The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies (MATLES) provides a comprehensive professional development program for current and aspiring educational professionals, including those who work in a traditional school setting, higher education, or community programs as well as students seeking to apply to a doctoral program in education. In order to address the ever-changing and complex challenges facing education today, this degree allows graduate students, along with their academic advisors, to customize programs of study to meet individual needs and professional goals.
The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of reflective practitioners for a variety of educational settings. It is our belief that teachers and other educational professionals ought to be effective practitioners, leaders, change agents, intellectuals, researchers, and learners. They should be passionate learners who embrace diversity, actively inquire and reflect upon their own practice, nurture the development of new knowledge and skills, and weave the complexities of modern society into the learning process. This is accomplished through a process of continuous professional, intellectual, and social growth within an interrelated spiral of academic content preparation, professional knowledge, pedagogical skill, and guided practice. The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies is predicated on the assumption that theory, research, policy, and practice must be continuously integrated in ways that provide innovative models leading to the improvement of teaching, learning, and reflective practice.
The goal of reflective practice is to help current and aspiring educational practitioners develop the ability to analyze and further develop their own educational practice in ways that adapt to the changing nature of educational settings and aims. Reflective practitioners must also be able to situate their practice within the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of relationships among schooling, society, and the natural environment.
Admission Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
- An overall grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4-point scale) in the last two years of undergraduate work. Applicants with a GPA of less than 3.0 may be granted a Conditional Admission. This will be converted to a regular admission if students receive a grade of “B” or better in the first two graduate courses (six credit-hours) taken.
- A concise written “statement of purpose” (250 words) indicating the applicant’s reasons for seeking admission to the program and what the applicant hopes to accomplish during the program of study. Congruence of applicant’s written “statement of purpose” with the parameters of this degree program. For applicants interested in the Educational Foundations Track, the written statement of purpose should be 1,000 to 1,500 words; it should indicate the candidate’s career expectations and reasons for seeking admission to the Educational Foundations Track.
- For “Teacher Leader” and “Early Childhood” Tracks: Experience in a professional setting.
- For “Teacher Leader” Track: A valid Michigan Teaching Certificate.**
- For “Educational Foundations” Track: Two letters of recommendation from persons able to judge the applicant’s potential to succeed in a graduate program.
**(Required only for Teacher Leader Track students and those individuals seeking to obtain additional endorsements.)
Upon admission, each student will be assigned an advisor who will assist in the preparation of a program of study. The program of study should be prepared during the first semester of enrollment.
With advisor approval, a maximum of nine Western Michigan University graduate credits taken before admission may be applied to the Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies.
