Courses & Curriculum

Twenty-four units are required to graduate from the LLSC Area of Study with a Cultural Studies of Sport in Education concentration. Students are expected to carry at least 12 units per semester, and most courses are classified as 3 units. Thus, the typical load of students is four courses per semester, and the program is designed so that students can graduate in one academic year (late-August to mid-May).

In the Fall semester, students enroll in two CSSE-specific core courses, one Graduate School of Education (GSE) core course, and either fulfill their internship requirement (which counts as 3 units of study) or enroll in an elective course. EDUC 257 is the foundational course for the Cultural Studies of Sport in Education concentration. Topics in this course include theories of sport in society, the institutional relationship between sport and education, athletic and academic identities, self-regulated learning and studying, academic discourse, achievement motivation, coaches as teachers, the language of sports, and the role of race, class, and gender on achievement in the domains of school and sport. A special focus of the readings and discussions are on the educational challenges confronted by student athletes. Sociological, psychological, and educational theory are employed to study these issues. In the Spring semester, students enroll in a program-specific core course, fulfill their internship requirement if they have not yet done so, and have the opportunity to take more elective courses. The year-long thesis seminary (EDUC 294B) teaches students to design a research project and to write a cogent and critical research paper about a particular area of interest related to the program's course of study. The class schedule of a typical CSSE student looks something like this:

Fall semester

• EDUC 257, Foundations: Cultural studies of sport in education (3 units) (CSSSE core requirement)
  
• EDUC 294B, Thesis seminar: Qualitative methodologies (3 units) (CSSE core requirement)
  
• GSE core requirement (3 units)
  
• Internship or elective (3 units)
  

Spring semester

• EDUC 294B, Thesis seminar: Quantitative methodologies (3 units) (CSSE core requirement)
  
• Internship or elective (3 units)
  
• Elective (3-4 units)
  
• Elective (3-4 units)
  

Most students pursuing the CSSE concentration take Urban Education as their GSE core requirement, but there are a wide range of courses that fulfill this requirement, including: Psychosocial Development; Instruction & Development; Literacies: Old & New; The Progressive Tradition in American Education; Urban School Reform; and Historical Perspectives on American Education. For their electives, students can choose from any graduate-level course within the entire U.C. Berkeley catalogue, so long as it is approved by their advisor and is aligned with their research interests. (Students often take classes offered by the graduate schools of psychology, sociology, or social welfare, and enroll in education-specific courses in the Goldman School of Public Policy and Boalt School of Law.)