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College of Education
Strategic Plan 2025

 

Our Role in "the University the World Needs"

Aligned to and crafted following the University of Saskatchewan Strategic Plan aspirations, principles, and goals, the College of Education Strategic Plan reflects a collective commitment to being the University the World Needs. The College of Education Strategic Plan, built iteratively through collaborative consults with faculty, staff, college leadership, and community, as well as through consultations with other colleges and units on campus, capitalizes on our strengths, identifies areas in which we need further commitment, and challenges us to design and deliver programming, research, and service that not only meet the needs of those we serve, but also inspire future generations of learners.

Through this Plan, the College of Education reinforces its commitment to building bridges between academic learning and the realities experienced by teachers and the children and youth in classrooms and communities. Our plan centers on research that is grounded and connected to teaching and learning; responsive programming that is developed and targeted to meet the needs of students and partners; and meaningful reconciliation based on reciprocal understandings and relationships founded on mutual respect to lead the way to a stronger, healthier future. Our plan speaks to an understanding that education is based on a continuous commitment to an endeavour much larger than ourselves. The College of Education Strategic Plan underpins the belief that the whole of our collaborative work is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

The priorities outlined in this Plan speak to discovery, excellence, and engagement through college-wide and department-specific goals and initiatives. While some of this work is already well-underway, all elements within this Plan are thoughtfully designed to ensure the embracing of opportunities and development of new understandings in education. The plan in its entirety will serve to aid faculty, staff, students, and partners in addressing complex challenges in teaching and learning both locally and globally.

With an outward-focused approach, an energized commitment to change, and a deepened sense of responsibility to others, this plan reinforces our concerted commitment to supporting the work of education and our collaborative and continuous belief in the profession.

 

Fall 2020 Strategic Plan Update document


Mission

The College of Education fosters innovation and collaboration through teaching, learning, discovery, and transformative pedagogy.

Through working together, we impact the development of teachers and learners who are committed to advancing the growth of students and communities, and to building a positive foundation for a stronger and healthier future.


Vision

We embrace Indigenization and reconciliation, recognizing the diversity of values and perspectives, of all peoples.

We endeavor to expand upon pedagogical practices that acknowledge and make space for the cultural and linguistic diversity of our province.

We strive to be leaders of effective and innovative pedagogy, of curiosity-based research work, scholarly work, and artistic work, and of practice that has a sustainable impact locally, nationally, and internationally.

We respond actively and collaboratively to emergent provincial, national and international priorities, including those of the university, school divisions, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, and the Ministry of Education.


Values

We champion

  • Academic freedom
  • Collaboration
  • Collegiality
  • Curiosity-based research
  • Equity
  • Inclusivity
  • Mental and physical health
  • Pedagogical excellence
  • Professionalism
  • Promotion of well-being
  • Reconciliation
  • Sustainability

We embrace

  • Community engagement
  • Diversity
  • Imagination
  • Indigenous knowledges
  • Socio-ecological justice
  • Wisdom

We demonstrate

  • Accountability
  • Civility and respect
  • Equality
  • Humility
  • Impactful research, scholarly, and artistic work
  • Integrity
  • Transparency

The College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

We pay our respect to the First Nations and Métis ancestors of this place and reaffirm our relationship with one another.

Area 1

INTENSIFY RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY

The value of the work of the College of Education is measured through its contributions to the field of education and to education in its communities. Through paying attention to the contexts and matters important in the field, the College is able to position itself as both a leader and a partner in advancing, through research, the work of teaching and learning. This means embracing opportunities to discover and develop new understandings in, and approaches to, teaching and learning, as well as confronting both simple and complex challenges in education more broadly.

Our work as partners in classrooms, in Indigenization, and in internationalization will continue to grow and make a local and a global difference. Through engaging in research and dissemination that is both valued by and connected to the field and to partners, the College will continue to enhance its value and reputation as a premier institution for teaching and research.

1

INTENSIFY
RESEARCH
AND DISCOVERY

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 1

Develop the Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CSoTL)

For the College of Education, intensifying research and discovery involves indulging in and uplifting the principles of connectivity, creativity, sustainability, and diversity. As a professional college, we are foundationally connected to our partners in the way we advance education research and discovery for a better future together.

Through our commitment to enhancing our own and our students’ competence in pedagogy and instruction, the concept of the CSoTL amplifies the value of teaching and learning, it necessitates deepening of expertise, it embraces interdisciplinarity, and it compels connection and outreach. The concept of the CSoTL exemplifies collaboration with communities in the creation of reciprocal and new, impactful and inspirational knowledge that results in improvements in teaching and learning locally and globally. As a distinct and impactful centre and approach to education, the CSoTL will inspire our communities—Indigenous and non-Indigenous, individually and collectively—to work together to discover creative solutions to both common and distinct problems of teaching and learning.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • The Jane and Ron Graham School for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was established and approved by University Council on April 23, 2020. The first SoTL undergraduate class will be offered in Winter Term 2021, with the first graduate programming (currently moving through university approval channels) intake expected in the 2021-22 academic year. Consultations to date have included scholars on campus, nationally, and internationally, with high interest in academic programming, interdisciplinary research, and professional development related to SoTL.
  • The Jane and Ron Graham School for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is designed to elevate and expand the theory and practice of SoTL, and is a place where faculty, students and community examine their classroom practices as bona fide research and practice in ways that enhance the application of teaching and learning practices to benefit all stakeholders in education.
  • Coming full circle: alumna’s own teaching career inspires landmark gift to her alma mater.

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 2

Formalize Indigenous and land-based scholarly programming and research

Creating dedicated land-based programming requires the courage and openness to understanding teaching and learning in new ways, and requires an alignment of approaches and structures. Commitment and dedication to formalizing this programming not only embraces manicihitowin (respect for one another), but also ensures its sustainability.

Serving both as a teaching and learning program, as well as an avenue for research, land-based programming facilitates connection with land and community, and holds the promise of increasing the number of Indigenous student research opportunities.

With programming serving the functions of teaching, learning, and research, this land-based programming addresses distinct purposes in Indigenization, reconciliation, discovery, and outreach.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • After great success in the offerings of a land-based concentration for the Master of Education degree, the Master of Education in Indigenous Land-based Education degree offered by the Department of Educational Foundations is in the process of being formalized as its own course-based MEd program, elevating its importance and prominence as a stand-alone program and a permanent part of our offerings. The next cohort of this inclusive land-based programming starts in the summer of 2021. 
  • Forget 'friluftsliv': Why we should be looking to Indigenous scholars not scandinavians this COVID-19 winter, interview with Dr. Alex Wilson, The Toronto Star

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3

Explore and advance Indigenous interdisciplinary research opportunities

Home to internationally recognized Indigenous researchers, as well as the Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC), the College of Education recognizes that the success of Indigenous research will be further facilitated through creating inter-collaborative opportunities for interdisciplinary research. Advancing Indigenous interdisciplinary research requires elevating AERC from a type-A to a type-B centre. Through this elevation, the unit will inspire curiosity, uplift Indigenization, and enable cross- campus collaboration. We believe increased involvement from faculty and leaders across campus will attract national and international Indigenous researchers and research collaborations to our campus.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • Expanding the scope and activities of the Aboriginal Education Research Centre is critical in ensuring cross-campus access, and that this internationally-renowned centre can broaden its reach. Consultations with the Office of the Vice-Provost Indigenous Engagement have begun, and in concert with the new USask policy on centres, continued work is taking place in order to broaden and elevate the work of AERC.
  • Alex Wilson’s research brings everyone into the circle, The Saskatoon StarPhoenix Bridges

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 4

Develop distinct research degrees and opportunities for education professionals

Advancing innovative approaches for research in education, including the Educational Doctorate, recognizes the diversity of students interested in a higher level degree program.

Responding to the needs of the profession, a degree like the Educational Doctorate creatively breaks from the traditional structure of the PhD, recognizes a wider diversity of students, and ensures that the College of Education continues in its commitment to responding to student and partner needs.

Fall 2020 Update:

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 5

Design faculty research exchanges congruent with current international initiatives

Designing faculty research exchanges in connection with current (and developing) internationalization initiatives is a creative and sustainable way to engage in international research collaborations. Along with making advancements in understandings from a diversity of perspectives, relationships and partnerships will be strengthened through this work.

Faculty exchanges through international undergraduate practica and student exchanges shows the College’s ingenuity in collaboratively seeking solutions through new partnerships and opportunities.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • Following the expansion of new opportunities for the teacher practicum, including opportunities within the practicum to study abroad or to study in an alternate education setting, international partnerships are in development for our students to spend a portion of their practicum in China, Japan or Thailand, as well as an exchange opportunity in Spain. While slowed by the pandemic, the plan is to continue to add partnership sites to this initiative.
  • Watch videos of students describing their experiences taking the international practicum.

Area 2

CREATE AND CHAMPION EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

As a professional college, the College of Education prides itself on designing and maintaining programs that target and meet the diverse needs of the field and of our partners. Striving to advance our reputation locally as a valued partner in education, and globally as a premier institution for teaching and research, the College realizes that our reputation rests on the collaborative efforts we make to engage in the work we do with Indigenous, international, and local communities.

 

2

CREATE AND
CHAMPION
EXCELLENCE
IN TEACHING
AND LEARNING

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 1

Create enrolment opportunities through the development of international dual-degree for-credit programs

Opening up avenues and pathways for new students creatively responds to our call to internationalize and Indigenize our work through the creation of new partnerships and credentials. The principles of connectivity and diversity come alive through international dual-degree programs at the graduate level. Designed carefully with an eye to shift and create structures amenable to the success of global partnerships, dual- degree programming will result in a diversification of the student body, opportunities for our students to experience exchanges, increased student enrolments and the granting of credentials, and deeper international collaborations.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • With high interest from partners overseas, dual degree programming for both undergraduate and graduate programming is currently under development. The Department of Curriculum Studies has advanced a proposal to the International Office for the establishment of a dual-degree MEd program in Mathematics Teacher Education in conjunction with the School of Mathematics and Statistics and the College of Teacher Education at Qingdao University in Qingdao, China.
  • Initiative pilot program: International Teacher Development Program welcomes students from Beijing’s Capital Normal University.

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 2

Diversify immersion language offerings (Indigenous and second) and programs on- and off-campus

Creatively addressing immersion languages through the provision of programming that focuses on immersion language teaching and learning more broadly allows for the inclusion of many languages while avoiding the duplication of programs at other institutions.

Language immersion—whether Indigenous, French, or other—is entrenched in community outreach, engagement, and response. In addition, the development of specific Indigenous immersion language programming responds directly to the calls to action from the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission through a design to address the erosion of Indigenous languages and culture.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • The Language Teacher Education Program (LTEP), developed in response to demand for Immersion teachers in both Cree and French, will have its first intake of students in September 2021. Under the guidance of the Department of Curriculum Studies and the Undergraduate Programs Office, the LTEP route supports teacher candidates by offering teaching area and methodology immersion in French or Cree, as well as coursework that focuses on teaching in second language settings.
  • Through continuing to offer off-campus programming through the ITEP route, under the leadership of the directors and staff of ITEP, a Bachelor of Education ITEP cohort was launched at Kahkewistahaw First Nation in the fall of 2018. Students are currently in their third year of that program. Click here for the story about its celebratory launch.
  • In partnership with Northern Lights School Division, Cumberland House Cree Nation, the Northern Village of Cumberland House and the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, and working with the College of Arts and Science, a Bachelor of Education program (Cree and Indigenous Studies) was established in the northern Saskatchewan community of Cumberland House in June 2019. Thirty-two students are currently in their second year.
  • Continued developments through important partnerships are ongoing with regional colleges and off-campus partners.

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3

Expand off-campus graduate and undergraduate programming and pathways through the U of S Prince Albert Campus

In relationship with its partners in education, the College of Education strives to honour the needs and aspirations of northern students and communities. The University of Saskatchewan presence in Prince Albert will enable the delivery of, and access to, a broader range of College of Education program offerings, designed with a focus on the North.

Planning initially for graduate programming, and subsequently adding to our diversity of undergraduate offerings, the College of Education will play a valuable role in the expansion of U of S courses through the Prince Albert Campus.

Fall 2020 Update:

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 4

Launch multi-disciplinary graduate programming

Through an examination of pathway barriers and programming gaps, the College of Education will engage in collaborative, innovative, and interdisciplinary approaches to programming and pathways that better meet student needs. Among others, two examples include offering—in collaboration with the College of Medicine—students in the health professions the opportunity to enroll in a collaboratively developed Master of Education in Health Professions Education program in order to advance their leadership, teaching, and learning skills in their field of specialization. In collaboration with the College of Kinesiology, students interested in the Kin/Ed combined 5-year degree BEd/BSc will have access to a separate entrance pathway in order to reduce entrance barriers. Additional opportunities will be explored as they arise.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • In concert with other categories in the strategic plan, the College of Education is striving to ensure and emphasize the multi- and inter-disciplinary facets of its programming. The first students in the multi-disciplinary Health Professions Education programs (Certificate and Master’s) began in September 2020, and the first cohort of the interdisciplinary Master’s degree in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is anticipated for the fall of 2021. 
  • Under the leadership of the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, newly revised cross-disciplinary programming for school and counselling professionals is currently being developed with the support of a number of community partners. More information is forthcoming in future updates.
  • Under the leadership of the Department of Educational Foundations and building off the $2.5-million Partnership Grant funding received by the department's Sustainability Education Research Institute, new opportunities for climate change and sustainability education programming are currently being discussed and developed.

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 5

Develop highly sought Advanced Qualification Certificates (AQCs) in priority areas

The College’s efforts to seek solutions to a variety of challenges in teaching and learning are seen in the development of AQC credentials. In direct response to the needs of partners in education, the development of AQCs for delivery on- and off-campus—as well as face-to-face and online—addresses both the needs of the province and prospective students, alike. By focusing on meeting the needs of the province and First Nations through AQCs, the College increases its interdisciplinary reach, as well as its value to partner institutions.

Fall 2020 Update:

Area 3

ELEVATE RESPECT, REPUTATION AND ENGAGEMENT

The College of Education is positioned to continue engaging its communities in reciprocity and respect. Committed to looking outward, beyond ourselves, and shifting our priorities to directly meet the needs of students and communities, we will ensure that we serve a meaningful role in contributing to our identity as the University the World Needs.

 

3

ELEVATE RESPECT,
REPUTATION,
AND ENGAGEMENT

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 1

Expand distinct and distinguished alumni engagement opportunities

Through sharing our stories, celebrating, and valuing our alumni, we capitalize on the energy of our supporters, cement our relationships with donors, and ensure that we are on a path of mutual respect and trust.

Connecting and reconnecting with our alumni creates spaces for us to come together to celebrate, to uphold our common bonds, and to move the work of the College forward in community with one another.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • The College of Education values and prioritizes its support from alumni and community. Through its newly developed Pinning Ceremony, designed to honour and elevate the profession, and its Alumni Wall of Honour, designed to recognize alumni integral to a variety of educational initiatives, the College pays tribute to the excellent work of the many alumni who keep us strong. Click here to learn about the latest Wall of Honour recipients.

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 2

Seek advisement through broad consultation and engagement

Frequent, diverse, and representative consultations and connections with stakeholders and partners brings strength to the work we do. Outreach through consultation and advisement ensures sustainability and creativity, guides and affirms direction, and introduces a diversity of perspectives needed to move the College forward.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • The College has completed the terms of reference for the establishment of our Alumni Advisory Council, and the council’s development is now in its final stages.  

 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3

Enhance structures that support the outward-focused work of teaching and learning in education

The College of Education serves others. Through routine examinations of our own processes and structures, we will be able to align our work and resources to the needs of students, communities, partners, and the profession. Committing to a culture of trust, collaboration, and engagement, we will sustain a welcoming college community, as well as strong mutually beneficial partnerships in education.

Fall 2020 Update:

  • In response to the identified needs of provincial school divisions and First Nations education authorities, the Saskatchewan Educational Leadership Unit redesigned several six-hour professional development modules in support of special education student learning needs. Over 500 participants have been engaged in the updated online modules since April 2020. Visit the SELU website to learn more about the Educational Assistants' Professional Learning Series. 
  • In addition to its academic programming, the Saskatchewan Educational Leadership Unit has established the Saskatchewan Principals' Short Course Advanced Learning Series to increase online engagement opportunities open to partners and stakeholders. This series is intended to provide professional development opportunities to new and current school administrators, as well as members of LEADS. 
  • The College recognizes that its success is achieved through service to others. In having the courage to examine our own efforts and structures, we are able to align our work and resources to serve the needs of students, partners, and the profession. With courage and stamina, the College will achieve its mandate in collaborative, respectful, and financially sustainable ways.
  • The many examples of programming and initiatives above is evidence of the College’s commitment to this priority area.
Prefer to read a pdf version of our plan?
Click here [13 MB]

INSPIRED
CONNECTED
EDUCATED