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About Us

Bard MAT students Trevor McGinn ’08 MAT ’19 and Tanya Ohanian ’19.
Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00
The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program at Bard College responds to an urgent need for innovative education. This transformation requires teachers who can help secondary school students develop the thoughtful self-determination that builds from a genuine enthusiasm for learning.

Teaching What Matters

The core of Bard's MAT Program is an integrated curriculum leading to a discipline-based master of arts in teaching degree and New York State Initial Teaching Certification (grades 7–12) in one of five subject areas: biology, English/ literature, Social Studies/ history, mathematics, or Spanish. One-year (full-time) and two-years (part-time) program options available. 

What makes us unique?

What makes us unique?

  • Small cohort model affords individual attention and sustained mentoring
  • 90% hiring rate post graduation
  • Graduate study in the discipline and in education
  • Extensive teaching residencies in partner schools
  • Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and restorative practice
  • Part of Bard College's network of global education initiatives

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Our Approach

The MAT Program requires an equal amount of advanced study in the elected academic discipline and in education courses challenging pre-service teachers to apply the results of research and pedagogical analysis to their teaching. MAT students are engaged in partner school classrooms throughout the year, reflecting an intensive model of professional preparation. This model offers a singular opportunity to pursue graduate study while participating in classroom apprenticeships, thereby grounding theory in the work of teaching and learning. The program’s instructionally innovative courses provide the basis for critical reflection about education practice.

What We Do

  • Preparing Teachers
    Research indicates that teachers tend to teach in the same way they were taught. In response, the MAT Program focuses on teaching as a clinical profession, and on the teacher as a professional. MAT graduates are strongly grounded in their subject areas and skilled in applying their knowledge of learning to the different needs of individual learners; in short, MAT graduates are prepared to teach and to lead.
  • Extensive Teaching
    Apprenticeships
    Maximizing the amount of time that a pre-service teacher spends in the classroom working side-by-side with experienced teachers is widely recognized as a key factor in the best teacher education programs. It is structured in various ways by different programs, but with an effort to ensure that active work in classrooms is a consistent frame of reference throughout the academic year.
  • New Educational Perspectives
    In pursuing the goal of making positive changes in the schools, the faculty of the MAT Program supply leadership in developing and applying a variety of approaches that differ from conventional classroom practices. The MAT Program’s teaching internship provides an opportunity to question the tacit assumptions so often made by teachers and students alike, and to construct, instead, a new educational perspective based upon classroom experience and advanced study in the academic disciplines.
  • Writing in Teaching and Learning
    The MAT Program’s partnership with area schools involves teachers, MAT students, and MAT faculty who meet regularly to pose critical questions regarding education. These meetings engage students and mentors in inquiry and research that lead to productive changes and, in turn, to further questions. In conjunction with the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking, the Bard MAT seeks to enrich and deepen learning in all disciplines areas with programs that focus on the role of writing in teaching and learning. 
Life After Bard
Bard MAT Grads Gary Burns ’18, Jessica Boyd ’17, MAT ’18, Chris Bucci ’18, Alex Bacha ’18. Photo by C. Maple

Life After Bard

The Bard MAT has a 90% hiring rate within the first year of graduation. 
Advisors help MAT students prepare to enter the professional job market upon graduation. They work with students on resume preparation, cover-letter writing, interviewing skills, and strategies for locating teaching positions across the country and internationally. Various forms of support are also offered during the first years of teaching.