Conceptual Framework
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK STATEMENT AND OUTCOMES_______________________________
National College of Education is a professional community advocating for all learners.
Outcomes:
- Understand the contextual nature of learning
- Help students construct their own knowledge
- Integrate theory and practice
- Assess, reflect upon, and critique our own knowledge, practice, schools, and society
- Engage in inquiry
- Collaborate with students, teachers, administrators, parents and the community at large
PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT________________________________________________________
National College of Education’s Conceptual Framework was developed through an extensive and collaborative process predating our initial accreditation visit in 1999. In 2001, an Assessment Task Force was formed to ensure alignment of NCE’s assessment policies with the knowledge, skill, and dispositional outcomes of our Conceptual Framework as well as state, NCATE, and specialized professional association standards. A permanent Assessment Council has now been formed (2003-04) to carry on this work. Conversations with regard to the Conceptual Framework arise continually in the normal governance structure (for instance, as a structured element of curriculum development and evaluation processes). During the fall of 2002 and fall of 2003 a majority of NCE faculty participated in more formal faculty conversations on the Conceptual Framework during Faculty Connections (ER [Exhibit Room]: Fall Connection materials and agendas in the Evidence Room). Indeed, the discussion in September, 2003, took the form of a two day mini-conference on our Conceptual Framework. Though no significant changes have been made to the Conceptual Framework since our last visit, these conversations have helped us continually challenge the Conceptual Framework and deepen our understanding of its relevance for our community.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS_______________________________________
Mission Statement/Vision of the College
For over one hundred and seventeen years NCE has had as its mission excellence in teaching, scholarship, service, and professional development. NCE continues its history of innovative leadership in education in Chicago, the nation, and in other parts of the world. Recognizing the importance of life-long learning in a diverse, rapidly changing global society, the College is committed to developing and empowering all learners, consistent with the mission of National-Louis University.
NCE Philosophy and Purposes
Each term in our Conceptual Framework represents a powerful concept. These concepts continue to provide substantive direction for all teaching, courses, programs, candidate performance, scholarship, service, and program and unit accountability. Together these ideas fire the robust and consciously shared life of our educational community. They articulate our philosophy and the way in which it is lived out. As outlined below, each term in the phrase, “A Professional Community Advocating for All Learners” is packed with meaning for our community.
1) PROFESSIONAL. A profession is an occupation or vocation that requires advanced training in a specialized field. From the inception of our community in 1886, NCE has been a frontrunner in establishing the nature and standards of professional practice and in preparing professionals who will model those standards. Our founder, Elizabeth Harrison, dedicated her life to establishing the kindergarten in our public education system and to training women to take up a vocation in early childhood education.
In 1918, NCE created a demonstration school (The Children’s School, now Baker Demonstration School). The demonstration school faculty model the College’s commitment to wedding the theoretical knowledge base of the profession to the wisdom of authentic professional practice. In 1930, NCE further advocated for the profession by becoming the first college in Illinois to require a bachelor’s degree for teacher certification. By the mid 1950s, NCE extended its support of the profession by introducing graduate programs. During the last three decades of the 20th century, NCE broke new institutional ground by developing a full university around itself, examining and adjusting its mission, program and delivery systems to reach out and meet the needs of a more diverse student body.
2) COMMUNITY. We have refused to see our own professional practice bounded by a closed “campus” perspective, taking our programs out into the field and across state and national boundaries and, in turn, learning from diverse environments and learners. It has taken much hard work to meet the serious challenges facing colleges of education in this era and to maintain our place as an international leader in the profession. The courage and dedication that make such a response possible come directly from the strength and coherence of our Conceptual Framework and our sense of community.
The importance of “professional” community versus a more geographically defined notion of community cannot be overstated. It is our shared progressive professional identity that allows us to move forward confidently as a united yet diverse community and to make our beliefs concrete through a coherent set of NCE programs that are realized in diverse settings and with diverse learners. We believe the capacity of our community to respect new ideas and multiple perspectives and to welcome the benefits and tensions of diversity while maintaining a core professional identity may be our greatest strength.
3) ADVOCATING. From the earliest days of NCE’s history, we have argued for, supported, and vociferously defended the profession of education. In an era not eager to welcome women into the professions, our founder advocated to, with, and for women as she worked to define and develop a professional community around early childhood education. NCE continues to play an active role in educational policy, especially through participation in and leadership of regional and national professional organizations. As the National-Louis University mission statement points out, the goal of the education profession must be to provide each learner with the tools he or she needs “to fulfill personal and professional goals as both a citizen of an increasingly complex society and member of an emerging global community.” In our many activities and partnerships, the notion of professional community is linked to social justice through advocacy for all learners.
4) ALL. At NCE the word “ALL” both challenges and provides focus and direction. It challenges us to continually reflect upon and critique our knowledge, practice, school, and the society we operate within to understand how we are responding to the needs of ALL learners. It reminds us that a key disposition among educators is the belief that ALL children can and should learn and that it is the business of educators to advocate for the outcomes associated with that belief. While we refuse to respond to the diversity of ALL learners by sorting and labeling people, we work across many contexts to address diverse needs.
5) LEARNERS. We understand that learners—all learners—represent the central defining element of our professional lives. This is what our profession is all about. Our philosophy and knowledge base support the centrality of the learner and the learner’s needs. The notion of being learner-centered saturates our professional practice at NCE.
