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Canadian school jurisdictions have taken steps to accommodate objectives to advance cosmopolitan education reflecting principles such as global citizenship, compassion, tolerance, responsibility, and respect within school curricula and educational practice. At the same time, a parallel set of reconciliation-related educational reforms, aligned with the Calls to Action that accompanied the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report, have also gained urgency. Elements of reconciliation processes complement visions of cosmopolitanism, including objectives to foster dialogue and understanding between groups and advancements towards more holistic orientations to pedagogy and knowledge. However, conceptually and in practice, several tensions emerge, especially in a context in which educational priorities are contested. In this paper, we explore these connections and tensions with reference to findings from our research examining public perspectives on educational reforms to support reconciliation.

Canadian schools have implemented initiatives in response to the Calls to Action that accompanied the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report. This paper aims to address two questions that speak directly to these calls. How have these initiatives been implemented in Canadian classrooms and affected educational practices? How do education stakeholders perceive and experience these initiatives? We present a study conducted in Alberta to explore these questions, drawing on data from interviews and focus groups conducted with 201 Indigenous youth and teachers and parents of Indigenous children. Findings suggest that schools are engaged in innovative activities to introduce knowledge about Indigenous cultures and experiences. Most participants believed, however, that more work is needed to support teachers' ability to include Indigenous content in classrooms and to increase awareness about Indigenous peoples' among non-Indigenous students to prevent discrimination. These tensions can undermine schools' capacities to advance reconciliation.

This study examines how staff working for one Ontario school board perceive two distinct approaches to school discipline policy: the Safe Schools Act (Bill 81) and Progressive Discipline and School Safety (Bill 212). The more centrally controlled and rigid Safe Schools Act was criticized by interviewees and cited for human rights violations. However, the inherent flexibility and vagueness of the Progressive Discipline policy that replaced it was seen to lead to inconsistent policy implementation and unequal outcomes for students. This paper considers the broader implications of policies that are "tightly coupled" or "loosely coupled" in terms of teachers' professional discretion, accountability, and student outcomes.

Education research demonstrates that positive and trusting family/school relationships support academic achievement but for many Indigenous parents in Canada legacies of residential schooling have made it difficult to develop strong bonds with schools and teachers. Drawing on interviews with 69 Indigenous parents and eight non-Indigenous parents of children who identify as Indigenous from two Canadian provinces, this study explores the intersection between family/school relationships and social class, and highlights distinct ways that middle-class Indigenous parents are involved in schooling. Shifting from a "deficit" approach to a "strength based" approach highlights existing resources and capacities among those who are comfortable and familiar with navigating the education system while also creating prospects to build on that capacity to empower others who are less familiar/comfortable.

The 2015 release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada accelerated the extensive range of educational activities across Canadian jurisdictions dedicated to updating curricula and supporting Indigenous students. How have these initiatives affected educational practices and more general understandings about Indigenous-settler relations? Drawing on data from a survey of public perspectives on education and reconciliation conducted in Alberta and Saskatchewan, this paper addresses the question: What are the current public attitudes regarding reconciliation overall and within Alberta and Saskatchewan schools? We explore these perspectives by highlighting two contrasting orientations--one in which reconciliation is accepted as a form of peaceful coexistence within existing settler colonial frameworks and another in which liberal discourses as well as more openly racist stances serve as a form of democratic colonization that further reinforce those frameworks. La publication en 2015 du rapport final de la Commission de verite et de reconciliation du Canada a accelere le vaste eventail d'activites educatives menees dans les juridictions canadiennes et consacrees a la mise a jour des programmes d'etudes et au soutien des eleves indigenes. Comment ces initiatives ont-elles affecte les pratiques educatives et les comprehensions plus generales des relations entre les autochtones et les colons ? En s'appuyant sur les donnees d'une enquete sur les perspectives publiques en matiere d'education et de reconciliation menee en Alberta et en Saskatchewan, cet article repond a la question suivante : Quelles sont les attitudes actuelles du public concernant la reconciliation en general et dans les ecoles de l'Alberta et de la Saskatchewan ? Nous explorons ces perspectives en mettant en evidence deux orientations contrastees--l'une dans laquelle la reconciliation est acceptee comme une forme de coexistence pacifique dans les cadres coloniaux existants et l'autre dans laquelle les discours liberaux ainsi que les positions plus ouvertement racistes servent de forme de colonisation democratique qui renforce ces cadres., INTRODUCTION In the period leading up to the release of the final report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and in response to the TRC's calls to action (TRC, [...]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) final report called attention to the damage induced by government policies and practices and outlined a pathway toward reconciliation in which education and child welfare system reforms play a central role. Drawing from 61 interviews with teachers and parents of Indigenous children in Alberta, this paper addresses the question: what do intersections between schooling and child welfare systems contribute to prospects for meaningful reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada? Findings suggest that, despite formal commitments to acknowledge and address colonial legacies of residential schooling, obligations to fulfill state child welfare and educational objectives continue to situate schools, for many Indigenous families, as 'dangerous places.' Le rapport final de la Commission de verite et reconciliation du Canada (CVR) a attire l'attention sur les dommages occasionnes par les politiques et les pratiques gouvemementales et a trace un parcours vers la reconciliation selon lequel les reformes du systeme d'education et de protection de l'enfance jouent un role de premier plan. Tirant parti de 61 entrevues realisees avec des enseignants et des parents d'enfants autochtones en Alberta, cet article aborde la question a savoir : en quoi les interactions entre les systemes scolaires et de protection de l'enfance contribuent a la possibilite d'une reconciliation significative entre les populations autochtones et non autochtones au Canada? Les resultats suggerent que, malgre les engagements formeis en vue de reconnaitre et d'aborder Iheritage colonial des pensionnats indiens, les obligations de remplir les objectifs en matiere de systeme public de protection de l'enfance et d'education continuent, pour de nombreuses families autochtones, a situer les ecoles comme etant des << endroits dangereux >>., EDUCATION AND CHILD WELFARE SYSTEMS that remove Indigenous (1) children from their homes and place them in non-Indigenous institutional and community environments have played significant roles in the systemic destruction [...]

Notions of 'student success' feature prominently in emerging educational discourses and policy orientations. Current policy frameworks focusing on equity, performance, and reconciliation claim to offer validation for perspectives of Indigenous peoples and other racialized communities, but they are simultaneously raising the stakes for individual responsibility and performance. This paper explores these developments by examining how Indigenous students and family members understand and experience educational success in relation to the notions of success advanced by school systems. We present a case study conducted in Alberta, Canada, drawing on data from ten focus groups with 77 Indigenous youth and parents of Indigenous children connected to one school division. Highlighting the ways that social and educational policy frameworks related to employability and performance exacerbate contradictions inherent in settler colonial societies, we reveal how school systems, despite claims to the contrary, continue to adopt practices that undermine the capacity for many Indigenous people to achieve their aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student success is facilitated by strong bonds between families and schools, including a shared sense of purpose and mutual trust. However, for Indigenous peoples these relationships are often broken, undermined by the legacy of residential schooling and assimilative educational practices. Drawing on interviews with 50 Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Metis) and non-Indigenous parents and educators, this paper examines the ways in which issues of class and race shape interactions between teachers and Indigenous parents. The interviews reveal that legacies of racial discrimination against Indigenous peoples in schooling affect family/school relations among middle-class (MC) and lower-class (LC) parents in different ways. MC parents intensify relations with the school while, in comparison, LC parents tend to disengage as a consequence of their negative schooling experiences. Les relations etroites entre les families et les ecoles, et notamment leurs buts communs et leur confiance partagee, facilitent la reussite des etudiants. Toutefois, au sein des populations autochtones, ces liens sont pour la plupart rompus en raison des consequences des pensionnats scolaires et des pratiques educatives d'assimilation. Cette etude s'appuie sur des entretiens avec 50 parents et educateurs issus de populations autochtones (principalement celles d'Haudenosaunee, d'Anishinaabe et de Metis) et non autochtones pour etudier la maniere dont les questions de classe et de race affectent les interactions entre les enseignants et les parents issus de populations autochtones. Ces entretiens montrent que le passe discriminatoire des ecoles envers les peuples autochtones a eu des repercussions differentes sur les relations famille/ecole, selon qu'il s'agisse de parents issus de la classe moyenne ou de parents issus d'un milieu pauvre. Les parents issus de la classe moyenne ont renforce leurs liens avec l'ecole alors que les parents des classes inferieures tendent a se desengager du fait de leur experience scolaire negative., RESEARCH HAS EXAMINED FAMILY/SCHOOL relations among families with African, Asian, and European backgrounds (e.g., Gutman and McLoyd 2000; Kim and Hill 2015; Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lee [...]

According to studies from the United States and English Canada, student achievement gaps grow over the summer months when children are not attending school, but summer literacy interventions can reduce those gaps. This paper presents data from a quasi-experiment conducted in eight Ontario French language school boards in 2010, 2011 and 2012 for 682 children in grades 1-3. Growth in literacy test scores between June and September are compared for 361 attendees of summer literacy programs and 321 control students. Summer program recruits initially had lower prior literacy scores and grades, and tended to hail from relatively disadvantaged social backgrounds. Yet, summer programs narrowed those pre-existing gaps. Effect sizes from a variety of regression and propensity score matching models ranged from .32 to .58, which is quite sizeable by the standards of elementary school interventions and summer programs. Effects were stronger among students whose parents reported not speaking French exclusively at home. Our paper considers learning opportunity theory in light of the 'non-traditional' student in Ontario French language schools. Keywords: educational inequality, French literacy, summer learning Selon des etudes americaines et realisees au Canada anglais, les ecarts au chapitre du rendement scolaire se creusent durant la periode des vacances estivales lorsque les eleves ne frequentent pas l'ecole. Neanmoins, les interventions scolaires en litteratie peuvent reduire ces ecarts. Le present article presente les resultats d'une etude quasi-experimentale, effectuee dans huit conseils scolaires de district de langue francaise en Ontario, aupres de 682 eleves de la premiere a la troisieme annee en 2010, 2011 et 2012. Nous avons compare la progression des resultats des tests en lecture de 361 participants aux programmes d'apprentissage pendant l'ete a ceux des 321 eleves du groupe temoin entre juin et septembre. Les participants au programme d'apprentissage pendant l'ete avaient au depart des resultats en lecture et resultats scolaires plus faibles, et provenaient majoritairement de milieux socio-economiques defavorises. Neanmoins, les programmes d'apprentissage pendant l'ete ont reduit les ecarts preexistants entre les deux groupes. L'ampleur de l'effet d'une variete de modeles d'analyses de regression multivariees et de modeles d'appariement des coefficients de propension ont varie de 0,32 a 0,58. Ces resultats representent un effet considerable dans le contexte de l'education au niveau primaire et des etudes sur les programmes d'apprentissage pendant l'ete. Les effets sont plus importants pour les eleves dont les parents ne parlent pas exclusivement le francais a la maison. Notre article applique la theorie sur les opportunites d'apprentissage au contexte des eleves dits << non traditionnels >> dans les ecoles de langue francaise en Ontario. Mots cles: l'inegalite scolaire, l'alphabetisation en francais, l'apprentissage d'ete, INTRODUCTION: L'APPRENTISSAGE ESTIVAL ET LES ECARTS AU CHAPITRE DU RENDEMENT SCOLAIRE Selon un nombre important d'etudes sociologiques, ce ne sont pas les caracteristiques des ecoles comme la formation des enseignants [...]

Aim: This study will evaluate radiation medicine professionals' perceptions of clinical and professional risks and benefits, and the evolving roles and responsibilities with artificial intelligence (AI). Methods: Radiation oncologists (ROs), medical physicists (MPs), treatment planners (TP-RTTs) and treatment delivery radiation therapists (TD-RTTs) at a cancer centre in preliminary stages of implementing an AI-enabled treatment planning system were invited to participate in uniprofessional focus groups. Semi-structured scripts addressed the perceptions of AI, including thoughts regarding changing roles and competencies. Sessions were audiorecorded, transcribed and coded thematically through consensus-building. Results: A total of 24 participants (four ROs, five MPs, seven TP-RTTs and eight TD-RTTs) were engaged in four focus groups of 58 minutes average duration (range 54–61 minutes). Emergent themes addressed AI's impact on quality of care, changing professional tasks and changing competency requirements. Time-consuming repetitive tasks such as delineating targets, generating treatment plans and quality assurance were thought conducive to offloading to AI. Outcomes data and adaptive planning would be incorporated into clinical decision-making. Changing workload would necessitate changing skills, prioritising plan evaluation over generation and increasing interprofessional communication. All groups discussed AI reducing the need for TP-RTTs, though displacement was thought more likely than replacement. Conclusions: It is important to consider how professionals perceive AI to be proactive in informing change, as gains in quality and efficiency will require new workflows, skills and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]