A Shift in Role: The Perspectives of Ontario Secondary Principals Working in Data-Driven Environments

This study occurred in 2009 and questioned how Ontario secondary school principals perceived their role had changed, over a 7 year period, in response to the increased demands of data-driven school environments. Specifically, it sought to identify principals' perceptions on how high-stakes testing and data-driven environments had affected their role, tasks, and accountability responsibilities. This study contextualized the emergence of the Education Quality and Accountability Offices (EQAO) as a central influence in the creation of data-driven school environments, and conceptualized the role of the principal as using data to inform and persuade a shift in thinking about the use of data to improve instruction and student achievement. The findings of the study suggest that data-driven environments had helped principals reclaim their positional power as instructional leaders, using data as an avenue back into the classroom. The use of data shifted the responsibilities of the principal to persuade teachers to work collaboratively to improve classroom instruction in order to demonstrate accountability.

Early Education Foundation: Portuguese Canadian Mothers' Preferences and Choices

The purpose of this study was to explore Portuguese-Canadian mothers' preferences and choices regarding their children's early care and education. The findings revealed that Portuguese-Canadian mothers value early care and education and are conscious of their role in their children's lives. Regardless of the type of care setting, the participants' responses revealed that the caregiver's care, emotion, and responsiveness are most important. More than developing "savvy" children, we need to nourish "happy" children. The study's participants include 9 Portuguese Canadian mothers without any assumption of a hyphenated identity and who have moved away from their immigrant parents' script. They embraced the vision of their children's success and cultivated their vast potential. Their responses revealed that the family, culture, and traditions are important factors in their child's academic and social growth and played a critical role in establishing the foundations for learning. The research study findings showed that the field of early care and education is undergoing a paradigm shift and that other practices, ideologies, and theories are surfacing. This study aimed to help develop a new grounded theory that contributes to a better understanding of this arena. The present findings reveal important issues for further discussion and lay a theoretical and empirical framework for future research in early education and care.

Inviting Leadership From a Belfast Bedroom: Invitational Leadership in Contemporary Schools

Educational leadership is challenging, complex, and vitally important to student success. Despite the publication of theories, books, and research on school leadership, a perception of a chasm between theory and practice exists. However, the intentional consideration and implementation of theory can make an enormous impact on practice. This is revealed in this dissertation through the exploration of invitational leadership theory through an autoethnographic study of my leadership journey, as well as the intentionally inviting leadership of Billy Tate, a veteran school principal in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This dissertation uses an amalgamated methodology of interview and observational research embedded within an autoethnography to intimately explore invitational theory in practice through the lens of a new school principal in Southern Ontario and a veteran principal in Belfast. This study provides an intimate understanding of the impact and applicability of invitational educational leadership theory in two unique educational, political, and social contexts and draws conclusions from the consideration of and reflection upon my leadership and Billy Tate’s. This dissertation reveals invitational leadership as a theory of practice that has significantly influenced two very different school leaders and posits that invitational theory is a theory of practice worthy of consideration by educational leaders from around the world.

Male and Female Perspectives on Female Principals in South Africa

In South Africa, women are at a high risk of discrimination and opposition to authority when they obtain leadership positions, especially in education (Gouws & Kotze, 2007). The purpose of this study was to inquire into 10 secondary school educators’ perceptions of female principals’ effectiveness in two South African schools. Qualitative case study research methodology included interviews, as well as participant observations and semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted within two school settings in South Africa. The participants were teachers, department heads, and deputy principals. When the data were analyzed, it was found that all participants wanted a leader who was transformational and there was a strong preference for those who had feminine traits. This research showed the strong desire for transformational leaders as well as how feminine characteristics are not only starting to become more accepted, but also are now becoming preferred.

Part Time University Teaching in Ontario: A Self-Study

This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate Ontario university, where I experienced difficulty integrating my beliefs about teaching into my practice of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to inquire into why it was difficult for me, representative of a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate university, to enact the critical pedagogical practices I espoused in my teaching philosophy. The secondary purpose was to apply the findings of the study to reframe my university teaching practice in a way that met my need to enact my beliefs about university teaching while complying with the broader geo-political conditions of part-time university teaching in Ontario (Loughran, 2006; Russell & Loughran, 2007). This study is grounded in the sociological theoretical framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1988, 2010; McLaren, 2003) and the methodological framework of The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). This study combined the methods of Brookfield’s (1995; 2002) critically reflective practice and Cole and Knowles (2000) practice of reflexive inquiry with Creswell’s (2005) methods of thematic analysis to answer the research question: Why is it difficult for me to enact my beliefs about university teaching as a part-time teacher in an Ontario university? Findings suggest the geo-political contexts of part-time university teaching work can impact a teacher’s ability to enact his/her beliefs about teaching within his/her practice of teaching.

Developing an Understanding of Cultural Diversity: How an Experience Living in a Multicultural Nation and an Experience Teaching Abroad Contribute to Southern Ontario Teachers' Identities

This is a narrative design study focusing on the understandings that a group of 6 Southern Ontario teachers have of cultural diversity and how these understandings integrated into their development of teacher identity. Given the high culturally diverse population of Canada and its national multicultural values, conducting this study on Canadian pre-service and in-service teachers offers an interesting contribution to the field. In efforts to explore the participants’ understandings, the research examined a teaching abroad experience. The aim was to investigate how these participants gained insight from their experiences with cultural diversity and whether these insights stimulated a greater culturally conscious teacher identity. Narratives provided a description of the lived experiences of these 6 teachers and identified meanings made from these experiences. Participants included 2 pre-service teachers who were in a teacher education program at the time of the interview, and 4 certified teachers who graduated from a teacher education program within the past 5 years. One on one interviews focused on lived experiences within a participant’s home, school community, and teaching abroad. The researcher used grounded theory during the data analysis to assist in identifying themes, and then compared these themes among participants. Overall, this study suggests that even though these participants live in a multicultural nation, experiences varied greatly based on contributing factors such as heritage and exposure to cultural diversity through their home and school life. Despite their varying level of cultural competence, all participants gained insight from their teaching abroad experience, contributing to a teacher identity that considered inclusive practices. This study suggests that there are some important factors to consider when preparing teachers to teach in a multicultural society.

Insights Into the Remembered Educational Experiences of Male Caribbean Immigrants to Canada: Literacy and Identity in the Canadian Classroom

Abstract Past research has addressed the issue of male underachievement in literacy as an issue of global concern. This qualitative study focused on one subgroup of males which the literature highlighted as most at risk of educational underachievement in the Canadian educational landscape: male Caribbean immigrants to Canada. The research questions that framed the study sought to gain insight into the educational experiences of this group of learners so that ways through which their literacy achievement as measured by academic performance and classroom engagement could be projected. New literacy studies view literacy as socioculturally bound in social, institutional, and cultural relationships (Gee 1996). Literacy can therefore be thought of as an extension of self that Lankshear and Knobel (2006) assert is always connected to social identities. Central to the research questions as a result of this perspective was the discovery of the ideologies of reading held by the participants and their connections to literacy practice. Supplementary questions delved into socially valued literacy practices and ways in which learners saw themselves as Black males reflected in the Canadian educational framework. In this qualitative study with an interview design, data were collected through individual semistructured interviews with the 4 participants and through a focus group session with all the participants. The findings depicted that identity, interests, and ideologies of reading all influenced the literacy practices and engagement of Caribbean males. The findings documented are valuable as they provide a fresh perspective surrounding the educational experiences of the male Caribbean learner and can present insights which can lead to enhanced academic engagement and improved student achievement for this group of learners.

Conceptualizing Institutional Capacity Building Through a Learning Process Set in Motion by a Foundation

Employing critical pedagogy and transformative theory as a theoretical framework, I examined a learning process associated with building capacity in community-based organizations (CBOs) through an investigation of the Institutional Capacity Building Program (ICBP) initiated by a Foundation. The study sought to: (a) examine the importance of institutional capacity building for individual and community development; (b) investigate elements of a process associated with a program and characteristics of a learning process for building capacity in CBOs; and (c) analyze the Foundation’s approach to synthesizing, systematizing, and sharing learning. The study used a narrative research design that included 3 one-on-one, hour-long interviews with 2 women having unique vantage points in ICBP: one is a program facilitator working at the Foundation and the other runs a CBO supported by the Foundation. The interviews’ semistructured questions allowed interviewees to share stories regarding their experience with the learning process of ICB and enabled themes to emerge from their day-to-day experience. Through the analysis of this learning process for institutional capacity building, a few lessons can be drawn from the experience of the Foundation.

Adult Learning in the Transformational Environments of the Digital Revolution: Connecting Theory and Practice

The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning preferences and the post-secondary educational experiences of a group of Net-Gen adult learners, aged between 18 and 35, currently working in the knowledge economy workplace, and their assessment of how adequately they were prepared to meet the requirements of the knowledge economy workplace. This study utilized an explanatory mixed-method research design. Participants completed a questionnaire providing information on their self-reported learning style preferences, their use of digital tools for formal and informal learning, their use of digital technologies in postsecondary educational experiences, and their use of digital technologies in their workplace. Four volunteers from the questionnaire respondents were selected to participate in interviews based on the diversity of their experiences in higher education, including digital environments, and the diversity of their knowledge economy workplaces. Data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed for descriptive and demographic statistics, and categorized so that common patterns could be identified from information gathered from the online questionnaire and interviews. Findings based on this study indicated that these Net-Gen adult learners were fluent with all types of digital technologies in collaborative environments, expecting their educational experiences to provide a similar experience. Participants clearly expressed an understanding that digital/collaborative aptitudes are essential to successful employment in the knowledge economy workplace. The findings of this study indicated that the majority of participants felt that their post-secondary educational experiences did not adequately prepare them to meet the expectations of this type of working environment.

Towards Equitable Access to Postsecondary Education: Learning From the Voices of First Generation Students

This qualitative, phenomenological study investigated first generation students’ perceptions of the challenges they experienced in the process of accessing higher education and the type of school-based support that was received. Particular emphasis was placed on the impact of parental education level on access to postsecondary education (PSE) and how differences in support at the primary and secondary levels of schooling influenced access. Purposeful, homogenous sampling was used to select 6 first generation students attending a postsecondary institution located in Ontario. Analysis of the data revealed that several interrelated factors impact first generation students’ access to postsecondary education. These include familial experiences and expectations, school streaming practices, secondary school teachers’ and guidance counselors’ representations of postsecondary education, and the nature of school-based support that participants received. The implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed and recommendations for enhancing school-based support to ensure equitable access to postsecondary education for first generation students are provided.

Postsecondary Artist Teachers' Responses to Computer Technology in Their Drawing Pedagogy

While the influence of computer technology has been widely studied in a variety of contexts, the drawing teaching studio is a particularly interesting context because of the juxtaposition of traditional medium and computer technology. For this study, 5 Canadian postsecondary teachers engaged in a 2-round Delphi interview process to discuss their responses to computer technology on their drawing pedagogy. Data sources included transcribed interviews. Findings indicated that artist teachers are both cautious to embrace and curious to explore appropriate use of computer technology on their drawing pedagogy. Artist teachers are both critical and optimistic about the influence of computer technology.

Raising Creativity: Exploring How Creativity Can be Nurtured in Educational Contexts

The question of how we can encourage creative capacities in young people has never been more relevant than it is today (Pink, 2006; Robinson as cited in TEDtalksDirector, 2007; Eisner as cited in VanderbiltUniversity, 2009). While the world is rapidly evolving, education has the great challenge of adapting to keep up. Scholars say that to meet the needs of 21st century learners, pedagogy must focus on fostering creative skills to enable students to manage in a future we cannot yet envision (Robinson as cited in TEDtalksDirector, 2007). Further, research demonstrates that creativity thrives with autonomy, support, and without judgment (Amabile, 1996; Codack [Zak], 2010; Harrington, Block, & Block, 1987; Holt, 1989; Kohn, 1993). So how well are schools doing in this regard? How do alternative models of education nurture or neglect creativity, and how can this inform teaching practice all around? In other words, ultimately, how can we nurture creativity in education? This documentary explores these questions from a scholarly art-based perspective. Artist/researcher/teacher Rebecca Zak builds on her experience in the art studio, academia, and the art classroom to investigate the various philosophies and strategies that diverse educational models implement to illuminate the possibilities for educational and paradigmatic transformation. The Raising Creativity documentary project consists of multiple parts across multiple platforms. There are five videos in the series that answer the why, who, how, what, and now what about creativity in education respectively (i.e., why is this topic important, who has spoken/written on this topic already, how will this issue be investigated this time, what was observed during the inquiry, and now what will this mean going forward?). There is also a self-reflexive blog that addresses certain aspects of the topic in greater depth (located here, on this website) and in the context of Rebecca's lived experience to complement the video format. Together, all video and blog artifacts housed on this website function as a polyptych, wherein the pieces can stand alone individually yet are intended to work together and fulfill the dissertation requirements for Rebecca's doctorate degree in education in reimagined ways.

Relationship Building with Aboriginal Elders in the Publicly Funded Secondary School Classroom: A Study of Ethical Space from an Aboriginal Persepective

This is a current story of ethical space in education that is often neglected in the design of educational experiences for Aboriginal students. This story is told through an Aboriginal lens rooted in the structured Two Row Wampum Belt relational agreement between Aboriginal peoples and Settlers. Through ethnographic narrative based on an extensive literature review, individual in-depth interviews, and a personal journal, this study documents the processes of acceptance, silence, complications, and then rejection to position Aboriginal Elders as inclusive bodies of knowledge in publicly funded secondary school classrooms. Aboriginal Elders are valued as Knowledge Holders, as Aboriginal teachers, guides, and mentors. Yet, the complexities of colonial rights, politics, and policies continue to intrude deeply into the lives of Aboriginal peoples to cause silence, confusion, and struggle rather than an evolution of new knowledge amongst two co-existing solitudes under the original terms of the Two Row Wampum Belt. The study was delayed and then came to an end when the school boards and local schools scrutinized its operating policies and unresolved funding issues. This study demonstrated that despite the Two Row Wampum Belt agreement that promised a co- existent relationship between Aboriginal peoples and Settlers, the strategy of inviting Aboriginal Elders to work alongside teachers in the classroom was viewed as being in conflict with the Settler’s institutional/educational objectivities, and, as such, was denied to Aboriginal students.

Perspectives of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder on a Community-Based Parent Education Program

In 2012 a community-based agency that oversees Intensive Behaviour Intervention services for young children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) began delivering newly developed curricula to parents of eligible children. The curricula’s intent was to inform parents about ASD and Applied Behaviour Analysis, to increase their awareness of available community resources, and assist them to be active and engaged in their child’s learning. This mixed-method study used a program-specific survey and focus groups to explore the perspectives parents had on their involvement in these education sessions. Through constant comparison analysis 4 major and 3 minor themes emerged. In general, parents acknowledged that this parent education program included relevant content and a favourable delivery format. The study summarized a number of well-articulated, practical suggestions parents provided. Implications for practice would be applicable to educators interested in providing quality group-based education to parents of young children with ASD.

Myths of Modern Education

My focus is on assessment criteria of language proficiency in community college education. To demand clear writing is an application of scientism; it seeks to keep separate the fact/value distinction of positivism. This dangerously undermines the democratizing possibilities of education, since clear writing, taken to its extreme, is ultimately anonymous and dehumanizing. The active student-as-citizen is, therefore, subsumed under the neoliberal dictate of the passive student-as-consumer. The process of language acquisition is reduced to a fictitious act of knowledge transmission and regurgitation, and, therefore, those subversive aspects of language learning, such as creativity and critical inquiry, are undermined. An initial overview of the tenets of modernity will provide a conceptual framework for this examination.