This program provides you with an opportunity to develop and enrich your understanding of the contexts and forces that shape educational policy and practice. By understanding and being able to articulate critical issues in education, you can be a participant in the educational and social changes currently taking place in our society.
This emphasis is designed to prepare you to:
To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units.
You must additionally complete:
Read the full policy here.
In addition to University Requirements:
| Minimum Units for Completion | 30 |
| Fieldwork Experience/Internship | Optional |
| Thesis | Thesis may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Oral Defense | Oral Defense may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Research | Individualized research may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Progression Plan Link | View Program of Study |
Purpose Statement
The Masters in Educational Foundations prepares a range of professionals to provide leadership within their respective institutions and spheres of influence by examining educational institutions in local and global contexts. Students have the opportunity to study learning and teaching, not only as schooling, but broadly and globally, as a dynamic cultural and political dimension that takes place in a wide range of changing and intersecting sites of learning. Students have the opportunity to examine how historical, political, cultural, and economic conditions shape formal and informal educational contexts while underscoring how nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, social class, language, ability, and a range of other identities shape these contexts. Students will consider education as a process that shapes their community and social identities, as well as the foundation of values and beliefs which influence their potential impact on their communities of influence. In our program, students will investigate the educational conditions necessary for life in a creative democracy.
Students who come to our program have the opportunity to study the particular and special dimensions of the Arizona Southwestern experience in the unique location on the Colorado Plateau, and will be able to extend study nationally and globally with our online and in-person diversity of delivery options.
Faculty work to equip students with the knowledge and skills of inquiry, discernment, and professional judgment that will develop their power to critically analyze, think, and develop coherent arguments for change in their education communities, that are well grounded in the historical, sociological and philosophical discourse which is the foundation of education policy and practice today.
The EDF faculty brings expertise from a variety of disciplines and fields within the Foundations of Education field--the sociology, philosophy, history, anthropology of education, comparative and international education, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, feminist studies, indigenous studies, critical race studies, and qualitative research methods. Our faculty is experienced and actively involved in research, studying and publishing work on globalization, border issues, school reform, youth community organizing, human rights education, academic freedom and free inquiry, social theory and social construction of knowledge, and the role of education in the production of inequalities of race, gender, (dis)ability, social class, sexuality, and language.
Students with careers in media, foundations, museum education, community organizations, non-governmental and labor organizations, higher education administration, and certainly members of the K-12 school community, will all benefit from this study. A Master’s Degree will also be an opportunity to achieve the grounding for continued study at the Doctoral level.
Student Learning Outcomes
More Information
The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.
Admission requirements include the following:
Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies.
Ready to apply? Begin your application now.
International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy.
This Master’s degree requires 30 units distributed as follows:
Take the following 30 units:
Thesis Option (18 units)
Graduate Certificate Option:
Select one of these Graduate Certificates offered by NAU. If a 12 or 15 credit hour Graduate Certificate is chosen as part of this degree, the student will work with his/her advisor to select the most relevant additional three or six credit hours from either the EDF list above and/or including EDR 610.
Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.