Fairfield’s School of Education and Human Development is committed to preparing the next generation of educators and mental health professionals for success in constantly evolving and increasingly complex landscapes.
Undergraduate and graduate students at Fairfield SEHD benefit from various courses taught by experienced professionals, many of which emphasize fieldwork as an integral part of the learning process. While classroom instruction helps establish theoretical foundations, SEHD faculty believe in the inherent value of experiential learning and working in a modern classroom.
Students are given the opportunity to get involved in local school districts beginning with their first course with SEHD. The Office of the Dean boasts numerous partnerships with public schools in the area, including Bridgeport, Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, Stamford, and more. When it comes time for students to fulfill a requirement for classroom hours, these districts are eager to welcome Stags into their classrooms.
Kayla Leary MA ‘22 exemplifies the positive effect fieldwork can have on a teaching career. While completing her undergraduate program in addition to Fairfield’s fifth year in the special education program, she took advantage of Fairfield University’s proximity to and relationship with multiple school districts. Over five years at Fairfield SEHD, she found herself in classrooms across the state observing, interviewing, and interning.
Leary adds that her fieldwork experience “helped to inform my daily routine as an educator. The fieldwork done in the different aspects of special education has allowed me to have an understanding of each team member’s role in special education,” Leary said. She can understand every level of her team because she’s been in every level of her team.
Additionally, students can also find fieldwork opportunities without leaving Fairfield’s campus. Through SEHD’s Special Education program, students can choose to get involved with the Westport Connections program and the TOPS (Transition Opportunities for Post-secondary Success) program.
The Westport Connections program is a partnership between Fairfield’s Special Education program and Westport Public Schools. In this program, students aged 18 to 22 from Staples High School’s special education program go through their school days on Fairfield’s campus. Through Westport Connections, Staples students gain more independent living and social skills in addition to post-secondary skills such as work and college readiness, while Fairfield students benefit from experience in a special-needs classroom. The TOPS program has historically been a partnership between the University and the Kennedy Collective where special needs students registered for a weekly, hour-long course facilitated by professors and students within the School of Education and Human Development. Currently, the program is being revamped and is expected to be up and running again in the Fall 2025 semester.
Through certain courses, SEHD students can also find themselves completing fieldwork hours in other community settings such as the Autism Fitness Center in Orange or the Center for Growth and Development in Wilton. These opportunities encourage students to observe individuals with disabilities in more diverse settings, leading to a more holistic and nuanced understanding of their needs.
SEHD’s newest undergraduate major, curriculum and instruction, incorporates fieldwork into every student’s schedule. Students are also required to complete a student teaching experience in which they spend five days a week in one classroom under a teacher with their desired certification. The program allows students to achieve their certification in either elementary education or special education in just four years through its insistence on hands-on learning. Further, there is an undergraduate advising pathway for aspiring secondary educators (middle/high school) who by law need to major in their subject area while completing coursework for certification in four years.
“Students have multiple opportunities to observe and actively participate in regular and special education-inclusive classrooms and to immerse themselves in the many ways in which we educate children in public schools today. Following their graduation, students currently have a 100% job placement rate during or directly after student teaching is completed,” Alyson Martin, EdD, program director of the curriculum and instruction program said.
SEHD is committed to preparing its students for success as they stand to educate the next generations. Emily Shamash, director of the special education program, said the SEHD faculty knows “the ability for students to write, speak, and reflect with us, as experienced teachers, is a great pairing.” Fairfield is unique in its quality of instruction, the expertise of its faculty, and its numerous partnerships, all factors that stand to graduate experienced, confident educators.
