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This longitudinal, mixed-methods study reports on the development and implementation of an early phonological awareness screening and intervention program for struggling emergent readers in a French immersion school in Manitoba. The program was created by a professional learning community made up of the school administrator, teachers, and clinical support staff. This paper describes the process of developing the phonological awareness program and the intervention itself. Forty-two children participated in the phonological awareness intervention that lasted 10 weeks. The intervention was given in English in kindergarten. Significant gains were found in the phonological awareness skills of the children who participated in the intervention. Results also indicated that children's phonological awareness skills in English predicted their French reading levels in Grade 1. In addition, we provide insight into the roles played by key members of the school's PLC through qualitative analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews. The work of the school's professional learning community offers a model that may be implemented by other school teams to promote equity and accessibility for all learners in FI programs.

This study, originally prompted by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational practices, examined Canadian faculty members' expectations of teaching and learning modalities in the year 2026. Employing a speculative methodology and thematic analysis, interview responses of 34 faculty members led to the construction of three hypothetical scenarios for future teaching and learning modalities: a hybrid work model, a high tech and flexible learning model, and a pre-pandemic status quo model. In contrast to radical education futures described in the literature, the findings do not depart significantly from dominant modes of teaching and learning. Nevertheless, these findings offer insights into the expectations that Canadian faculty members have with respect to future teaching and learning modalities, the contextual issues and concerns that they face, the use of speculative methodologies in educational technology research, and the potential impacts remote learning trends have on the future of higher education in Canada.

Academic labor has expanded beyond the walls of academic institutions. Academics are expected to communicate with students online, use digital tools to complete their work, and share their research with broad audiences--often through online spaces like social media. Academics also face technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA) in these same spaces. When this happens, employers have a responsibility to protect and support workers. However, recent events have shown that universities are not always prepared to do so. We use data from a discourse analysis of harassment and discrimination policies and interviews with university managers (including Vice President Academics/Provost, Faculty Deans, and directors of human rights offices) to examine how prepared Canadian universities and colleges are to support academics targeted by TFVA. We found that institutions are unprepared in three ways: first, they focus on physical safety over non-contact harms; second, they envision perpetrators to be named, local, and part of the campus community; and third, the reporting process is cumbersome and outpaced by the speed and frequency with which TFVA occurs. We consider these findings in the context of work-overflow and context collapse to demonstrate how the institutional apparatus for maintaining a safe and respectful working environment has not expanded in kind with the extensification of contemporary academic labor.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of Syrian refugee students in Canadian schools. Article 12 of the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" (CRC) was used as a framework. Data collection involved one-on-one interview with students. Data from the interviews was analyzed using an open-coding technique to identify themes and patterns. Although the students had positive resettlement experiences, some of them experienced difficulties with their learning. Based on the findings, we propose recommendations for educators and schools welcoming Syrian refugee students.

The Nature of Science (NOS) is an important component of scientific literacy. Science teachers' Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) directly affect their teaching behaviors. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore science teachers' VNOS and find ways of improvement. This study was designed to comparatively investigate preservice science teachers' VNOS between China and Canada. The study employed a survey design to explore how Chinese and Canadian preservice science teachers understood the seven different aspects of NOS. Data showed that preservice science teachers in China and Canada both hold a modern view about science education. The level of Chinese and Canadian participants' understanding of NOS was above the relatively naive level. Chinese teachers had better macro-understanding toward science education, but their micro-mastery was insufficient. The Canadian participants had a better understanding of the NOS than their Chinese counterparts. The study suggested that there is a need to reconstruct the preservice science teacher education curriculum in China and promote the transformation in the science teacher educational system.

Purpose: The Canadian university where this study took place has established an international exchange program in teacher education with a large Chinese university. This study was designed to examine how the international exchange program influenced Chinese science teacher candidates' understanding of science education and how such learning impacted their teaching in China. Design/Approach/Methods: The study adopted a qualitative research design with interview and reflective journal as the main approaches for data collection. Findings: Participants greatly appreciated the opportunity of exchange. They reported an improved understanding of Canadian school education and its science curriculum and pedagogy, which changed many aspects of their original values about the relationship between the teacher and students, classroom environment, and so on. Although they faced many constraints to implement what they learned from the exchange in Chinese science classrooms, what they learned had never been forgotten. Participants tried to apply them here and there at the level they could control. Originality/Value: There are many reported studies in the literature about Chinese international students on Western campuses. However, research on Chinese students who participate in international exchange programs is very rare. The findings of this study can inform policymakers and education practitioners about student international exchange programs and benefit future exchange participants.

COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closures of public schools and increased need for technology to support students' access to learning capabilities. The situation created enormous burdens for all education stakeholders with teachers struggling on how to package learning materials that are easily accessible to students at home, and parents struggling to structure a home learning environment to support their children. This research was conducted to develop an understanding of challenges that African Nova Scotian (ANS) parents faced when supporting their learners throughout the COVID-19 crisis. The underlying concern was that COVID-19 related school closures combined with a seismic shift in the learning environment would widen pre-existing achievement gaps among ANS learners. Utilising a methodology framed from a Participatory Action Research perspective, ANS household survey data was collected and analysed. Gaining a better understanding of how ANS students and their support network experienced remote learning is critical for the successful implementation of the current inclusive education policy in the Nova Scotia education system. With an understanding of the challenges faced by ANS learner households and perspectives for the future presented through an ANS lens, our study can help inform a more productive and inclusive public education system in the post-COVID-19 world.

Bilingual children often lag behind monolinguals on standardized measures of language acquisition, such as vocabulary tests. This bilingual lag could be related bilinguals' lesser experience with the target language relative to monolinguals. In this study, we predicted that sequential Mandarin-English bilinguals would perform worse than same-aged English monolinguals on a standardized measure of complex sentence production. As predicted, the bilingual preschoolers performed worse than age-matched English monolinguals. However, once English experience was covaried, there was no significant difference between the two groups. After controlling for age, we tested three predictors of complex sentence production: (1) English vocabulary, (2) verbal memory, and (for the bilinguals) (3) Mandarin vocabulary. For both bilinguals and monolinguals, English vocabulary and verbal memory were significant predictors. These results support the argument that experience with a particular language is highly predictive of children's ability to produce complex sentences in that language. Verbal memory is also an important predictor of individual differences in the ability to produce complex sentences.

Using Multiculturalism as an entry point, the paper interrogates conventional ideas and themes of Cosmopolitanism from an anti-racist and anti-colonial read. The discussion is informed by how the anti-racist and anti-colonial lens has shaped an understanding of multiculturalism and its convergences and divergences with Cosmopolitanism. My goal is to advance a rethinking 'cosmopolitanism' from an Indigenist anti-colonial democratic lens highlighting a philosophy of educational practice geared towards new educational futurities for particularly [but not exclusively] Black, Indigenous and racialized bodies in the school system. It is argued that cosmopolitanism is about Land and relationships. This offers possibilities of learning from the 'geographies of schooling'. The pedagogies of the Land, for example, require examining the narratives and encounters taking place in these 'geographies of schooling' to unravel colonial structures of education and ways we validate contending or competing for multiple knowledges for decolonizing and anti-colonizing education. In the context of the cosmopolitan, institutions like schools, as carceral projects, must acknowledge that anti-Black racism is 'pervasive throughout the system' and not simply assert rhetorically that 'anti-Black racism has no place in our school'! Critical educators in their practice of teaching training and preparation, must be able to name institutional silences, erasures, negligence, and complicities around race, anti-Black racism, and Indigeneity in order to create inclusive learning communities and schools as 'working communities'.

Higher education worldwide is facing several challenges spanning from economic, social, technological, demographic, environmental, to political tensions. Calls to rethink, reimagine, and reform higher education to respond to such challenges are ongoing, and need to be informed by a wide variety of stakeholders. To inform such efforts, we interviewed thirty-seven faculty members at Canadian colleges and universities to develop a greater understanding of their hopes and anxieties about the future of higher education as they considered what higher education may look like five years into the future. Results centred on four themes: (1) anxieties and hopes are shaped by supports and resources from various sources; (2) faculty members face anxiety over matters that negatively impact them but are beyond their control; (3) faculty members hope that "good" comes from the COVID-19 pandemic; and (4) faculty members hope for a well-rounded education that will enable students to succeed both within and beyond their careers. Implications for these findings suggest a need to direct research efforts and practices toward more hopeful futures for higher education, especially in the context of online and blended learning.

Teaching can often seem like an independent endeavor, and seeking out ways to engage in dialogue and exchanges surrounding teaching can be beneficial. Opportunities to observe peers' teaching and discuss teaching practices, challenges, and experiences with peers can lead to an increased sense of community, a fruitful exchange of ideas, and ultimately more thoughtful and effective teaching (Hendry and Oliver, 2012; Lemus-Martinez et al., 2021). One venue for such engagement is the teaching square, an exercise in which teachers observe each other's teaching practice, typically with the goal of self-reflection of one's own practice rather than evaluation of a peer performance. We suggest that even as the common philosophy behind teaching squares emphasizes self-reflection, they can also be catalysts for peer mentoring among participants. This article discusses teaching squares as a peer mentorship opportunity, drawing attention to the benefits of cultivating peer mentorship focused on teaching practices. We provide an account of our experience in undertaking a teaching square and the informal peer mentorship that resulted. [Articles in this journal were presented at the University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching.]

Digital education refers to in-person, blended, and fully online learning efforts, as well as attempts to capture a wide range of teaching and learning contexts which make use of digital technology. While digital education is pervasive in Canada, pan-Canadian data on digital education are relatively scarce. The Canadian Digital Learning Research Association/Association Canadienne de Recherche sur la Formation en Ligne conducted pan-Canadian surveys of higher education institutions (2017-2019), collecting data on the digital education landscape and publishing annual reports of its results. Previous analyses of the data have used quantitative approaches. However, the surveys also collected responses to open-ended questions. In this study, we report a systematic analysis of qualitative data exploring the digital education landscape in Canada and its changes over time. Findings shed light on the growth of digital education, the situated and multidimensional nature of digital education, the adoption of openness, quality, and rigour, and the development of alternative credentials.

We examined whether different parent- and teacher-related factors had an effect on at-risk children's reading development during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy Grade 1 English-speaking Canadian children (28 females, 42 males; M[subscript age] = 6.60, SD = 0.46) who were at-risk for reading difficulties were administered word and pseudoword reading, nonverbal IQ, and phonological awareness tasks before the school closures (February 2020; Time 1). Reading tasks were administered again when they returned to school in September 2020 (Time 2). In April-May 2020, their parents (n = 70) and teachers (n = 40) filled out a questionnaire on the home literacy environment and the frequency of teaching reading and providing reading materials, respectively. Results of multilevel regression analyses showed that children's reading enjoyment and home learning activities predicted both word and pseudoword reading at Time 2. Differentiation of instruction for struggling readers also predicted children's pseudoword reading at Time 2. These findings reinforce the important role of parents in their children's early reading development particularly when the typical agents of instruction (i.e., teachers) have less time and opportunities to interact with their students because of the pandemic.

The disruption that resulted from COVID-19 in 2020 impacted the ways in which higher education faculty lived and worked. Earlier literature describes how faculty members' experiences during the early months of the pandemic included emotional impacts such as stress and anxiety, with little support to manage these impacts. In this paper we report on a thematic analysis of interviews with Canadian faculty members which revealed that the sources of impacts on Canadian faculty were both the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as racial tensions. These impacts revealed themselves in both the personal and professional lives of participants. With regard to their professional role, participants reported that the additional time and care that they put towards learning new technologies, implementation of new teaching practices, support of students, and efforts to sustain their perceived obligations as a scholar carried an emotional burden. With respect to their personal lives, participants noted that emotional impacts emanated from increased caring responsibilities for family and friends, reduced in-person connections, and news reports and social media. We conclude by presenting support recommendations for individual faculty members, teaching and learning centres, and university administrators.

Though school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected all students globally, the effect was significantly more for students from marginalized and vulnerable communities. In Nova Scotia, Canada, the concern was the racial achievement gap that the education system is addressing through an inclusive education policy. The worry, especially for Black Nova Scotian students, was the online learning demands and the associated challenges. Through an analysis of a household survey and intersectionality framework, we explored these challenges. We argue that students have multiple and simultaneously acting identities that lead to differential learning experiences and outcomes, and an intersectionality approach should be considered to inform education improvement decisions.

The purpose of this study was to explore the multifaceted leadership role an effective principal assumed in the deployment of evidence-based literacy practices in her school. We conducted a mixed methods case study integrating the lived experiences of 11 school staff (principal, learning support teacher, and classroom teachers) with the reading scores of 122 Grade 1 to 3 students in Alberta (Canada). A merged mixed analysis strategy revealed four interdependent influences pointing to key contributions of the principal in igniting awareness, developing expertise, creating momentum, and leveraging data in relation to literacy school practices. Our findings shed light on the complexity inherent in the roles of principals and their interactions with others in developing evidence-based literacy school cultures that improve students' performance.

This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project "'Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures--EduArc,'" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries' political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country's context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.

As digital education at the postsecondary level continues to grow, robust professional development that prepares faculty to teach in online and blended settings is necessary. In this study, we analyzed open-ended comments from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association's annual survey of Canadian postsecondary institutions (2017-2019) to deepen our understanding of faculty training and support for digital education as articulated by higher education institutions. We found that: (a) digital education orientation or on-boarding processes for faculty vary widely; (b) institutions employ an extensive array of professional development practices for digital education; (c) institutions report culture change, work security, and unclear expectations as challenges in providing digital education training and support; and (d) institutions articulate aspirations and hopes around professional development investments in order to build digital education capacity. These findings have significant implications for research and practice, which we describe in this article.

During the COVID-19 pandemic numerous institutions around the world have surveyed students to gain an understanding of their experiences. While these surveys are valuable at a local institutional level, it is unclear as to which findings from individual surveys reflect the broader higher education environment, and which patterns may be consistent across student surveys. It is worthwhile to synthesize survey findings in order to explore patterns and potentially new understandings that may arise from such analysis. In this paper, we reviewed and synthesized 21 surveys examining the impacts of COVID-19 and emergency remote learning on approximately 155,000 student respondents in Canada. Findings reveal that the impacts of COVID-19 and emergency remote learning on students centered around (1) educational experiences, (2) mental health and wellbeing, (3) financial concerns, (4) impact on future plans, and (5) recommendations for future practice.

The 24 Nature Notes project was part of the China-Canada Reciprocal Learning Program. Two sister schools participated in the project. Following the same set of dates, students from both schools conducted outdoor observations and collected data. Skype meetings were arranged to exchange ideas and share student work. This study aims to understand the impact of the project on Canadian and Chinese teachers and students, what they learned from each other, and what challenges they faced. Data was collected through observation notes, meeting minutes, student work, and interviews with both Chinese and Canadian teachers and students. Data analysis revealed that the project was a positive opportunity for participants from both countries to gain cross-cultural understanding. The Canadian students enjoyed the freedom in topic selection and presentation formats. They particularly liked the life lessons that the Chinese students shared through their work. The Canadian teachers also valued the idea as it allows students to reflect their observations from a different context. The Chinese teachers and students appreciated the Canadian students' creativity. They gained inspiration from Canadian teachers and students and as a return their project work became more creative.

Canada is experiencing an upward surge in international migration, driving an overall population increase that is the second-largest in Canadian history [Smith, S. (2018). International migration to Canada reached record levels in second quarter of 2018. Canada Immigration Newsletter. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.cicnews.com/2018/09/international-migration-to-canada-reached-record-levels-in-second-quarter-of-2018-0911230.html#gs.w4cups]. Added to accelerating migration, Canada's Indigenous population continues to face the legacy of Canada's colonial history even as their population grows at a rate four times that of the non-Indigenous population. These demographic factors have a significant impact on education. In response, most Canadian colleges and universities have made explicit commitments to champion equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) on their campuses. Given the intersecting factors involved with EDI, there is a pressing need for post-secondary institutions to develop innovative approaches to address emerging demographic and social factors impacting education. Contemporary pushes for EDI are institutional variants of the broader and more profound human rights project expressed internationally since 1948 in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and other subsequent international, national, and provincial human rights instruments. We argue that EDI is best interpreted within the broader tradition of human rights and the corpus of intersectionality-based scholarship. This place and case-based research advances a unique, human rights-inspired intersectional method by joining intersectionality with the corpus of Canadian and international human rights jurisprudence to provide a coherent human rights-derived methodological framework that can serve to advance EDI on university campuses.

Within political philosophy and particularly in the work of Chantal Mouffe and Hannah Arendt, "agonism" has been described as representing the notion of being able to challenge and dissent in a productive way. However, little is known about how agonism is used in the educational literature, other than some applications relevant to democratic education. This paper considers the use of agonism in the educational literature drawing on the findings of a systematic scoping review exploring how it has been used in the context of education. Five databases were searched for literature published using agonism within the context of education to map the existing body of work in a systematic fashion, and to explore how agonism has been differently conceptualised and utilised by researchers in the field of education. The findings suggest that there have been a range of attempts to apply agonistic principles in different educational sub-fields (including, citizenship education, early years education, initial teacher training, arts education and international education), and different interpretations of such principles into education based on different philosophical underpinnings (dissociative and associative approaches). As agonism is mostly explored in a theoretical way, we also discuss the potential of abstract theoretical agonistic principles from different philosophical traditions to be translated into meaningful practical applications for education in order to inform curriculum development, infuse democratic principles into classroom practice, and help to negotiate deep-running tensions amongst key stakeholders in education.

Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education cannot be put into practice without considering institutional contexts, which differ not only globally but also within the same country. Each institutional context provides educators with opportunities or limitations where Open Educational Practices (OEP) and OER for teaching and learning are involved. As part of a broader research project, and as a follow-up to national perspectives, an international comparison was conducted, based on institutional cases of nine different higher education systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey). Aspects regarding the availability of infrastructure and institutional policies for OER, as well as the existence of measures directed at OER quality assurance and at the promotion of the development and use of OER were covered. The resulting theoretical contribution sheds light on an international comparative view of OER and points towards country-specific trends, as well as differences among institutions. These aspects could provide an impetus for the development of institutional guidelines and measures. In line with international literature on the topic, recommendations are derived to promote/enhance the use of OER in teaching and learning in higher education at the institutional level.

The purpose of this paper is to share and discuss our research findings on the experiences of Syrian refugee students in elementary public schools in a southwestern region of Ontario, Canada. We used Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a frame to guide this study. Data collection involved an anonymous questionnaire completed by the students. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The majority of the students missed several years of school or experienced interruptions to their education prior to resettlement in Canada. The students reported positive resettlement and socio-cultural experiences in Canada so far; however, some of them faced difficulties with their learning. Based on the findings, we propose some strategies and make recommendations for educators and the school to support Syrian newcomer students with their learning and integration into the school community.

This paper explores faculty's perspectives and use of open educational resources (OER) and their repositories across different countries by conducting a multiple case study to find similarities and differences between academics' awareness, perceptions and use of OER, as well as examining related aspects of institutional policy and quality that may influence individual views. Data were collected through nine expert reports on each country studied (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Turkey) and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis using thematic coding. Findings show the impact on individual OER adoption with regard to the individual control of diverse factors by faculty members; of institutional policies and quality measures on the externally determined factors (by the institution); and of institutional professional development and provision of incentives in more internally determined factors (by the faculty members themselves). These findings carry implications for higher education institutions around the world in their attempt to boost OER adoption by faculty members.

Since the launch of the BC Open Textbook Project in 2012, the adoption of open textbooks has steadily grown within public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. An analysis of adoption records over a five-year period reveals that open textbooks have been adopted across all types of institutions, including research universities, teaching universities, colleges, and institutes, and across a diverse set of disciplines, with the largest numbers in the sciences and social sciences. In this report we identify, describe, and illustrate eight distinct patterns of open textbook adoption. These are: stealth adoption, adoption by infection, committee adoption, sanctioned exceptional adoption, course developer adoption, infection by inter-institutional carrier, creation and adoption, and lone adoption. While these patterns are not intended to be exhaustive, we hope that identifying these patterns provides a useful framework for campus leaders to (a) understand how adoptions occur in their own contexts, (b) identify ways to support further adoptions, (c) recognize that there are multiple ways, and no single path, to supporting the adoption of educational innovations at their institutions, and (d) foster the embrace of wider open educational practices.

As part of the SSHRC partnership grant on Reciprocal Learning between Ontario, Canada and Southwest, China, we examined the commonalities and differences in secondary school Inquiry-based Teaching (IBT) in science between sister schools in Ontario, Canada and Southwest, China. Canadian and Chinese teachers' interpretations of inquiry through video-recorded lessons, qualitative observational annotations, and quantitative data collected via the EQUIP instrument were analyzed. Results suggest that there is a non-significant difference in application of IBT between secondary science teachers in Ontario, Canada and in Southwest, China between the reciprocal learning populations. Both populations are perceived to use inquiry-based teaching methods in their classrooms proficiently, and that students are more receptive at a higher cognitive level when teachers incorporate IBT.

Using data from two cohorts of Grade 12 students in Toronto, we examined whether the transition to post-secondary education changed between 2006 and 2011, particularly for under-represented groups. We used multilevel, multinomial logistic regressions to examine how the intersections of race and sex affect post-secondary transitions in the two cohorts. Our findings revealed that Black, Latino, and Southeast Asian students were less prepared for postsecondary education than White students. Students in these groups had lower than average GPAs, higher identification of special education needs, or lower likelihoods of taking academic-stream courses. These differences remained fairly stable between 2006 and 2011. We did, however, find that Black students were more likely than White students to confirm a place in university in 2011--a significant difference. In contrast, Southeast Asian students experienced a decline in university transition but an increase in college confirmation. We also found that race and sex were important intersections for university confirmations in the case of Blacks and for college confirmations in the case of Southeast Asians. We contextualize our findings within the policy climate of Ontario in the years spanning our two cohorts.

We examined the bidirectional relations between home literacy environment, reading interest, and children's emergent literacy and reading skills in a sample of 172 English-speaking Canadian children (M[subscript age] = 75.87 months) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Results of cross-lagged analysis revealed that the reading comprehension activities (RCA) at home positively predicted children's reading skills at the end of Grade 2 and the reading skills negatively predicted the RCA in Grade 3. Parent-rated reading interest was bidirectionally related to reading skills, whereas child-rated reading interest was only predicted by earlier reading skills, but not vice versa. These findings suggest that parents are sensitive to their children's reading performance and modify their involvement accordingly.

We examined the direction of the relation between morphological awareness and reading/spelling skills in 2 languages varying in orthographic consistency (English and Greek) and whether word reading fluency and vocabulary mediate the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. One-hundred and 59 English-speaking Canadian and 224 Greek children were assessed 4 times between Grades 1 and 3 on measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, word reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Vocabulary was assessed at the end of Grade 2 and reading comprehension at the end of Grade 2 and at the beginning of Grade 3. Cross-lagged analyses showed that earlier morphological awareness predicted later reading comprehension and spelling in both languages and reading fluency in English. The effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension was not mediated by word reading fluency in either language, but an indirect effect through vocabulary emerged in English. Earlier reading fluency and spelling predicted later morphological awareness before Grade 3 only in English, but morphological awareness began to predict spelling as early as Grade 1 in Greek. Multigroup analyses further showed that the effects of morphological awareness on reading fluency and the effects of spelling on morphological awareness were stronger in English than in Greek. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Inquiry-based teaching has become the most recommended approach in science education for a few decades; however, it is not a common practice yet in k-12 school classrooms. In order to prepare future teachers to teach science through inquiry, a Microteaching Lesson Study (MLS) approach was employed in our science methods courses. Instead of asking teacher candidates to simply share (present) their inquiry-based lesson plans with peers, we requested teacher candidates to develop, teach, and collaboratively reflect upon their lessons. This paper reports our findings from a recently finished study that investigated teacher candidates' learning from and perspectives about MLS. Data were collected through teacher candidates' lesson plans, teaching performances, and reflective reports. The study concluded that MLS provided teacher candidates valuable practical opportunity and their learning through such collaborative action was significant. Participating teacher candidates highly valued MLS approach even though a few of them raised some concerns about it.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Structured Word Inquiry (SWI; an orthography intervention with a focus on morphology and how morphology interrelates with phonology and etymology) and Simplicity intervention (a novel phonics intervention) on the reading and spelling skills of persistently poor Grade 3 readers. Methods: Forty-eight English-speaking Canadian children (19 females, M[subscript age] = 8.73 years) with persistent reading difficulties were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: SWI, Simplicity and Control. Interventions were delivered by trained graduate students over 10 weeks, 3 times a week, for 30 minutes. Children were tested three times (pre-test, post-test and delayed post-test) on measures of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, reading (Word Reading, Morphological Relatedness and Word Attack) and spelling. Results: Results of hierarchical linear modelling showed a significant main effect of condition for Morphological Relatedness at post-test favouring SWI and Simplicity over Control and a significant interaction between a latent variable of all secondary decoding measures and morphological awareness. Effect sizes (Cohen's "d") showed medium to large effects for both interventions on primary outcomes of Word Reading and Morphological Relatedness. Conclusions: These findings suggest that SWI and Simplicity can help persistently poor readers improve in some reading skills, but neither programme is a panacea as a number of children continued to struggle after the intervention.

This paper reports on the postmigration experiences of a group of Somali refugee students attending public schools in a southwestern city in Ontario, Canada. The findings were drawn from a qualitative study conducted to investigate the participants' postmigration experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with six participants. Study participants faced many postmigration learning difficulties and socio-cultural challenges. The findings show the strengths of the participants related to resiliency and perseverance. Educators, administrators, peer students, and members of the school community could play a central role in supporting Somali refugee students after resettlement. This paper proposes strategies and approaches to support educators and the school community in their work with refugee students of Somali background and other cultural backgrounds.

With an increasing number of international students coming to Canada for higher education, Canadian universities are offering diverse English language improvement programs (ELIPs) to improve international students' English proficiency. However, some Chinese international students struggle to pass such programs and eventually withdraw. This study examines the living and learning experiences of Chinese international students who dropped out of ELIPs and identifies the factors associated with their decisions to drop out. The findings indicate that Chinese international students dropped out due to academic failure that was related to low learning motivation, lack of time management and self-regulation, and insufficient academic and social integration. Implications for educators in higher education, study support services, and students are presented.

In recent years, more and more Chinese students have come to Canada for their education. Some of them are parents, and they bring their children with them. Using a multiple case study design, this study explored these international parent-students in regards to how they select schools for their children. Six participants were recruited. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis reveals that participants viewed school selection for their children as their responsibility and thus they were highly engaged in the process. No significant challenges arose in the process of school selection as parents adopted different strategies. Participants considered five key factors when selecting schools for their children, including peers' family background, school rank, language of instruction, impression of the teachers, and parents' religious background. These factors were shaped by the Chinese culture, the participants' class identity, and their anxiety and expectations towards their children's future.

'Inclusive pedagogies' have been recommended as an approach for addressing increased student diversity in the university classroom. However, to date, no research has sought to map the field of inclusive pedagogies in higher education (HE) to establish how researchers have conceptualised and investigated this phenomenon. In this systematic scoping review, five databases were searched for literature published on the topic of inclusive pedagogies in HE. The findings suggest that HE researchers do not share a common understanding of inclusive pedagogies. We argue that inconsistency and fragmentation in perceptions of inclusive pedagogies is the result of inclusion itself being a philosophically contested matter; and that this needs to be reflected in the way that inclusive pedagogies are discussed in HE -- even if this goes against current performative and market-driven trends that emphasise quick fixes over acknowledging the complexity of pedagogic issues.

Although phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) are confirmed as early predictors of reading in a large number of orthographies, it is as yet unclear whether the predictive patterns are universal or language specific. This was examined in a longitudinal study across Grades 1 and 2 with 1,120 children acquiring one of five alphabetic orthographies with different degrees of orthographic complexity (English, French, German, Dutch, and Greek). Path analyses revealed that a universal model could not be confirmed. When we specified the best-fitting model separately for each language, RAN was a consistent predictor of reading fluency in all orthographies, whereas the association between PA and reading was complex and mostly interactive. We conclude that RAN taps into a language-universal cognitive mechanism that is involved in reading alphabetic orthographies (independent of complexity), whereas the PA--reading relationship depends on many factors like task characteristics, developmental status, and orthographic complexity.

Recent research has shown that undergraduate students who experience both clinical and subclinical attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle academically. Furthermore, these students have cited academic amotivation as a factor in their academic difficulties. Self-determination theory (SDT) posits that a lack of motivation--known as amotivation--may be the result of the frustration of the basic psychological needs--autonomy, competence, and relatedness. For this reason, the current study examined whether basic psychological need frustration mediated the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and academic amotivation. A sample of undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire about their university experience. Data were analyzed using a mediational structural equation model. Results suggested significant relationships between all of the variables. Moreover, basic psychological need frustration fully mediated the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and academic amotivation. These results demonstrate the importance of fulfilling the basic psychological needs of undergraduate students experiencing ADHD symptomatology, as it may increase their academic motivation, and, subsequently, reduce their academic difficulties.

The purpose of this study was to examine which of the components of executive functions (EF)--inhibition, shifting, and working memory--predict reading and mathematics achievement and if the effects of these components are the same across two cultures (Western and East Asian). One hundred twenty English-speaking Canadian (65 females, 55 males; M[subscript age] = 82.12 months) and 181 Mandarin-speaking Chinese (82 females, 99 males; M[subscript age] = 85.85 months) children were assessed on nonverbal IQ, speed of processing, rapid naming, inhibition (Color-Word Stroop), shifting (Planned Connections), working memory (Digit Span Forward and Backward), reading (word identification and reading comprehension), and mathematics (numerical operations and math reasoning). The results of structural equation modeling indicated first that among the EF components only working memory predicted reading and mathematics in the Canadian sample, while inhibition and working memory predicted reading and mathematics in the Chinese sample. The results also showed that inhibition was a stronger predictor of reading and mathematics in the Chinese sample. Taken together, these findings suggest that not all EF components are equally important for reading/mathematics and that culture may influence the relations between specific EF components and academic achievement.

Racial equity in Canadian education remains elusive. Despite Canada's status as a multicultural nation, many minority students continue to be marginalised. In this article, we compare equity-related education policy in two Canadian provinces -- Ontario and British Columbia -- to ascertain how race and racialized students are understood in official documents. After reviewing provincial policy contexts from the early 1990s onward, we discuss the results of a content analysis of provincial education policy documents using Critical Policy Analysis and Critical Race Theory. We argue that the treatment of race and equity in these documents demonstrates 'symbolic anti-racism,' rather than substantive anti-racism, in three key ways: 1) the lack of robust education policy related to racial equity; 2) the construction of racism as an individual characteristic rather than a structural problem in the education system; and 3) the near-absence of race-related data collection. Policy recommendations follow based on these findings.

We evaluated the impact of teaching complex grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC) derived from the Simplicity Principle to at-risk poor readers in Grade 2 classrooms, using a two-arm dual site matched control trial intervention. Poor word readers (n = 149) were allocated to either a) Simplicity GPC (n= 79) or b) Letter-Name Control (n= 70) small group reading programs, and received intervention for 12-15 hours over 12 weeks. Students were matched on baseline reading, language, parent demographics, and observed regular classroom teaching quality. Results of hierarchical data modeling showed advantages for the GPC-group for word reading, pseudoword reading, and sentence comprehension at post-test moderated by pre-test phonological awareness skills. The results provide support for teaching complex GPCs derived from the Simplicity Principle as an approach to intervention for word reading, but suggest that children with low PA need additional supports.

This paper analyses introductory statistics students' verbal and gestural expressions as they interacted with a dynamic sketch (DS) designed using "Sketchpad" software. The DS involved numeric data points built on the number line whose values changed as the points were dragged along the number line. The study is framed on aggregate reasoning with quantitative data, but it also draws on the Vygotskian social cultural and historical perspective of learning, particularly, how cultural artefacts including language support learning. Three concepts, namely, data distribution, the mean and standard deviation were analyzed in the study. Tasks were designed such that students first talked about their informal understanding of the three concepts before interacting with the DS; then they interacted with the DS and discussed the connections among the three concepts as they dragged the data points along the horizontal axis. Analysis of students' verbal, gestural and other expressions suggest firstly, that the dynamic sketch mediated the informal meaning of data variability for them, particularly the meaning of standard deviation, which most students only recalled through a formula. Secondly, the interactions with the DS drew students' attention away from focusing on formulas and calculations which was clearly evident in their statements before the DS was introduced, to investigating the connections among concepts. These findings support previous studies that have proposed that the use of dynamic computing tools strongly support students' informal understanding of abstract concepts. Implications for teaching and learning introductory statistics concepts at the tertiary level are discussed.

Many first-year university courses are large and content-driven, which can contribute to low student engagement and difficulty involving students in the dynamic, cross-disciplinary nature of inquiry. Learning communities can address these goals, but their implementation often poses logistical challenges, especially in large courses. Here, we apply learning communities using a linked-course model to enhance student engagement and inquiry across three large, first-year biology courses. These three courses (Discovering Biodiversity, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Biological Concepts of Health) offer different contexts for biological inquiry, introduce key biological concepts, and are connected through jointly mapped learning outcomes, shared online skill workshops, and integrative learning communities composed of students from each course. Diverse modes of student learning are used across the three courses, and contemporary problems are explored within classes and small group seminars, which promote the development of skills necessary for inquiry. This course structure requires the coordinated scheduling of seminars and interdisciplinary projects but allows flexibility in the use of lecture periods and online content while offering increased resource efficiency. Collectively, these courses provide opportunities for integration, skill development, and problem solving. In contrast to many other forms of learning communities, this particular model promotes both a disciplinary foundation and cross-disciplinary applications for large numbers of students.

The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of rapid automatized naming (RAN) in the identification of poor readers in two alphabetic orthographies: English and Greek. Ninety-seven English-speaking Canadian (mean age = 66.70 months) and 70 Greek children (mean age = 67.60 months) were followed from Kindergarten until Grade 3. In Kindergarten and Grade 1, they were assessed on measures of RAN, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge. In Grade 3, they were assessed on measures of reading accuracy (for the English sample) and reading fluency (for the Greek sample). The results of logistic regression and receiver operating curve (ROC) analyses indicated that RAN was a significant predictor of an individual's risk for reading difficulties when assessed in Grade 1 in English and in both Kindergarten and Grade 1 in Greek. Although the logistic models (including RAN as one of the predictors) accurately identified the majority of the children who turned out to be poor readers, they also over-identified as poor readers a large number of children who did not manifest reading difficulties later on. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

In the present study, we examined the role of morphological awareness in reading and spelling performance across three languages varying in orthographic consistency (English, French, and Greek), after controlling for the effects of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN). One hundred fifty-nine English-speaking Canadian, 238 French-speaking Canadian, and 224 Greek children were assessed at the beginning of Grade 2 on measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, and RAN. At the end of Grade 2, they were assessed on reading accuracy, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling to dictation. The results indicated that morphological awareness was a unique predictor of reading comprehension and spelling in all three languages, of reading fluency in English and French, and of reading accuracy in English only. Furthermore, the results of multigroup analyses revealed no significant differences in the contribution of morphological awareness to the literacy outcomes across languages. Theoretical and practical implications of these finding are discussed.

Engaging students as actors in rather than audience of their education. This is both the primary feature of experiential education as John Dewey envisioned it and its underlying link to education for democracy: the flourishing of democracy requires citizens who are empowered actors, and such citizens cannot be produced through educational processes that deny participation and power to students. In this article we share and examine examples of experiential learning practices that try to walk the talk of democratic purposes and discuss associated challenges and design principles. Our goals are to encourage and empower the community of experiential educators to understand, enact, inquire into, and continue developing the full potential of our work as it contributes to educating for democracy.