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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
2010 Dr. Dzedzora examined what self-sustaining strategies probation officers use in their process of coping with change in the work environment. Her research provided insight into the unique career dynamics of probation officers and elicited helping and hindering categories that represent the strategies officers use in their coping process. Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
2010 Dr. Shariff studied the impact of racial discrimination on the relationship between acculturation and psychological health among South Asians. She found that higher discrimination related to higher psychological distress. This study highlights the continuing influence of discrimination on Canadian South Asians' mental health. Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
2010 Dr. Nijjar examined workplace alienation experienced by healthcare support service workers and himself during the privatization of services at a care home. He demonstrated that educational initiatives designed to increase support workers' involvement in the care planning process significantly reduced workplace alienation and created new positive workplace identities for those involved. Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD)
2010 Dr. Mitchell's dissertation explores the meaning of an education across a continuum of life experiences, from the earliest days of formal schooling to a life-long career as a Blues musician, illustrating the complex interplay between teaching and learning that arises in both intended and incidental contexts. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2010 Dr. Fossett examined the effectiveness of a staff-training program in behavior assessment and intervention for deaf children with additional disabilities. Following training, a Deaf staff implemented the procedures with a deaf child with multiple disabilities and his family. Improvements in child behavior and participation suggest an avenue for supporting this unique population. Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD)
2010 Dr. Blakesley conducted an analysis of how non-Indigenous Yukon school principals define and enact educational leadership in remote Indigenous communities. Their role-perception as leaders and the complex policy contexts affecting their practice was examined. This research sheds light on the cross-cultural tensions of educational leadership in the Canadian North. Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)
2010 Dr. LaCroix examined the roles of language, gestures, and material artifacts in mathematical thinking and learning within workplace training. His findings further the understanding of social process and communication involved in mathematics learning in a wide variety of contexts. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2010 Dr. Sorsdahl studied the family, social, psychological and physical health factors that affect the re-entry and transition experience of CF military members returning from overseas deployments. Through this study, Dr. Sorsdahl intends to propose changes to the current Canadian military support systems in place for returning military members. Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
2010 Dr. Lenters conducted a case study of literacy instruction in an elementary classroom, using a new approach to social and cultural studies of literacy. Her research considers the ways material objects, such as books, forms and student publications, play a role in the literacy practices of students and their teachers. Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
2010 Dr. MacKinnon McQuarrie used cortisol levels in saliva as a physiological index to measure children's reactivity to stress while completing tasks believed to underlie Math Disability. Higher levels of reactivity predicted poorer performance on working memory and math tasks, processes that are impaired in children with Math Disability. Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD)

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