As the leading Faculty of Education in Canada, UBC Faculty of Education (FoE) has served the international education community through leadership in research, service, and advocacy for more than 50 years.

What you might expect/course format

The UBC Vancouver Summer Program in the Faculty of Education is a four-week program developed for international undergraduate students. The courses deliver academic rigour through pedagogies selected to optimize learning of students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The program provides the opportunity for students to learn about a wide range of education topics in a Canadian context, while also exploring Canadian society and culture through engaging classes, field trips, and social activities. It is a truly holistic learning experience!

  • Each package consists of two courses (approximately 39 hours of class time per course)
  • Classes are interactive and often include discussions, group work, and field trips
  • Evaluation may include assignments, group projects, papers, and presentations
  • Out-of-the-classroom activities extend learning opportunities and help build international networks of colleagues and friends
  • Students’ home universities can receive detailed information about the courses and records of students’ achievement and may grant academic credit for the courses at their own discretion

June 2026 Course Packages

Supporting Responsive Young Child Growth in Early Childhood Settings

This course explores responsive ways to support the growth and learning of young children in early childhood settings. The focus is on positive relationships and responsive approaches that support learning and growth in young children. Elements and approaches that can transform early learning settings into highly effective programs that facilitate student success. Students will learn about, discuss, and clarify some of the theories, programs, and approaches central to culturally responsive approaches to early education, including child development theory, developmental neurosciences, strength-based approaches and the holistic and relational nature of learning in the early years. This course focuses on current issues around young children’s rights, socio-emotional development, preparing for school, second language acquisition, learn in nature, and engagement with caregivers. It highlights the idea that young children’s innate capacity to learn and educators’ responses to children’s inquiries provide the foundation for the growth and high-quality early learning experiences for young children.

Creating Positive Environments to Support Learning in Early Childhood Settings

In this course the students are introduced to the significant role that designing stimulating and nurturing early childhood learning environments plays in children’s learning and in supporting all aspects of their development and growth. Recognizing that early childhood education is constructed within historical, sociocultural, political, and theoretical contexts, in this course the ways in which high-quality learning environments engage with all of these contexts are explored. Additionally, it discusses the considerations that socio-cultural contexts and socio-emotional relationships have on creating learning spaces by taking into account philosophies of childhood, play, and learning through in-class experiences and visits to programs in the field.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Minors (students aged under 19 at the start of the program): Not Accepted

For more information

For VSP Education-specific questions, email Fang Wang, Director of International Initiatives, at fang.wang@ubc.ca.

Student testimonials

“It has truly been a transformative learning experience for me. As a student teacher, I learned so many practical teaching skills and classroom management strategies here. These four weeks broadened my understanding of teaching and learning.”

– Liyan, VSP Education Student

“I truly enjoyed studying at UBC to learn about teaching and learning, and exploring Vancouver after class. The city itself is a large classroom to learn culture, history, different ways of being, and it all inspires me to reflect on how to be a better educator.”

– Pablo, VSP Education Student