The School of Education is different. At one time, it was the "department of education" but the chancellor at that time saw that when students study those courses they are preparing for an occupation. So, the department got the new title the School of Education and it was made part of some other 'schools' in the College of Professional Studies. Many college subjects are taught with an aim of enriching the entire life of the students but the "professional" is explicitly aimed at occupational interests. In the School of
Education, the interests involve teaching, most often public schools, which usually offer instruction from the pre-kindergarten level through the last year of high school. There are "teachers' colleges" all over. After all, children often need individual or small group instruction so one teacher is needed for each group of 30 or so children.
Typically, at colleges and universities in the US, a student interested in being a public school teacher is female. About 75% of US teachers are female. In many colleges, the student studies general courses on a wide variety of humanities, scientific and artistic subjects during the first two years but in the 3rd, the first semester is devoted to considerations of the subject of teaching while the 2nd semester is devoted to "student teaching", where the student is assigned to a classroom with a fully credentialed teacher, already running the class. The student teaching semester usually begins with the student teacher observing and steadily moving into greater responsibility. By the last few weeks, the student teacher is teaching all the subjects and the classroom experienced teacher is observing and advising.
Many college professors spend important time and effort on research and publications but in general publications carry less weight but the education professors visit student teachers at their student teaching locations, observe the student teacher in action, and explore the opinions and reactions of the classroom teacher to the student's teaching.
Another aspect of being an education faculty member is teaching graduate students. Teachers can improve their teaching and their pay rate by accumulating graduate school credits. The teaching faculty may be expected to teach summer school and late-in-the-day courses to graduate students, experienced teachers working toward a master's degree or beyond. Another difference for education faculty is that their publications, books or articles, may matter in their own evaluation much less than they do for professors in humanities and sciences.
