Hello guys, I have a pretty straightforward question about Masters and Doctorate Education schools. Why does one go to a school of education program? I’m majoring in philosophy and very interested in the concept of education, as it has run in my family through generations. I’m just confused as to why people go to a school of education, and their experiences from it! Thanks guys!
Also, one more question-
If I’m majoring in Philosophy, are there any other pre-requisites I need to complete before applying for Educational school?
My degree isn’t in education, but I have a few friends who have degrees (master’s and doctoral) in education. The answer is - it depends on the kind of degree. There’s sort of five main domain areas I think of:
- A professional master's in education that prepares you for classroom teaching. There are two sub-kinds. One is people who are already certified to be classroom teachers and who may have already been teaching in the classroom for several years, but want a master's degree for a variety of reasons (better pay, to be more competitive for teaching jobs in the future, to teach honors or AP classes, to simply improve their craft). The other is people who already have a BA, but need initial teaching certification.
- A professional master's in education that prepares you for some kind of explicit professional role in a school - like a speech-language pathologist or school counselor. In most of those cases, the job requires a master's degree, so in these cases it's more common for people to go straight from undergrad (although not always!)
- A master's in education that's linked to studying or thinking about education but doesn't necessarily prepare you for a role in a school. Some examples of this may be a master's in educational policy or urban education. A person who gets this kind of degree may be interested in working for a government agency, nonprofit, NGO, or other organization on educational issues (or even for a private company - think educational consulting, educational research and measurement/standardized testing, etc.). Some people may do this in preparation for a doctoral degree in education, especially type 5 (see below).
- Doctoral degrees in education that are more professional, aimed at preparing people to become school or district leaders (principals, superintendents, school chancellors, etc.) Those tend to be Ed.Ds, but they aren't always.
- Doctoral degrees in education that prepare people to become professors of education. These professors will conduct research in a specific area of education and also teach future teachers at a college/university education school. These tend to be PhDs, but they aren't always.
Typically to get any kind of doctoral degree in education, you’re expected to have several years of teaching experience (generally at least 2-3, although at top programs competitive applicants may have more).
What prerequisites you need depend on the type of degree that you want to get. Explore some program websites to get an idea.
Wow that was very informative, thank you so much