Teacher Education Graduate Studies

Mission

The MAT, Med and EdS degrees at Converse provide educators with well-designed graduate curricula organized to meet the Mission of the University and standards established by South Carolina State Accreditation. The converse Teacher Education Unit has the mission “to identify, prepare, evaluate, and recommend highly- qualified educators who are well grounded in liberal learning, pedagogy, and clinical experiences so that they can contribute to the educational mission of K-12 public schools in their communities.” Individual graduate programs have a more specific set of goals and objectives outlined in this graduate catalog.

The Vision for Teacher Education Programs

In addition to the University and Unit Missions, Converse has a “Vision” for the Teacher Education Unit: The Preparation of the Ideal Educator. For the Unit, the primary goal is to educate teachers, administrators and other professional educators who will “embody the qualities of a Converse education as they assume roles of leadership, service, and citizenship” in public and private K-12 schools.

The Philosophy for Teacher Education

The Unit Philosophy follows closely from the University and Unit missions, and it incorporates the Unit Vision. In The Founder’s Ideal, Dexter Edgar Converse set forth this vision for the university he helped to found: “I have done what I could to found a university that would provide for women thorough and liberal education so that for them the highest motives may become clear purposes and fixed habits of life: and I desired that the instruction and influence of Converse University be always such that the students may be enabled to see clearly, decide wisely, and to act justly.” This ideal forms the cornerstone of the University mission and is the source of the unit mission to provide the liberal and professional education necessary to produce the Ideal Educator.

Institutional Standards for Teacher Education

The Unit has developed, through a broadly inclusive involvement of many constituencies and stakeholders, a set of Unit Standards that embody the imperatives of the Conceptual Framework – to see clearly, decide wisely, and act justly – and to establish as well demonstrable expectations for The Ideal Educator.

The Unit Standards are designed to develop a graduate who:

1. Demonstrates knowledge of and respect for diversity and individual differences by differentiating instruction for the needs of all learners, including:
   1. culturally diverse students,
   2. students with exceptionalities, and
   3. students with different learning
2. Demonstrates knowledge of and competence in innovative instructional strategies for:
   1. planning,
   2. motivating, and
3. Demonstrates knowledge of the following by integrating them into planning and instruction:
   1. content subject matter,
   2. PK-12 standards,
   3. philosophical and historical perspectives,
   4. theory, and
4. Demonstrates knowledge of technology and the value of its use by integrating it into a variety of areas, including:
   1. assessment,
   2. instruction,
   3. professional development, and
   4. management
5. Demonstrates knowledge of and competence in assessment and evaluation of students, instruction, and self, through the utilization of informal and formal methods, including:
   1. standardized and non-standardized tests
   2. questioning techniques,
   3. problem solving,
   4. decision making, and
6. Demonstrates knowledge of and skills in management of:
   1. resources,
   2. space,
   3. time,
   4. student records, and
   5. student
7. Demonstrates knowledge of and a positive attitude toward professionalism through:
   1. fulfillment of legal and ethical responsibilities,
   2. commitment to both learning and teaching,
   3. participation in professional development,
   4. evidence of a positive attitude toward self, students, peers, parents, subject matter, and,
   5. development of human relation skills including cooperation, collaboration, communication, and humor.