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Major · Education

Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education is the academic-track education major, not a teaching license

Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education studies education as a social and cultural institution — philosophy of education, history, sociology, and policy. It is a humanistic, research-oriented bachelor's, not a state-licensed teacher preparation program. Most named career destinations expect a master's or doctorate.

Schools offering
16
Annual completions
393
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$58k

About this major

Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education is the academic and theoretical side of the education field. The CIP definition frames it precisely: a systematic study of education as a social and cultural institution and the educational process as an object of humanistic inquiry, with coursework in philosophy of education, history of education, educational anthropology, sociology of education, the economics and politics of education, and educational policy studies. It is the only education CIP that does not point at a named teaching role — it points at the scholarly study of schooling itself.

The major fits students who want to argue about why schools look the way they do, who read education-policy papers for fun, and who care about questions like how race, class, language, and immigration status shape what a school can be. Strong candidates often combine an interest in philosophy, sociology, history, or political science with a commitment to education as a public good. Comfort with reading dense theoretical texts and writing argumentative essays helps; so does patience with ambiguous evidence and an appetite for graduate study, because most named destinations from this credential expect at least a master's.

The field is small and unusually concentrated. Sixteen institutions reported bachelor's completions in the latest federal data, with 393 total degrees granted nationwide. Three University of California campuses — Riverside (160), UCLA (90), and Santa Cruz (73) — account for roughly 82 percent of all completions. The remainder come from a mix of research universities (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northern Kentucky, Eastern Washington) and small liberal-arts colleges (Wesleyan, Dickinson, Amherst, High Point). Program emphasis varies considerably by institution: some lean philosophy and history, some lean sociology and critical pedagogy, some lean education policy and quantitative methods. The school you pick will shape the degree more than the major name does.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Education teachers, postsecondary $72k +2.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$58k

Who this major is for

Good fit if you are drawn to the structural and theoretical questions in education — why some students get more than others, how policy shapes what teachers can do, what the philosophical arguments for and against public schooling actually are, how a curriculum becomes a curriculum. Comfort with reading peer-reviewed education research, writing analytical essays, and sitting with ambiguity is a green flag. So is interest in graduate study: the named federal career attached to this CIP (postsecondary education teacher) requires a doctorate, and the realistic non-academic destinations — education-policy analyst, education research associate, higher-education administrator — typically expect a master's. Students who already know they want to work at education think tanks (RAND Education, Mathematica, AIR, MDRC, Brookings), at federal or state education agencies, at education foundations (Gates, Walton, Lumina, Strada), or in education journalism (Education Week, Hechinger Report, Chalkbeat) will find the analytical tools the major teaches — policy analysis, sociological framing, philosophical argument — directly useful.

Reconsider if your goal is to be a licensed K-12 classroom teacher. This major does not include the supervised student teaching, state-approved methods coursework, or Praxis exam preparation that licensure-track majors carry, and routing through it adds a post-baccalaureate licensure program later. If teaching is the goal, look at named teacher-education CIPs: Elementary Education (13.1202), Secondary Education (13.1205), Special Education (13.1001), or a subject-specific track like Mathematics Teacher Education (13.1311), Science Teacher Education (13.1316), or Social Science Teacher Education (13.1317). Reconsider also if you want a clean bachelor's-to-six-figure-job pipeline: median earnings five years out are $57,847, and most higher-paying destinations require additional credentials and several years of applied experience first.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA 0 160 160
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 90 90
University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 0 73 73
University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 0 26 26
Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 0 13 13
Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 0 11 11
Amherst College Amherst, MA 0 9 9
High Point University High Point, NC 0 3 3
Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY 0 3 3
Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA 0 2 2
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Education, General

8,583 completions/yr

Educational Leadership and Administration, General

262 completions/yr

Bilingual and Multilingual Education

89 completions/yr

Curriculum and Instruction

38 completions/yr

Multicultural Education

15 completions/yr

Educational, Instructional, and Curriculum Supervision

13 completions/yr

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education, Other

6 completions/yr

Indian/Native American Education

3 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

Is this bachelor's a teaching license?
No. Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education is the scholarly side of education — it studies why schools do what they do, not how to run a classroom. It does not include the supervised student teaching, state-approved methods coursework, or Praxis exam preparation that licensure-track majors carry. If you want to teach in a K-12 classroom, you need a named teacher-education major (Elementary Education 13.1202, Secondary Education 13.1205, or a subject-specific track like Mathematics Teacher Education 13.1311) and the state license that comes with it. Routing into classroom teaching from this CIP usually means a separate post-baccalaureate licensure program after graduation.
What jobs does this actually lead to?
At the bachelor's level, graduates land in education-adjacent support roles: research assistants at think tanks (RAND Education, Mathematica, AIR, MDRC, Brookings), program coordinators at education nonprofits and foundations (Gates, Walton, Lumina, Strada, Teach For America national office), administrative staff at colleges and universities (admissions, student affairs, institutional research, registrar), state department of education staff, and education journalism (Education Week, Hechinger Report, Chalkbeat, The 74, Inside Higher Ed). The named federal career attached to this CIP — postsecondary education teachers — typically requires a doctorate. The honest read is that this is rarely a terminal-bachelor's career credential; it is the entry point to graduate study in education research, education policy, or higher-education administration.
Will I need a graduate degree?
Probably yes for the named career paths. The one occupation linked to this CIP in federal data — postsecondary education teacher at a median wage of $72,090 — typically requires a doctoral or professional degree. The other realistic destinations follow the same pattern: education-policy analyst (master's typical), education research scientist at ETS, RAND, or Mathematica (PhD common), higher-education administrator (master's required for most dean's-office or registrar roles), school principal (master's plus license). Most graduates of this major move into a master's or doctorate in education — commonly Ed.M., M.Ed., Ed.D., or PhD — within a few years of graduating.
How is this different from Education, General or Educational Leadership?
Education, General (CIP 13.0101) is the broader umbrella major — it covers everything from teaching foundations to general education studies, and many of its programs are licensure-adjacent or pre-teaching. Educational Leadership and Administration (13.0401) is typically a graduate-level credential aimed at principals and central-office administrators, not a common standalone bachelor's. Social and Philosophical Foundations (13.0901) is the most academic of the three: heavy on philosophy of education, sociology of schooling, history of American education, and education-policy analysis. Curriculum and Instruction (13.0301) sits closer to instructional-design practice. The differences matter because each leads to a different graduate-study route and a different first job.
How many colleges offer this bachelor's?
Sixteen institutions reported Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education bachelor's completions in the latest federal data, with 393 total completions. The field is concentrated in California: University of California-Riverside graduated 160 students, UCLA graduated 90, and UC-Santa Cruz graduated 73 — roughly 82 percent of all degrees nationwide. The remaining schools (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wesleyan, Dickinson College, Amherst, High Point, Northern Kentucky, Eastern Washington) graduated small cohorts. Because this CIP attracts deliberately humanistic and policy-oriented programs, content varies considerably by institution — some lean philosophy-of-education and history, others lean sociology and critical pedagogy, others lean education policy and quantitative methods.
What does median early-career pay look like?
Federal data show $57,847 in median earnings five years after a bachelor's in this major. That is meaningfully below the $72,090 median wage for postsecondary education teachers — the only career formally linked to this CIP — because most graduates are not yet professors. Many are still in graduate school, in entry-level research or policy roles ($40,000–$55,000 typical), or working in university administration. Earnings climb with credentials: master's-plus-five-years pushes education-policy analyst and research-associate work into the $65,000–$95,000 band. PhD-credentialed education research scientists at ETS, Mathematica, RAND, or AIR run $85,000–$150,000. Tenure-track education faculty fall in the $75,000–$130,000 range with significant variation by institution and field.
Should I pick this over a named teacher-ed major?
Pick Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education if you want to study education itself — the policies that shape it, the social forces that move it, the philosophical arguments behind it, the history of how it got here — with an eye toward graduate school in education research, education policy, or higher-education administration. Pick a named teacher-education major (Elementary 13.1202, Secondary 13.1205, Mathematics 13.1311, Science 13.1316, Social Science 13.1317, Special Education 13.1001) if you want to stand in a classroom with your own students. The two paths share vocabulary, but they lead to different first jobs, different graduate routes, and different state-licensure outcomes. Switching from this major into K-12 classroom teaching almost always requires a separate post-baccalaureate licensure program.