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Degrees & Programs
If you have program-specific questions, please contact HDE Assistant Director Mandy Farhoodi-Moberger.
If you have admissions-related questions, please email gseadmissions@harvard.edu.
The Human Development and Education (HDE) Program prepares you to support the unique needs and growth of all learners — whether you are interested in exploring a direct service role, starting a nonprofit organization, engaging in clinical or counseling work, or pursuing doctoral research. By linking theories and pioneering research with practice and policy about child, adolescent, and adult development, you will have opportunities to examine different developmental domains — including cognitive, emotional, social, moral, and neurological — as well as design strategies and interventions to promote healthy development. HDE offers a School Counseling Licensure Pathway for students interested in pursuing Massachusetts licensure in school counseling.
"We know much about the science of human development, but we are just beginning to figure out how to communicate and enact it to actually better the world. Our program helps our students gain a deeper understanding of learning and growth across diverse contexts, as they explore their professional roles in supporting human development for children, families, and communities." Junlei LiFaculty Co-Chair
"We know much about the science of human development, but we are just beginning to figure out how to communicate and enact it to actually better the world. Our program helps our students gain a deeper understanding of learning and growth across diverse contexts, as they explore their professional roles in supporting human development for children, families, and communities."
Junlei LiFaculty Co-Chair
After completing the HDE Program, you will have a deeper understanding of the following competencies that explore how:
The HDE Program is designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills essential to promoting healthy development for all learners. A minimum of 42 credits are required to graduate with an Ed.M. degree from HGSE.
The main elements of this academic year curriculum are:
To fulfill the program requirement, students must take a minimum of 12 credits specific to HDE, including the following:
Explore our course catalog.Note, all information and courses are subject to change.
Students can get licensed as a school counselor by taking two years of sequenced coursework and fieldwork through our School Counseling Licensure Pathway. Year one consists of pursuing an Ed.M. in the HDE Program and our School Counseling Strand. The School Counseling Strand begins the pathway to Massachusetts licensure in school counseling and prepares K–12 school-based counselors-in-training with the skills necessary to promote positive, healthy academic and social emotional development with an emphasis on prevention and social justice.
Year two consists of our Certificate of Advanced Study in Counseling program, which allows students to pursue Massachusetts initial licensure as a school counselor or school adjustment counselor. Through this curricular sequence and field-based placement, graduates will be prepared to enter K–12 schools as counselors, leaders, and advocates.
Students will work closely with faculty associated with their area of study, but students can also work with and take courses with faculty throughout HGSE and Harvard. View our faculty directory for a full list of HGSE faculty.
Junlei Li's research and practice focuses on understanding and empowering human relationships across developmental contexts.
Dana Charles McCoy's work focuses on understanding the ways that poverty-related risk factors in children's home, school, and neighborhood environments affect the development of their cognitive and socioemotional skills in early childhood.
The HDE Program prepares you for a variety of career pathways, including:
You will join an extraordinary cohort of students representing a rich diversity of personal and professional backgrounds. As an HDE student, you will engage in events and professional development opportunities that build community — including discussions about career pathways, conversations with faculty members about their research interests, and other community events. You will find that your cohort members exhibit energy, curiosity, and compassion, as well as a common commitment to understanding the deepest puzzles of development and addressing the greatest practical challenges. This community results in an exhilarating learning environment that forms the basis for lifelong friendships and long-term professional networks.
The deadline to apply is January 5, 2025.
Explore examples of the Human Development and Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:
After winning a Fulbright, Zion Dyson, Ed.M.’24, has returned to Cambodia to expand the children's music program she began as an undergrad.
Keshav Bhatt and Helena Martinez Bravo will be honored with the Intellectual Contribution Award for the Human Development and Education Program