Innovative program reflects the ‘global turn’ in education
The Master of Professional Education (MPEd) degree in the Field of International Education is newly updated and launched as the MPEd in the Field of Global and International Education.
The courses and program have been updated to encompass different facets of the increasingly interconnected and global character of societies and education.
Program coordinator, Associate Professor Paul Tarc, said global education is diverse. Practitioners work in different fields, ranging from supporting international students in Canada, to participating in global development initiatives in education worldwide, to teaching second languages.
“As the world has become more interdependent and interconnected, educational actors find themselves both impacted by, and acting in, global flows and educational internationalization,” Tarc said. “Our program provides conceptual resources, collaborative opportunities and mentoring for educators to understand and steer their practices as situated in these wider global flows and processes of internationalization.”
The degree is suited for teachers, administrators, directors, and education program managers, developers, and staff who are working in – or preparing to work in – global development initiatives in education, or intercultural/transnational settings, such as international schools, international offices, international and local NGOs and agencies, student services, program marketing, international student recruitment and study abroad programs. It’s also suitable for policymakers that promote global education, as well as those who work in culturally-diverse learning organizations, such as community programming for new immigrant or refugee populations, Tarc said.
“The program seeks to develop greater awareness and heightened capacities to think beyond categories of the nation and nation-centered education,” Tarc said. “It will open up how we think about education, citizenship, development, and identity across political, cultural, and geographic borders.”
The MPEd in Global and International Education is a two-year, fully online program. Students take seven courses and complete their degree with a capstone project, which brings all their learning together in one final assignment.
After graduation, Tarc said practitioners will leave the program with the knowledge and ability to assess their everyday practice and empower them to use their skills in their current and future areas of practice.
“Different students will take different things from the program, but the objective is to increase their capacity to make sense of their practices and to improve their work,” Tarc said. “They’ll have more agency.”
