Mission and Vision

UB’s teacher education programs prioritize authentic relationships with students, families, teachers, schools and communities to advance inclusive, culturally sustaining, evidence-based practices. We prepare educators committed to cultivating knowledge through critical inquiry and reflective practice.

UB’s teacher education programs strive to create pathways to equitable, just futures through a critical approach to collaboration, persistence, care and joy.  

• Asset-based, Responsive Pedagogies
  We approach students with a focus on their many skills, knowledge and ways of knowing and tailor instruction to build on those strengths. We value community knowledge and collaborate with families and communities to inform the curriculum.
• Inquiry and Adaptability
  We ask questions and seek out evidence-based strategies that make content more accessible to students. When something isn’t working, we change course.
• Urgency and Persistence
  We recognize that every minute of instruction is an opportunity to engage students in learning. We do not give up when confronted with a challenge and persist in advocating for and working toward justice.
• Reflective Ownership
  We reflect on our practice and always seek to improve.  We acknowledge our responsibility to students and effective instruction.
• Critically Conscious Purpose and Advocacy
  We understand that we work within systems where resources are not equally accessible to members of all social groups. We reflect on our own positions and act strategically to disrupt social injustice.
• Critical Joy
  While honoring the historical and present challenges that inequitable structures and systems present for minoritized communities, we approach students and our classrooms with enthusiasm and care. We seek to inspire curiosity and provide space for people to engage with new ideas in ways that promote personal happiness amidst our continued pursuit of justice.

1. Pedagogical Content Knowledge
   Understanding the dynamic nature of knowledge, teacher candidates flexibly adapt content and pedagogical approaches that meet the needs of all learners.
2. Commitment to All Learners
   Teacher candidates build relationships with students through mindful, intentional interactions and engage students with enthusiasm, care, and humility.
3. Collaborative Professionalism
   Committed to collaboration,  critical reflection. and inquiry, teacher candidates adapt their practice based on contemporary pedagogical content knowledge, issues of equity and justice, student and community needs, and asset based values.
4. Professional Stance and Action
   Teacher candidates enact pedagogies and dispositions that reflect commitment to culturally responsive-sustaining pedagogies, knowledge of individual and group differences, and how those differences influence learning communities.
5. Critical Integration of Curriculum and Instructional Tools
   Understanding the urgency of their role in promoting educational opportunity through inclusive practices, candidates use a repertoire of tools and evidence-based practices about learning.
6. Commitment to School, Family & Community Engagement
   Candidates leverage the expertise, wisdom, assets, and strengths that reside in families and communities and develop skills to connect authentically with families and communities in order to assure that content and pedagogies support student growth.