Ph.D. in Education Concentration in Curriculum Culture and Change

Virginia Commonwealth University

The curriculum, culture and change concentration offers a rigorous doctoral-level learning experience in curriculum and instruction, teacher education, and advocacy for social justice. The concentration prepares curriculum and instruction leaders for positions in school systems at the building level and above, as well as scholars with a wide range of interests - philosophical and sociocultural foundations of education, urban education, linguistically diverse groups, critical and culturally relevant pedagogy, anti-oppressive education, critical youth studies etc. In addition to a deep grounding in theoretical, practical and methodological approaches to curriculum and instruction, the concentration prepares instructional leaders to advocate for change across a wide range of institutions, systems and contexts. The concentration offers challenging learning experiences in the field of curriculum and instruction. Its expressed social justice values allow framing of courses in ways that provide critical analyses of contemporary schooling and ground students in the philosophical and historical roots of school change. The program welcomes students with interests in all institutional settings serving students across the life span (early childhood through adulthood) as well as informal and nonformal contexts. It also allows for discipline-specific inquiry in fields including but not limited to STEM, technology, history and literacy.

School of Education