Search

The popular discourse of democratic education is home to numerous myths surrounding our conceptions of what inclusion means in today's schools. Certain beliefs like the idea that offering equal opportunities for participation to all students regardless of individual need, which conflates equality and equity, or that democracy in classrooms involves nothing more than limitless inclusion are upheld as go-to solutions for the inevitable dilemmas for educators committed to inclusion. This paper argues that philosophical clarification of the concept of inclusion is urgently required by teachers, policy makers, and theorists of education committed to both democracy in education and democratic education. Our most urgent concern is related to the inherent attitude toward deficit implied by different understandings of inclusion. This is not necessarily due to the unclarities and ambiguities associated with the concept itself, but rather reflect the calculated and anticipatory way educators tend to approach classroom practice. We argue that with careful philosophical clarification, along with an entirely new stance on the part of teachers regarding their pedagogical practice and a reconceptualized notion of student 'needs,' the concept of inclusion can continue to remain not only useful but essential to creating a robust democratic community in the classroom.

Few studies have attended to the specific influence of neoliberalism on education for social justice, despite the complex ways in which the competing discourses of neoliberalism and social justice work side by side in local educational settings. This article reports data derived from interviews with 28 educators committed to social justice education from across Ontario, Canada. Participants were asked how they perceived the impact of neoliberalism on education and on their teaching practice. Findings were interpreted through critical democratic theory and discourse analysis. An unanticipated finding is the influence of neoliberal discourse on the ways that educators spoke about their teaching practice for social justice. The study found that discourse of performance is one arena where competing discourses of neoliberalism and social justice not only coexist but also intersect. This finding has important implications for the transformative potential of social justice education through more concentrated attention to the power embedded in everyday speech acts. Attending more to the performative potential of neoliberal discourse toward social justice ends can be a mechanism for resistance and teacher agency.

Critical scholars view schooling as one piece of a larger struggle for democracy and social justice. We investigated 41 school administrators' perceptions about the role and importance of equity, diversity and social justice in new teacher induction in the province of Ontario. Interviews reveal that principals were interested in shaping teacher induction programming in their schools and school districts, but that they regularly prioritized technical issues like classroom management and pedagogy over systemic issues like equity and social justice. When asked directly about equity, principals spoke about learning styles, special needs and differentiated instruction, but they regularly ignored new teachers' abilities to counter systemic oppression--racism, sexism, and classism. Our findings suggest that without an explicit focus on equity and social justice in provincial policy documents, teacher induction programming runs the risk of reproducing a transmission model of new teacher education. (Contains 1 figure and 2 footnotes.)

This article investigates the hidden curriculum of Ontario's New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP). The study involved interviews with 47 teacher educators from eight faculties of education. Responses revealed concerns about (a) who chooses the mentors, (b) the probationary status of new teachers, and (c) the evaluation of new teachers' competence. In the opinion of some teacher educators, the structure of NTIP may discourage new teachers from critiquing the system that employs them thus decreasing the likelihood of their taking a critical democratic stance in their teaching. These findings have implications for any induction or mentorship program for new teachers.

Purpose: Ontario is the most ethnically diverse province in Canada. School educators cannot disregard the reality of diversity in all its senses. The question that directs the focus of this paper is: to what extent are leaders in Ontario formally prepared to lead schools that support the students of today? The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This paper results from a document analysis of publicly available documents to investigate the current context in Ontario, Canada regarding the educational and social situation of new immigrants, immigration, refugees, and ethno-culturally diverse students. It includes an exploration of the training and information available for principals and vice principals in Ontario to support them in leading schools which serve increasingly diverse student bodies. This paper is also informed by interviews with 59 educational leaders from Ontario and the USA. Interviews centred around their experiences engaging in practices to support their diverse student populations. Findings: Results of the data analysis regarding the supports and training available to assist educational leaders in supporting the learning needs of diverse student populations demonstrate a serious lack of support. Very few actual resources exist for leaders, and most of those that do exist are connected to agencies outside of the education system, such as Settlement services. Research limitations/implications: Recent research investigating the relationship between identities and educational experience and teaching points to the importance of in-depth and targeted approaches to teacher preparation, and leadership preparation to help provide teachers and leaders with the knowledge, dispositions, and skills required to support all students in their academic and social development (Cochran Smith et al., 2009). This study confirms such findings. Given the current situation in Ontario and much of North America, there is a great need for leadership preparation programming, and school-level resources that provide educational leaders with the knowledge and skills to support all students in their academic and social development, but also in helping educational leaders to understand and address the systemic nature and forms of discrimination which their students face daily. Practical implications: With very few school boards requiring leaders to have a Masters' degree in Education, and none having stipulations regarding course content. This leaves educational leaders unprepared to deal with the reality of their situations, leading to the perpetuation of inequities in Ontario schools. Originality/value: Although sparse, previous research into the state of support and preparation for administrators and educators with regard to diverse student populations in Ontario revealed that little to no preparation or support exists (see e.g. Price, 2002). This study helps to fill that gap in existing research.

This paper is based upon a case study in an all boys' church comprehensive secondary school in Malta which explored teachers' awareness of boys' attitudes and interests. It uncovered a number of practices across the school's official and "hidden" curricula and at its administrative level, which, together with the student peer culture present on site, influence the construction of student masculine identities. This article argues that the decision by boys to speak one language rather than another in a bilingual context, is very much influenced by norms of masculinity. These are strengthened by the student peer group as well as by the male teachers within the institution and suggests that language is an important signifier of masculinity in a bilingual school, a masculinity which, in a post-colonial context, is shown to be heavily linked to national pride and identity. (Contain 4 figures, 3 tables and 5 notes.)

This paper presents and critically analyzes data from a project that sought teacher candidates' responses to the process and content of the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test (OTQT), a mandatory, standardized, pencil and paper initial teacher qualification test. The aim of the project, guided by a critical democratic perspective, was to critically assess the success of the OTQT in achieving the government's stated objectives of greater competency and accountability. More specifically, the paper focuses on findings relating to teacher competency, with particular reference to criterion, ecological and consequential validity, and alternative assessment strategies. The teacher candidates' responses raise serious issues about the content and format of the test since they believe that it neither achieves accountability nor does it secure excellence in teaching. These concerns echo the major concerns found in the literature. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

This qualitative study focuses on a representative sample from 200 teacher candidates' responses to Peggy McIntosh's article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." The notion and understanding of whiteness and white privilege were explored revealing several strategies that teacher candidates employed to avoid addressing whiteness and its attendant privileges in Canadian society. We analyse three primary strategies that the teacher candidates employed: ideological incongruence, liberalist notions of individualism and meritocracy, and the negation of white capital. Some implications of this study are that teacher education must help candidates understand their own racial identity formation and provide the learning space to work with the range of emotions and feelings of indignation that evolve from an exposure to white privilege and the "myth of meritocracy."

In the last decade educational research about school improvement and effective schools increasingly identifies the significance of student engagement especially in relation to the academic success of students. There are several issues and concerns, relating both to the meaning and justification or aims of student engagement, that arise from this work that call for a philosophical inquiry. This paper offers an initial philosophical inquiry of student engagement. The paper is divided into two sections. The first section critically examines meanings and definitions of student engagement from current literature. The second section addresses several related issues, such as concerns of the purpose of student engagement, and the criteria, standards, and norms used to determine the quality and degree of engagement. It is argued that without considering such philosophical issues, empirical and psychological work on student engagement could simply, and at times unwittingly, reproduce existing dominant views that promote a deficient and exclusionary mentality. In contrast, we propose a conception of student engagement based on critical-democratic practice which entails the enactment of a curriculum of life. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

In a Nova Scotia community where the majority of the children live in poverty, the social concerns of the community are woven throughout the elementary school curriculum, which is taught as extensively as possible through the creative arts. Substantive and potentially controversial issues such as power, equity, and social justice are relevant and engaging to the community and students. (TD)

This article describes elements of critical practice exhibited in one elementary school. It discusses three themes (education for social justice, school leadership, and student engagement) to argue that the school offers a concrete example of possibilities that can emerge in a school informed by the principles of a critical pedagogy. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Offers a critical discussion on the issue of educational standards by (1) clarifying issues surrounding educational standards, (2) critically examining the assumptions underlying popular discourse about standards, and (3) offering and arguing for an alternate perspective based on democratic ideals. Discusses the impact of this on classroom teaching. (MJP)

Traces the development of analytic philosophy of education during the last three decades. Identifies two major stages of development (1950-64 and 1964-85), the characteristics of the stages, and the criticisms launched against analytic philosophy of education. Finds recent criticisms outdated and misdirected. (DMM)

Discusses the issue of defining "curriculum" and considers four main questions: why theorists have defined the concept, the definitions they have offered, the usefulness of these definitions, and the advisability of creating definitions for any abstract concept. For some terms no definitions can encompass all the various usages and meanings. Includes 63 references. (MLH)

The efforts and role of the Catholic Church in the development of non-English speaking immigrant communities who settled in Toronto at the end of the 19th century and the first [...]

Copyright of Alberta Journal of Educational Research is the property of Alberta Journal of Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that subversion is a necessary tool for survival and opening up of new possibilities in the context of the 21st century where neoliberalism and its extreme market-driven ideologies and institutional practices permeate and impact all social settings public and private. Subversion is defined as subtle mechanism(s) of resisting abusive forms of power that create and/or maintain oppression and harm. At the heart of subversion and engaging in subversive acts is a hope for creation of new possibilities, imaginable and unimaginable, to facilitate attaining social justice and implementing justice-oriented practices that have moral implications. It is within the context of neoliberalism, and its ability to control power relations yet appear undetected, that we argue for a necessity of subversion and subversive acts as a form of resistance, as a tool and a grassroots action-oriented mechanism(s), to challenge abusive and immoral forms of power. The paper argues that subversion is, in many instances, the most moral and integral way to act in the face of abusive and exploitive practices that cause harm to certain social groups through policies that are normalized and perpetuated by social institutions. This paper identifies and critically challenges some common misunderstandings and popular myths about subversion in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues related to the absence of philosophy in education policy. Topics discussed include declining in the education systems, curriculum development and attention to the needs of diverse communities, gradual education reforms and education policy as philosophy to defines educational purpose.

Editorial. Introduces series of articles published in the Spring 2003 issue of the 'McGill Journal of Education.' Ideological issues concerning student engagement; Deficit notions about students, homes and communities used to conclude why students drop out of school; Period of quarantine between childhood and adulthood provided by schools.

The author reflects on the issue of defining curriculum. The three varied uses of the term curriculum based on the book "Curriculum Theory," by George A. Beauchamp are cited, one of which is a referent to a substantive phenomenon, curriculum. Defining curriculum is described as necessary due to the existence of various meanings ascribed to the term. The traditional approach to the definition of curriculum as content reportedly influenced its definition in terms of experiences.