Conceptual Framework

Critical-Social Model

The conceptual framework that drives NNU’s Education programs is built upon a critical-social orientation to educator preparation. This framework contains a learner-centered core and is based upon four overall themes that weave throughout both graduate and undergraduate programs:

· Citizenship/Democratic Society
· Liberal Arts/Continuing Learning
· Professional Knowledge and Skills
· Role of Schooling

The critical-social orientation to educator preparation maintains a focus on promoting democratic values of justice, equality, and inclusion in working with students and families. It is an approach in which educators are not satisfied with the status quo, but seek to improve their own practice through reflection, inquiry, and professional growth. The critical-social model develops in educators the ability to reach all learners through an understanding and appreciation of their unique cultures and their individual strengths and needs in learning. It represents an advocacy approach in which educators do not accept inequities in schools or communities, but actively seek to improve opportunities and practices for the benefit of traditionally underserved populations of students and their families.