Those who understand teach. The College of Education at the University of New Mexico believes that professional education should seek to help individuals develop professional understandings, practices, and identities. These understandings, practices and identities frame the lifelong learning of professional educators and reflect the values articulated in our Mission Statement and in state and national standards and competencies.
Understandings frame the identity and practice of educational professionals.
Human Growth and Development Patterns in how individuals develop physically, emotionally, and intellectually. How to provide conditions that promote the growth and learning of individuals from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including those with special learning needs. How social groups develop and function and the dynamics of power within and among them. How language and other forms of expression reflect cultural assumptions yet can be used to evoke social change. How one s own background and development shape understanding and interaction.