How and Why Social Foundations of Education Topics are Taught at Minnesota’s Private Four-Year Colleges

Abstract

Social foundations of education topics are integrated into teacher education curricula in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Faculty members from Minnesota’s small, private 4-year colleges responsible for teaching social foundations topics were surveyed in this case study about how and why they chose to teach these topics. It was found that most colleges taught the social foundations during students’ sophomore years, in an introductory course. Most faculty spend more time teaching about current social issues in education than educational philosophy or history, and most faculty disliked teaching philosophy and found it the most difficult to teach as well. The time devoted to teaching international education was dramatically low. A wide array of topics were included as “social foundations” by faculty (e.g., curriculum, classroom management, interpersonal communication). Faculty did not indicate much enthusiasm for teaching educational history.