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Degrees & Programs
The residential Master’s in Education (Ed.M.) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education prepares educators and aspiring educators — like you — with the knowledge and skills to change the world through education.
With world-class faculty as your mentors, a lifelong network of innovative colleagues and friends, and a community that encompasses boundary-pushing research and a deep commitment to social justice, the HGSE residential Master’s in Education will help you pursue your goals and establish an impactful, rewarding, and successful career in education.
HGSE’s on-campus master’s degree is a one-year, full-time, immersive Harvard experience. You'll apply directly to one of its five distinct programs, spanning education leadership and entrepreneurship, education policy, human development, teaching and teacher leadership, and learning design and technology.
The residential Ed.M. curriculum has two other key pillars: Foundations and Concentrations. Together, our Programs, Foundations, and Concentrations — as well as a dynamic assortment of electives and co-curricular experiences — will prepare you to create transformative learning at every level and in every role, from teacher to district leader, policymaker to entrepreneur, learning designer to nonprofit leader.
To start your master's experience at HGSE, you'll choose and apply to one of our five Programs, where you'll develop expertise in a specific area of education practice that aligns with your professional aspirations.
Cultivates the skills you need to become an effective, strategic, and innovative leader. Offers the School Leadership Pathway and Principal Licensure Strand.
Provides you with a deep understanding of what works in education and how to leverage policy to generate solutions.
Prepares you to understand and support the development of learners of all ages and their communities.Offers the School Counseling Licensure Pathway.
Offers you the opportunity to create technological innovations and evolve the science of learning to improve student outcomes.
Equips you with the skills needed to transform learning, advance social justice, and make a difference in the lives of all students. Offers the Teaching Licensure Strand.
The following programs offer licensure pathways:
Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship: School Leadership Pathway and Principal Licensure Strand
Human Development and Education: School Counseling Licensure Pathway
Teaching and Teacher Leadership: Teaching Licensure Strand
You’ll launch your master's program with Foundations — four distinctive courses that give you knowledge and capacities that every educator, in every setting, needs to possess. Leveraging the expertise of HGSE’s faculty, along with novel instructional approaches and real-world applications, Foundations will prepare you to understand, evaluate, and address the challenges and rapidly changing circumstances facing students, families, and communities. You'll draw on that foundational knowledge over the rest of your HGSE coursework and throughout your career.
Deepen your knowledge in a particular context or area of education by choosing an optional Concentration — an area of specialty that can be combined with your Program to create customized pathways and expertise. You'll foster connections with peers who share similar interests, and lay the groundwork for your career. Note your interest in a Concentration on your application, and officially declare after enrollment. Concentrations require 6-12 credits of coursework.
Helps you explore the integral role the arts play across art forms, age groups, and learning environments.
Prepares you for a variety of roles within the early childhood education sector.
Enables you to gain experience addressing education inequalities in low and middle-income countries.
Equips you for a career in postsecondary education — within universities, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and consulting firms.
Provides you with the skills to create education spaces that aim to eliminate oppressive conditions and inequitable outcomes.
Gives you the tools to address how literacy-related developments support student outcomes.
Whether you focus on early childhood education, K–12, or higher education, and whether domestically or globally, our master’s curriculum offers the chance to design your own pathway by crafting a customized set of enriching experiences that allow you to tap your leadership potential, cultivate your ability to make a positive impact, and create the conditions for meaningful learning and development. Learn how to personalize your pathway.
From the start of your time as a student, you will be supported to successfully transition into graduate school and immediately begin to develop your networks with others who are dedicated to improving education. And throughout your time at HGSE, you will continue building relationships with and receiving support from your cohort. HGSE faculty and staff also facilitate numerous opportunities to help you find a community that will outlast your time as an HGSE student, and upon graduation, you will join the over 30,000 HGSE alumni working around the world.