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MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Method of delivery: In-person |
Applications open: TBD |
Applications close: TBD |
Next start date: September 2026 (tentative) |
What and how we read alongside youth matters. From picture books to blockbuster films, students will learn the skills necessary to critically read texts produced for youth while co-creating a range of pedagogies for teaching in B.C.’s culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.
Designed for
Practicing K-12 teachers, librarians and students with an interest in children’s and young adult literature.
Program Structure
- 2 year, 35-unit program (7 5-unit courses)
- In-person classes five times per term on Friday evenings, Saturdays, and/or Sundays
- Summer term classes may meet during the week in the daytime
- Workshops with published authors and illustrators
Intake Schedule
Next Start Term
Fall 2026 (tentative)
Program Design
Designed with working professionals in mind, this two-year degree program offers the opportunity to obtain a high-quality master's degree. Our cohort-based model allows students to work through the program and coursework together (18-24 students).
Working with a cohesive and interdisciplinary faculty team, students will benefit from a rich curriculum and experience that will balance theoretical trends in the study of children’s and young adult literature with hands on teaching strategies. The program was designed to provide opportunities for students to:
- understand children’s and young adult literature as a genre with its own traditions and histories;
- analyze compositional elements of visual images and how graphic narratives like picturebooks, comics, cartoons, and film communicate;
- understand the relationships between texts for youth and shifting cultural constructions of “childhood” and “adolescence” and what kinds of stories adults believe youth need and/or should be shielded from;
- develop knoweldge about BIPOC children’s and YA authors and illustrators and how to select and teach engaging culturally responsive texts in B.C.’s culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms;
- demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of Indigenous children’s and YA literature and develop strategies for teaching First People’s literature, especially to meet the new requirement (beginning 2023-24) set out by the B.C. Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee, that secondary students complete Indigenous-focused coursework before graduation.
Additionally, students will learn directly from authors/illustrators to understand the craft of creating narratives for youth and for communicating that creative process to young people via 1-day workshops with authors and illustrators.
Courses
Students complete:
EDUC 848-5 IDEAS AND ISSUES IN AESTHETIC EDUCATION
This first course provides a survey of children’s literature (K-grade 8). Students will understand children's literature as a genre with its own tradition and history; analyze compositional elements of visual images and how graphic narratives like picturebooks, comics, cartoons, and film communicate; understand the relationships between texts for youth and shifting cultural constructions of "childhood" and "adolescence".
EDUC 820-5 CURRENT ISSUES IN CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY
This course provides an in-depth study of Indigenous children’s literature and pedagogies. It is taught by Dr. Sara Davidson a Haida literacy scholar and published picture book author for young readers.
EDUC 710-5 SPECIAL TOPICS: TEXTS FOR YOUNG ADULTS
This survey course covers the genre of young adult literature from 1967 to the present. It introduces students to Young Adult Literature--its history, unique characteristics, controversies, and possibilities within and outside the classroom. Other texts consumed by youth including television shows, films, and comics will be addressed throughout the course.
EDUC 816-5 DEVELOPING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES FOR DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
This course focuses on environmental justice within and ecologies of children’s and young adult literature.
EDUC 904-5 FIELDWORK III: ACTION RESEARCH
This hands-on course focuses on creating and teaching texts with young people. Participants develop a research question in relation to children’s and YA texts and test out the pedagogies and practices that they have developed in the course.
EDUC 823-5 CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION IN AN INDIVIDUAL TEACHING SPECIALTY
This final course focuses on writing texts for and with youth.
EDUC 883-5 MED COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
The examination is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Program courses and order of delivery subject to change.
Vancouver
Our Vancouver campus transformed the landscape of urban education in downtown Vancouver. The campus comprises multiple facilities clustered in the core of one of the world’s most liveable cities.
AV respectfully acknowledges the unceded traditional territories including, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, on which AV Vancouver is located.
Where can this program take you? The world is changing rapidly and so is the full range of career and academic opportunities that await.
Occupations
- Teachers
- Teacher-librarians
Further Studies
- Graduates of this program may be interested in pursuing an Educational Leadership EdD (offerings and locations vary).
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
Curious to know more about the program?
-
Trina Zindler Program Assistant - MEd Programs
Community Graduate Programs 778-782-8120 cpmed@sfu.ca