Clarity of Our WHY
The Butler University College of Education (COE) Conceptual Framework seeks to make our philosophical underpinnings and distant colleagues and teachers visible to all and provide clarity and context for anyone inside or outside of our College as to WHY we do our collective work. The Curriculum Maps describe WHAT that work includes. The Assessment System and Operating Policies and Procedures seek to make our systems of thinking and doing visible and outline HOW the intentional approaches and structures we use guide us to carry out our work with integrity and authenticity.
There are multiple purposes for documenting our systems. First, a system is made up of people collectively working for outcomes. These systems are webs of interconnectedness deeply rooted in habits. We often critique the system, but we are the system. The system is us and our habits of interaction with one another. The power of habits depends on their invisibility. Once a habit is made visible, it can be changed or reinforced. The Guide to the COE seeks to make our habits visible so we can intentionally reflect upon them. Reflection allows us to get clearer, which gives us opportunity to see leverage points within our system to better work toward the outcomes we desire.
Additionally, documenting our systems helps to establish and maintain a culture of trust. Unlike systems that are made up of a collection of people, “cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we share values and beliefs with others, we form trust” (Sinek, 2011 p.80). The College of Education’s vision is big enough to invite divergent thinkers, yet clear enough to see that we are all pulling toward a shared vision. There is no expectation that we all must believe the exact same thing, but trust emerges when each of us believes we are an integral part to that shared vision.
The College of Education’s vision is more than a statement on a website or a wall.
Vision is not a memory and cannot be carried out by a single leader. Vision is actually a projection of a future that doesn’t exist yet. It is fresh, new, and evolving in every moment, and it requires the shared talents and commitments of the whole community to bring it closer.
Vision is loving something enough to bring it into existence. Building shared leadership requires us to build and keep building a shared vision. That requires continuous reflection and awareness of our individual contributions to the system of which we are a part. Vision building is a type of tension resolution system. We are always holding what we want (vision) against what we have (current reality). Our challenge is to hold the discrepancy in a creative way that acknowledges reality and seeks out the possibilities.
OMNI is the internal governance structure of the College of Education. OMNI means one, and reflects an intention to work cohesively and seamlessly. OMNI includes administrators, faculty (tenured/tenure- track), lecturer, senior lecturer (full-time/part-time), staff, adjunct professors, and students of the College of Education. It was established in the fall of 2008 by majority vote as an intentional departure from a governance structure with a constitution and by-laws that historically privileged rank and seniority. The structure is an explicit attempt to put democratic principles of shared governance into practical action in order to intentionally model the philosophical tenets that under-gird all our programs within the College.
The OMNI is the collective body of the College of Education primarily responsible for developing and maintaining the vision, mission and goals of the College and for carrying out both the general and unique work of the college. The OMNI meeting is the forum for the expression and discussion of faculty, staff and student recommendations regarding this work.
Every program and pathway in the College of Education is committed to preparing our students to work toward achieving our college’s shared vision, mission, and shared commitments.
Vision
The College of Education envisions a world where educators serve as inclusive collaborators and agents of change toward a just society. We work toward a world in which the histories and strengths of individuals and their communities are valued, respected, and integrated into the education of all.
Mission
The mission of the College of Education is to provide accessible, meaningful, and expansive professional preparation that enables educators to create conditions for individuals to reach their full potentials and for schools and communities to thrive.
Shared Commitments
As faculty and staff members in the College of Education, these Shared Commitments represent our histories as well as our opportunities to learn and grow in our beliefs and practices. We understand we make mistakes and engage imperfectly in this work. By learning from and with one another and with diverse communities, we use our strengths alongside these mistakes and imperfections to stoke our professional curiosities, provide provocations for improvement, and ensure that we avoid complacency in our work and in our world.
Pursue a Just and Equitable Society. We aspire to embody and enact anti-racist and identity-affirming teaching, scholarship, and professional practices. This means providing maximum access and opportunities to notice, name, and interrogate our own practices and those of others. We commit to dismantling systems and policies which have historically been used to marginalize and which persist in denying full educational access to all learners. Simultaneously, we uphold, strengthen, and create systems and policies that promote just and inclusive practices.
Learn from, Contribute to, and Apply Theory and Research. We work to integrate theory and research to inform, interrogate, and renew our professional practices. We are intentional and transparent in engaging with research to assess what is working within our practices while also challenging who we are and changing our practices to interrupt inequitable systems for all learners. Using the research we create and seek, we confront what is difficult in our individual and collective work to transform ourselves and impact communities.
Embody Inclusive and Responsive Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring. We demonstrate transparency in the ongoing and intentional development of our professional identities through self-examination and self-transformation. We are engaged and active contributors to our professional practice through collaboration and solution-focused advocacy. We commit to keeping our teaching practices relevant and engaging for all students across all identities. Our teaching and mentoring must reflect what we hope to see revealed in our students’ professional practices.