VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND ALLIED PROFESSIONS

Vision of the School of Education and Allied Professions

Our students (candidates) are our first priority.

We are stewards of our public responsibility for human development, working collaboratively with our students, schools, families, and community, health and social service agencies to create knowledge and strategies to improve our complex global society.

We are a collegial community of learners, committed to the goals of Miami University, specifically focused on the development of leaders for education, families, health and social service agencies and local communities.

We strive to be exemplars of practices that are democratic, nurturing, moral, ethical and respectful.

We are responsive to our past and responsible for our collective futures.

Mission of the School of Education and Allied Professions

The EAP community of collaborative practitioners (the Unit), while committed to fulfilling Miami University's mission, endeavors to prepare caring, competent, and transformative practitioners.  Knowledge, skills, and dispositions will be infused to promote the highest quality teacher education & allied professions' programs, professional development opportunities for practitioners, and exemplary graduate degree programs.

As a unit, we adopted 14 Principles Guiding the Development of Curricula for Practitioners and Health/Social Service Professionals in 1994.  These principles were based on two years of work of various committees and several Faculty and Partner School Retreats, the draft standards for teacher licensure in Ohio, standards of professional societies, NCATE standards, and the original 16 Statements of Professional Development that undergirded the development of professional education programs in 1987.  The 14 principles include:  addressing the knowledge base, praxis, coherence, inquiry, decision-making, learner focus, equity, diversity, family and community, collaboration, lifelong-learning in an educative community, enculturation and global awareness.  These 14 principles set the foundation for our five institutional standards that are at the heart of our conceptual framework and our philosophical beliefs that describe our definition of a caring, competent, and transformative practitioner.

What does it mean to be a caring, competent, and transformative practitioner?  This practitioner is one who holds the unique responsibility of preparing young people for their responsibilities in a democracy.  The practitioner's role and relationships with students are ever changing and evolving and transforming.

A caring practitioner is one who understands the perspective of others.  A caring relationship is one in which teachers can convey loving support to students by listening to students and validating their feelings, and by demonstrating kindness, compassion, and respect (Higgins, 1994; Meier, 1995).

A competent practitioner is one knowledgeable within the content area(s) in which he/she teaches.  "Without the essential base of subject matter knowledge, teachers are simply unable to produce effective instruction."  (Lee, 1995, p. 424; Hashweh, 1987).

A transformative practitioner is one who is engaged within critical reflection on present practices informed by theoretical knowledge (Cambron-McCabe & Foster, 1994).  The practitioner becomes a transformative agent in schools and communities.  This involves reflecting upon practice and creating learning environments - both in the classroom and community - which promote trust, justice, and hope.

A caring, competent, and transformative practitioner has the preparation and disposition to prepare the student for "political and social responsibility as a citizen" and for "maximum individual development, for full participation in the human conversation" (Goodlad, 1996).  Hence, a person completing Miami's programs in the School of Education and Allied Professions should be one who is well grounded in general studies (Miami Plan) or graduate core courses and content knowledge; appreciates and understands diverse learners, mentors, peers, and learning processes; demonstrates sensitivities to learning contexts and environments; engages in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of varied instructional strategies; demonstrates professional commitments and dispositions.