Education Minors

The Education and Community Engagement Minor is intended for students interested in understanding the purpose and impact of education across global communities. Candidates for the minor examine the role of multiple forms of education, the impact of education on a range of societal inequalities, and the sociopolitical forces of race, class, gender, sexuality, culture, language, and immigration within a human rights framework. Students choose from a range of multidisciplinary courses that focus on applied education, including the context of K-12 schooling and higher education, employment preparation, and knowledge and socio-emotional well-being development that often occurs in partnership with multiple communities. The minor is intended to support those interested in a wide array of educational contexts, including schools, community organizations and advocacy efforts, museum education, youth leadership organizations, after school programming, nonprofit and community based organizations, and other applied educational contexts outside of schools.

Completing the Education and Community Engagement minor will help you understand the purpose and impact of education across global communities. In this program, you will:

• Develop integrative perspectives on educational issues.
• Examine various structural inequities across communities Identify tangible examples and components of education within communities.
• Hands-on experience in non-classroom based educational settings.
• Analyze community cultural wealth models, including learning about how various communities approach education.
• Examine various models of community learning and teaching Analyze local and historical impacts of community education efforts.

The Education and Community Engagement minor will help you understand the purpose and impact of education across global communities. If you are considering the Master of Education for Practicing Educators after you complete your bachelor's degree at UW Tacoma, see the School of Education web page for more information on graduate programs in Education. If you are considering the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, see the Masters in Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences webpage to learn about their graduate program. For more information about the Education and Community Engagement minor, please contact an academic advisor or email edminorsuwt@uw.edu. If you are interested in exploring education within formal learning environments/schools, please check the Teaching, Learning & Justice minor webpage.

If you are considering the Teacher Certification Program after you complete your bachelor's degree at UW Tacoma, there are benefits to including the Teaching, Learning and Justice Minor in your undergraduate plan. This minor is offered by School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences but is open to all undergraduate students at UW Tacoma.

• Teachers make a good salary with great benefits! Mid-career teachers make an average of $60,000 in Washington.
• Worried about the college loans? The teacher loan forgiveness programs could work for you.
• Might relocate? No problem! You can still teach in other states and in many countries.

The Teaching, Learning and Justice Minor offers:

• Provisional Admission: To be eligible for this option of automatic admission to our Teacher Certification Program without an interview, you must:
  • Submit complete application to the Teacher Certification Program by the priority application deadline, third Friday in February for summer - only start.
  • Complete the minor by the time the Teacher Certification program begins in summer quarter - all minor courses must be completed with a grade of 2.7 or higher.
  • Enroll in TEDUC 290 and request a Replacement for School of Education Interview document from your professor and s/he must be willing to submit this form on your behalf by the priority deadline. 
  • Have a cumulative average of 3.0 for last 90 credits of undergraduate study; 1) at the time of priority deadline, and 2) maintain 3.0 through remainder of undergraduate studies.
• Pre-requisite coursework: Completion of the Teaching, Learning and Justice Minor (2.7 grade or higher in all courses) will guarantee completion of the prerequisite coursework for the K-8 Teacher Certification Program (see program website for Secondary prerequisite coursework). K-8 Prerequisite coursework:
  • Two (2) writing intensive courses (e.g. English composition and literature)
  • Developmental Psychology
• Education work experience: Completion of the Teaching, Learning and Justice Minor will guarantee completion of 40 hours of documented experience in a school setting, which is an admission requirement to our Teacher Certification Program. 
• Equivalent graduate level coursework: Two of the required Teaching, Learning and Justice Minor courses, TEDUC 471 and TEDUC 482 (2.7 grade or higher and must have been taken in academic year 2012-13,  or later, to qualify), will count as equivalent courses for two of the courses within our Teacher Certification Program, TEDUC 520 and TEDUC 501, respectively.* 

NOTE: Effective September 2020, students pursuing the Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree, with Teacher Certification, must successfully complete six credits of elective graduate coursework (500-level), in place of TEDUC 501 and TEDUC 520, to meet degree requirements. 

*If not taken as part of the minor, TEDUC 471 and TEDUC 482 (2.7 grade or higher), will still count as equivalent courses for TEDUC 520 and TEDUC 501.