​​The Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University reflects the dynamic character of the ethnically and culturally diverse setting within which it is located: the Negev region. Being sensitive to the special experiences, conditions and opportunities presented by the communities in the region, the department is committed to educating researchers and practitioners in the knowledge, skills, and understandings necessary to contribute to a complex and continuously changing multicultural society. To achieve this mission the department is committed to excellence in research and in undergraduate and graduate education, as well as to service to the community.
 
The 21 faculty members in the department—many internationally known scholars in their fields—represent diverse disciplines in the study of education. Central disciplines include social philosophy, educational leadership, critical sociology, educational counseling and psychology, as well as the learning sciences. Faculty members and graduate students publish disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research, of a basic and of an applied nature. Research in the department has been generously funded and supported by the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF), the Bi-National U.S.-Israel Foundation (BSF), The German-Israel Foundation (GIF), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission as well as additional funding agencies.
 
Over seven hundred students study for a degree in the department, about half are undergraduate students, around 200 take part in the various MA programs, and the remaining are PhD students.  In addition, more than a thousand students participate in professional development programs that include teacher and principal certification programs. Programs of study also include specialized programs, such as educational counseling and psychology in the Bedouin community, outreach programs of peer tutoring, and service courses where undergraduates mentor youth.
 
Special strengths of the department:
*Motivation and education
*Critical analysis of education policy
*Comparative education research
*Educational innovation
*Learning, cognition, and development
*Research of Israeli pedagogy
*Theory and practice of well-being enhancement through systemic counseling, educational, developmental and psychological work