Designed for

Prospective candidates interested in this program may include:

• Educators and administrators who wish to move into leadership roles with regards to equity practices in their schools and districts
• Advocates and educators who work in nonprofit agencies, such as the immigrant/settlement services sector
• Advocates and educators working with adult learners in formal or informal learning settings
• Policy analysts working in government and non-government sectors
• Media workers interested in studying the informal education that occurs via media and popular culture
• Diversity and equity officers working in fields such as corrections, health, military, and law enforcement

Program Structure

• Complete an MEd or ladder to an MA (with faculty approval)
• In-person classes at one of our three campuses
  
• Designed for working professionals with classes held in the late afternoon/early evening

Intake Schedule

This program typically accepts applications on an annual basis. We aim for an intake of approximately 10 to 15 students per cycle.

Start Terms
Fall 2025

Program Design

What We Mean by "Education"

The program conceptualizes education broadly as a concept that includes schooling, but also includes other social forces that shape knowledge in society.

What We Mean by "Equity in Education"

From this perspective, equity in education refers to the range of interdisciplinary, theoretical perspectives from which the relationships between these forces are studied including:

• critical social justice
• anti-racism education
• critical Indigenous education
• critical race feminisms
• critical literacies
• queer/LGBT studies
• human rights education
• whiteness studies
• globalization
• postcolonial and neocolonial thought

Our Pedagogical Standpoint

In addition to the conceptual, the pedagogical standpoint of this program is also rooted in an anti-oppression, equity frame. Acknowledging that we do this work on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, the program instructors operate from a critical pedagogy of care, inclusion, hope, and advocacy for dismantling the ongoing legacy of settler colonialism, racism, hetero/sexism, ableism, classism, linguicism, and other socially-constructed and sustained systems of oppression.

While we advocate for and work towards these ideals, we also acknowledge that we are each limited by the experiences and standpoints from which we know and experience the world.

Expectations of Students

It is expected that students in this program will engage in an ongoing critical, self-reflective stance on the processes of equity as we seek to understand and achieve it in school, other social institutions, and society at large, as well as in our own contexts as students, faculty, and citizens working towards a just society.

Courses

The MEd degree route consists of 30 units of course work plus a comprehensive examination. The MA route consists of a minimum of 25 units of course work plus a thesis.

Note: In addition to the 4-5 hours of class time once per week, students should be prepared to spend additional time per week doing course readings (approximately 50-100 pages per week, sometimes more, sometimes less); library research; assignments for class; and additional hours doing research and writing academic papers for their courses. We advise that students’ budget at minimum 15-20 hours per week to devote to their studies.