in the well-being of people and communities.
 

Research Facilities

We provide outstanding research facilities for faculty and graduate students that promote leading-edge research. Our Education Library is a specialized resource with access to all of UBC’s research and special collections, including the X̱wi7x̱wa Library with materials produced by Indigenous organizations, tribal councils, schools, researchers and publishers.

The Faculty’s Education Research and Learning Commons at Ponderosa Commons features technology-enhanced teaching and learning spaces and also informal learning spaces. A number of faculty manage their own research labs, situated throughout campus. 

Many of our PhD students have been selected as UBC Public Scholars and have received other honours.

Research Highlights

https://ivet.educ.ubc.ca/Notable strengths are in literacy education and multilingualism; struggling and marginalized youth; Indigenous education, decolonization, and research; transformational program and curriculum design and inclusive pedagogies for schools, community organizations and higher education; sexual orientation and gender-identity inclusive education; social-emotional learning and well-being; autism; exercise physiology, socio-cultural aspects of health; neuromechanical studies; and multidisciplinary research in diversity, health, early childhood education, and digital media. The School of Kinesiology ranks 1st in Canada and 4th in the world by QS World University Rankings (2021).

UBC’s Faculty of Education is the national leader in the number of education graduate student fellowships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Additionally, the Faculty of Education is home to six Canada Research Chairs, one CIHR chair and nine donor-funded research chairs and professorships. 

Graduate Degree Programs

Recent Publications

This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Education.

 

Recent Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
Year Citation Program
2021 Dr. Fleming's research explored the challenges and strategic opportunities of leadership in post-secondary education under growing neoliberal conditions. He concludes that neoliberal conditions redefine education as a commodified resource in a global marketplace, shifting educational practice away from principles of participatory democracy. Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD)
2021 Dr. Doherty examined how four long-term adult learners of Chinese were socialized throughout their language journeys into practices and identities that later informed their roles as online language mentors. This study highlighted the rich and complex resources that these experienced learners created for their peers in a digital environment. Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
2021 Dr. Vincent explored poetic inquiry and discovered its distinctive functions as method, methodology and tool in research and scholarship. He found that poetic inquiry is rhizomatic, appearing across the disciplines, and that it merges the sensibilities of a poet (with literary concerns) with those of a researcher (with epistemological concerns). Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
2021 Dr. Becker interviewed Indigenous women living in Canada who have done well with career decision-making during a period of sex-based status discrimination. Resulting themes highlight the roles of relationships, personal values, adverse experiences, situational influences, and community in influencing how these women navigate their careers. Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
2021 Dr. Cortes studied the factors that contribute to a successful integration of mental health mobile applications into psychotherapy. Her research contributes to the understanding of how to best use this kind of technology in the counselling field. Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
2021 Dr. Baker examined how Dr. Sultan Somjee and the Community Peace Museum Heritage Foundation in Kenya utilize the African Humanist philosophy of Utu to resolve conflict in civil society and the environment. Her findings contribute to understanding the value of teaching Indigenous peace heritage traditions to promote peace in a modern world. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2021 Dr. Yaro applied Afrocentric worldviews and cultural capital theory to investigate African immigrant parents' support for their children's mathematics learning in Canada. Dr. Yaro's work contributes to knowledge and insights that can guide teachers and other educators towards a more culturally responsive mathematics curriculum and pedagogy. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2021 Dr. Melton studied how developing a sense of wonder in pre-service teachers influenced their ideas about science and science teaching. She found that exposure to wonder-inducing activities shifted the views and values of pre-service teachers towards science both in and out of the classroom and fostered a stronger connection with nature. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2021 Dr. Dormond studied the understanding and response of counsellors, police and educators to "honour"-related violence and oppression, and found that discourses of othering depict racialized communities as the cause of these acts. He provides insight for collaborative and educational frameworks to challenge the marginalization of racialized peoples. Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)
2021 Dr. Becker examined how two Chilean-Canadian heritage language learners were socialized to remember their difficult cultural heritage at home and at their Spanish bilingual elementary school. This study sheds light on the sophisticated navigation of uneven cultural terrain by children in heritage language education contexts generations after exile. Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)

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