Theodore R. Sizer, dean of the Graduate School of Education, announced yesterday that he will spend the spring term of 1971 on sabbatical.

Dana M. Cotton, secretary of the Education School, will be acting dean in Sizer's absence.

Sizer said he plans to study abroad during the term possibly at the University of Bristol in England. "I've put off this leave of absence for over two years now," he said, "and I plan to spend it away from the telephones of Cambridge."

Sizer's study will be financed by a Guggenheim Fellowship. He will spend his time writing a book analyzing the process of change in American public schools.

Budget Problems

During the past two years, the Education School has experienced budget deficiencies as a result of government contract termination and the Ed School's small endowment. Sizer said that budgetary problems should be alleviated by 1972, if money raising efforts succeed.

Cotton, who will be acting dean, has been on the staff of the Education School since 1944. He is also assistant to the dean of Admissions and Financial Aids at Harvard College and associate director of Harvard's Summer School.