International Advocacy & Leadership Certificate

The International Advocacy & Leadership Certificate is a 15 credit hour certificate that focuses on education both as an instrument for international development and as a means of promoting cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. Educational deficits, economic difficulties, environmental concerns, poverty, and human rights are issues that cut across national boundaries, affecting individuals and entire populations around the world. This program addresses the theoretical, methodological, critical, and practical issues associated with education and leadership around the world as well as in national settings where international audiences are present. Students will gain practical knowledge and skills in project implementation and grant writing. Students will also gain a sense of appreciation of the interdependence of the world’s diverse people.

Admission Requirements for the International Advocacy & Leadership Certificate

Have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution;
Complete all parts of the online application, including writing sample;
Submit one letter of recommendation;
Submit official transcript(s) of all college-level work completed;
International students: an official transcript and/or an official transcript evaluation is required for admittance into a graduate program;
Have a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale;
Students whose primary language is not English are required to submit official score reports of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam. The examination results should not be more than two years old. The minimum TOEFL score required is 550. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam scores may be submitted in lieu of the TOEFL. The minimum IELTS exam score required for admission is an overall score of 6.5 with no individual band score below 5.5.
Avila alumni applying within two years of completing an Avila School of Education program do not need to submit a letter of recommendation, a writing sample, or an Avila transcript.

Required Courses (15 credit hours)

Education Certificate Policies

To maintain enrollment, the student must maintain a 3.0 grade point average in all graduate coursework with no grade below a “C.” Only one grade of “C” is accepted toward the 15 credit hour program. Only one course may be repeated one time in the entire program. Students who are unable to maintain these academic standards will be dismissed from the program.

Outcomes

Knowledge of Critical Global Issues: Students will increase knowledge of the world outside of their own national borders and of the forces and issues that drive global education, policies, economics, and behavior. Possessing this knowledge will help global leaders make informed decisions and understand the impacts of those decisions on peoples, nations, and global systems.

Skills for Cross-Cultural Interactions: Students will gain the skills and dispositions to be reflective and ethical practitioners committed to promoting social justice across cultural contexts. Courses in this area will provide learners with the cultural sensitivity and adaptive skills needed to interact with diverse colleagues, students, and community constituents in culturally appropriate manners.

Global Leadership Skills: Students will develop leadership potential, a sense of “global-mindedness,” and capacity for intellectual humility, integrity, and empathy. They will form leadership and operational approaches to lead more successfully in a global context.

Advocacy Leadership for Social Change: Students will acquire critical analysis and application skills to organize, implement, and lead social change initiatives in a global landscape. Students will demonstrate a deep understanding of the nexus between culture, child development, and education and use this knowledge to advocate and serve in a variety of contexts.

Ethical Management: Students will learn the skills needed to ethically manage human, technological, and fiscal resources in order to respond to the needs of children, youth, families, and communities. Courses in this area will provide learners with tools to make ethical decisions and bolster others toward ethical action.
Programs for Social Inclusion: Students will exhibit the ability to design, implement, and assess formal and informal educational programs that promote social justice and social inclusion for marginalized and vulnerable people.
Instructional Leadership & Implementation: Students will demonstrate appropriate use of research-based pedagogical strategies and technologies to deliver effective lessons in formal and non-formal education and advocacy settings. Students will demonstrate appropriate uses of assessments for measuring and promoting learning and development.

Assessment

Outcomes for the graduate certificate are assessed through written examinations, key assessments, and performance evaluations. Individual course syllabi show in detail the way in which the course addresses and evaluates the graduate outcomes.

Alignment matrices showing the assessment of outcomes is located in the School of Education Office.

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