The 4-year SUNY colleges offering undergraduate education programs have developed a common statement to guide 2-year colleges with regard to the introductory professional courses for transfer to avoid giving conflicting advice. This document is designed to provide the broadest transferability. However, there are some important variations among 4-year colleges that need to be kept in mind. For example, although nearly all 4-year colleges offer a 2nd year course in Foundations of Education, it is not universal (in one case, it is a senior level capstone with a very different syllabus). For those cases, campuses have agreed to give credit for the course and not have students repeat similar material in another course, but there is no direct "equivalent" course.
The course outline agreed to by the 4-year SUNY colleges with baccalaureate programs in education, developed by a committee of 4-year and 2-year college faculty is given below. The most common reason that courses in Foundations have not been accepted in transfer is a lack of emphasis on social issues related to diversity and socioeconomic status as noted in the outline.
A second important consideration is experience in the schools. Many, but not all, of the 4-year colleges require fieldwork along with the Foundations course. Those that do not require it see it as an advantage to the student, so 30 hours of supervised directed fieldwork is strongly recommended so that students have the widest possible transfer options.
This course should be designed as a comprehensive introduction to the historical, sociological, and philosophical foundations of education. The course would: require students to examine the social purposes of education in historical and contemporary contexts; engage students in the study of education through the academic disciplines of sociology, history, and philosophy; examine the significance of social differences (class, culture, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion) for education; develop and express a personal philosophy of education; and examine the relationship of schooling to democratic practices and principles. Topics addressed would include, but would not be limited to, the following:
History of Education (general history of education)
Philosophy of Education (general)
Sociology of Education (general)
Core Courses are courses that fulfill lower-level requirements and apply to any transfer path major where they appear. Foundations of Education is universal course description, which maps to specific courses on SUNY campuses. Approved SUNY Transfer Path Core Courses are guaranteed to transfer to fulfill requirements in the major and/or required cognates (not just as electives) at all SUNY campuses if the course is completed with a grade of C or better.1 You may Search for Core Course equivalents using the Transfer Navigator.
1 While a grade of C or better is guaranteed, campuses can have different policies where they accept a passing grade lower than C. Pass/Fail courses may be accepted at the discretion of the campus, but transfer is not guaranteed.