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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).
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.
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.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Education.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Dr. Pentifallo studied the effect of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on urban policies in Vancouver. She explored attempts to create social housing units in False Creek and policing measures in the Downtown Eastside. This study could help citizens and city planners to anticipate the effects of major events on urban policy making. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Stouffer examined Reading Recovery training, an early literacy intervention. He investigated whether that training could be transferred into the literacy instruction in Canadian primary classrooms. This research adds to discussion of teacher preparation and professional development, and those teachers' personal theories of literacy instruction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2015 | Since school gardens are once again growing in school grounds across North America, Dr. Ostertag decided to grow a garden here at UBC as an arts-based research project to understand what it means to teach with a garden. In the company of plants and people, she engaged with the difficult history of school gardens and their pedagogical possibilities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Heng Hartse studied the reactions of English teachers to language useage they perceived as incorrect in student essays. He found that their perceptions of correctness, and their explanations for the evaluations they made, were highly subjective. This work has implications for anyone who works with second language writers and their texts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English as a Second Language (PhD) |
| 2015 | To help Cambodia build a higher education system that matches its social needs and context, Dr. Phan did an analysis of international policy reforms and stakeholder interviews, to serve as an informed basis for future discussions. He suggested three policies Cambodia needs to change to improve relevance, affordability, sustainability, and quality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Blinch studied how the brain processes the coordinated movements of both arms. He found that these movements are represented in the brain as a single action, and not independent actions for each arm. This knowledge will aid in the design of user-friendly interfaces, and help develop therapies for people who have difficulties with coordination. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Robinson wrote a memoir about caring for her daughter who had an eating disorder, the impact on her family, and her encounters with health-care professionals. The findings of an online focus group with pediatric nurses, who read her memoir, pointed to the lack of knowledge of the disorder and the need for education and changes in care protocols. | Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Denholm investigated the work of academic middle managers in a Canadian college. She revealed a discrepancy between expectations for leadership development and the reality of managerial obligations. Her insider's account suggests that professional development and changes in organizational culture are needed to enable college leaders to flourish. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. MacLennan studied instrumental music students and their conceptions of physical movements not directly involved in sound production. He suggests ways that educators might develop more embodied approaches to teaching, after finding that these ancillary movements hold important meanings for students and reflect their engagement with music-making. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Prest examined the ways in which music education partnerships between school and community have contributed to the vitality of three rural BC communities. Her multiple-case study assists us in understanding the process by which the social capital operating in these partnerships plays a role in rural community sustainability. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |