An examination of the current context of legal discourse related to the practical exigencies of present-day school experience. A detailed study of statutory and common law sources under which educators operate. The law is not immutable. Emphasis on negligence, malpractice, human rights and the school system, teacher rights, and student discipline and the Young Offenders Act and Zero Tolerance.
This course offers a broad survey of contemporary research, theory and debates in Sociology of Education. The course is organized by 3 major connections between schools and society: social organization, selection, and socialization. It will examine how schooling has become a core institution in modern society, central for understanding emerging forms of culture, economy, inequality, and social organization. The course will prepare students to conduct research on many educational topics at both K-12 and post-secondary levels. It will focus on trends that have shaped education in the modern era, particularly over the past 30 years. Most readings will be by North America-based empirical sociologists, though we will also look at many international trends.
This course provides an introduction to educational policy, leadership and change in general and to this program in particular by focusing on foundational concepts and theories significant to the understanding of education and educational administration. It offers a critical examination of a wide range of topics central to educational administration, educational policy, leadership and change, such as organization, community, power, authority, change, difference, leadership, and values. This examination will take into account major historical developments in the field as well as differing theoretical stances or paradigms, such as positivism, functionalism, interpretivism, critical pedagogy, feminism, post-structuralism and post-modernism. The course will help students understand how to use theory to make sense of educational practice in productive ways.
This course will focus on the social and policy contexts in which elementary and secondary educators work. Students will be exposed to a variety of issues related to schooling in a diverse and complex environment such as: differing purposes, philosophies, and values of education; multiculturalism and social justice; equity issues related to race, class, gender, and language; parental influences on schooling; the relationship of schooling to the labor market and the economy; choice of school and program; decentralization and centralization; standards and accountability; educational finance; school reform; educational and non-educational pressure groups and stakeholders. Through an exploration of these or related topics, this course will help students to continue to develop their understanding of different paradigms and methods used in research in educational administration, leadership, policy and change.
This course is designed to acquaint students with the practices and issues associated with administration, organization, and leadership in educational organizations with culturally diverse student populations. Students will have the opportunity to critically analyse and appraise the practices and issues involved in the administration and leadership of such schools. They will also have the chance to probe and clarify their own conceptions of, and attitudes toward, multiethnic and anti-racist education generally and leadership in such school organizations specifically, in ways that will assist them with their own administrative practices.
The course explores ways in which discourses and practices grounded in white supremacy and coloniality have been operationalized in the field of educational leadership. Education and schooling are sites of continued contestations of knowledge that impacts learners in these spaces. The course examines how issues of race, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, whiteness and other forms of oppression are theorized and practiced in educational leadership. Examining these issues offers alternative leadership epistemologies that scholars and practitioners can explore with the aim of changing the educational outcomes for those who continue to be oppressed in educational spaces. The course offers educators, educational practitioners, administrators, researchers and others to better understand and critique approaches to leadership within different educational and organizational contexts. Students will have the opportunity to engage with multiple perspectives and approaches to leadership framed within contemporary socio-cultural and political shifts and complexities. Overall, the course provides students with an opportunity to re-imagine school leadership undergirded by critical decolonizing antiracist frameworks.
The course explores the meaning of classroom change from the teacher's perspective, addressing such issues as contemporary views of learning, the nature of teacher development, and the context of teaching. The perspective is then used to better appreciate how those in school leadership roles can facilitate efforts by teachers to improve their own practices, as well as meaningfully respond to out-of-school pressures for change.
A companion course to 1047. Contemporary conceptions of leadership are examined for their value in helping present schools improve and future schools serve their publics well. Understanding of expert leadership is developed through the study not only of expert leaders' behaviors, but also of their feelings, values, and problem-solving strategies. The formal and informal experiences that contribute to the development of leadership expertise will be examined.
This course has been designed to be the final course for students in the 10-course M.Ed. Program in Educational Administration. The course provides an opportunity for students to explore and develop a comprehensive view of the field of educational administration, through a series of seminars designed to help summarize, integrate and consolidate knowledge of the field. Students will link particular problems in practice to the theoretical bases of the field, through the lenses of the major strands of our program: change, leadership, policy and social diversity. There will be a focus on analysis, synthesis and application, building a deeper understanding, situated in the broader field. The culmination of this course will be the creation of a comprehensive portfolio reflecting the student's understanding of the breadth and depth of the field.
Specialized study, under the direction of a staff member, focusing upon topics of particular interest to the student that are not included in available courses. While credit is not given for a thesis investigation proper, the study may be closely related to a thesis topic.
This course is the first of two courses to develop people to become school principals in Ontario. A key component of the course is the critical evaluation and focus on current research in the areas related to leadership practices and their effects, instructional leadership, education change and reform efforts. The course's content includes a critical awareness of current problems associated with educational leadership practice and application to current issues and problems in education informed by cutting-edge research and professional practice. The outcome of these courses is to hone the judgment of practitioners within the educational setting. Through the assignments students must demonstrate originality in the application of new knowledge and concepts.
This is the second of two courses which explores the role of the principal, one of the most influential roles in our educational system. It provides a foundation for candidates assuming the role of principal or vice-principal in Ontario schools and is one component of ongoing professional learning focused on the development of the personal and professional knowledge, and the skills and practices that lead to exemplary practice in the role of principal. The program is designed to support candidates in becoming reflective educational leaders who are informed consumers of education research in their ongoing professional growth, and who can lead effectively in the dynamic, diverse contexts of Ontario, characterized by rapidly changing events and circumstances.
Numbers and data have a growing influence in educational policy-making at the local, national and international levels. Large-scale assessments are increasingly used for monitoring and accountability; randomized controlled trials are considered the ‘gold standard’ in assessing the effects of educational policies, with important implications for resource allocation. This course is an introduction to the uses of quantitative research in comparative, international and development education. The goal is for students to be able to read, understand, critique and synthesize quantitative evidence, and to formulate policy recommendations on key educational debates. We will read empirical research on topics such as privatization of schooling, international large-scale assessments (PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS, etc.), school segregation, vocational education, decentralization, private tutoring and gender inequality. We will compare economic versus sociological approaches to quantitative comparative research in terms of major underlying theories and assumptions and how these guide methods and analyses. Students will learn how to evaluate which evidence is credible, including what to look for in high-quality sampling, measurement, assessment, analysis and interpretation. No background in statistics or quantitative research methods is required.
Gender issues and gendered practices in education have global relevance and have received sustained scholarly and policy interest in northern and southern societies, as well as in the work of major international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, and various United Nations' agencies, bilateral donors, and transnational civil society organizations. This course will provide students with an opportunity to critically and comparatively explore different theoretical (e.g., feminist, womanist, Women in Development, Women and Development, Gender and Development, social change, education etc.) and discursive frameworks (e.g., human capital, human rights, human capabilities), policies and practices (e.g., Education for All, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, affirmative action, single-sex education initiatives, feminist pedagogy etc.) that have constituted and shaped the broad and interdisciplinary field of gender and education over the last century. Given that the emphasis in this course is on "gender" as a socially constructed, performed, and contested identity(s), we will critically and comparatively investigate the educational opportunities, experiences and outcomes for girls, boys, women and men, as well as people identifying as non-binary, from early childhood to adulthood. Critical attention will also be given to the intersections of gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation (among other categories of social difference) in relation to educational access, survival, output, and outcomes.
This course is designed to assist students to develop an understanding of and an identity with the field of adult education. Major philosophical, historical, and conceptual bases are examined; also contemporary agencies and programs, issues, and trends in the practice of adult education. It is required that all Master's students include either LHA1100H or LHA1102H in their program of study.
This course introduces students to basic principles and processes of program planning, and how they apply to adult educational contexts. Relevant literatures and cases will be examined to illustrate different approaches to planning with particular emphasis on non-profit, public sector and community settings.
This course attempts to come to grips with the meaning of community development in a highly networked, increasingly information-dependent society. The course looks at such issues as the relationships between community organizing and community development and the role of social capital in community economic development. Models of community development that involve government programs such as social housing and community health centres are considered as are market-based approaches involving micro-lending, co-operatives and social enterprises. It is required that all Master's students include either LHA1100H or LHA1102H in their program of study.
This course introduces quantitative and qualitative research methods and theoretical perspectives. It is designed as an exploration into a range of research / inquiry methods appropriate for adult education and community development. The course examines the underlying philosophical assumptions of these methods, and the implications that these assumptions have for framing research questions, data collection, analysis, and dissemination strategies. It also provides opportunities to engage in practical, hands-on experience with developing research questions, data collection, and data analysis. The students are given an opportunity to reflect on the ethical, procedural, and political implications of research work and what it means to be "the researcher" and "the researched". The course is designed as a hybrid or blended course, which means that it is taught through face-to-face and online sessions and activities.
This course articulates various theoretic grounding for qualitative research and helps students become conversant with a wide variety of qualitative methodologies (i.e., grounded theory, feminist interviewing, ethnography, participatory research, biographic analysis, arts-informed inquiry, aboriginal research methodologies and institutional ethnography.) Gathering of information through observation, participatory observation, dialogue, and collection of documents will all be considered. Emphasis is on both understanding and practice. Learners will design or co-design a concrete piece of research and take it through the ethical review process. They will also present on at least one methodology. In line with this, they will learn about ethical conundrums, about matching methodologies with objectives and values, about methods for choosing participants. There is special emphasis on becoming critically aware as researchers - on understanding and integrating issues of power and difference.
This course begins where Part I leaves off. Learners will deepen their knowledge of a wide variety of qualitative research methodologies. They will gain skills interviewing, judging research, exploring dilemmas, and becoming critically aware as researchers. Their primary activity will be carrying out and completing the research project designed and approved in Part I. Giving and getting help from other classmates is an integral part of the process. Additional methodologies explored in this course include: action research, critical discourse analysis, and Freirian-based research.
This course examines the application of small group theory and leadership models to team development within organizational settings. It addresses such issues as power and difference among members, equity in leadership, peer performance assessment, multi-rater feedback and team process consultation. It provides an opportunity to examine, both theoretically and experientially, the development of a team as it forms, confronts interpersonal and group conflict, and evolves from dependence on the team leader to interdependence and shared leadership among team members. This course is particularly relevant to current workplace designs, where matrix models, cross-functional team arrangements and ad hoc project teams dominate new organizational forms. The course is held on seven alternate weeks for a full day each session, in order to permit both conceptual exploration and the application of theory to actual team development.
This course is focussed on theoretical research on the concept of adult learning. The course will operate on the basis of high student participation. Students are expected to incorporate aspects of their own experiences and/or research interests with course studies. From the vantage point of Adult Education, topic areas included in the course are as follows: the social importance of studying adult learning dynamics; history of conceptualizing adult learning; contemporary trends in studies of adult learning; agency, autonomy and the individual in adult learning research; socio-cultural theories of adult learning; the relationship of adult learning and social change; and, methods and methodologies in the study of adult learning.
This is a Social Movement course. This course will be of interest to a wide range of practitioners, including: activists, popular educators, and counsellors. The context in which it is offered is a world increasingly populated by disenfranchised people. The intent is to help practitioners gain a fuller understanding of the populations in question and become more skilled and creative as allies and activists. The specific populations focused on are: psychiatric survivors, people who are homeless, people who have been imprisoned, people who use illicit drugs, undocumented people, and sex trade workers. Learners will gain knowledge of the ABC's of strategic activism, with particular emphasis on how to modify strategy to fit the populations and movements in question. An accompanying emphasis is use of the arts in resistance work with these populations. Examples of art forms drawn on include: theatre (including theatre of the oppressed), puppetry, and video-making. Popular education is integrated. Perspectives include: feminism, anti-racism, Marxism, transformative justice, antipsychiatry, labeling theory, anarchism, and the philosophies of nonviolent resistance. The classes go between lectures, student presentations, film and video analysis, rehearsals, consultations, exercises, and guest presentations. Activism within the larger community is an integral part of the course.
A theoretical and experiential study of strategies for teaching adults, and of the procedures educators can use in group settings to enhance the development of learning processes. Students will explore personal institutional and societal variables that shape teaching/Learning environments, examine the factors that promote or hinder success, experience and analyze different teaching approaches, and develop a personal approach to the teaching/learning process.
This course explores the nature(s) of trauma and the different ways of working with survivors. The emphasis is on difference-different types of trauma, different ways of coping, and the significance of different and multiple identities. Work with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse is particularly highlighted. Other areas include survivors of: homophobic assault, ritual abuse, residential schools, refugee traumatization, war trauma, trauma associated with imprisonment, trauma associated with psychiatric intervention, and second generation trauma (e.g., children of Holocaust survivors). The trauma inherent in systemic oppressions, the fact that we live in an oppressive and violent society, and the implications for practitioners is emphasized throughout. While the primary emphasis is on practitioners as counsellors, other roles are also considered, including: advocates, befrienders, community workers, and literacy workers. Practitioner self-care in light of vicarious traumatization is given special consideration. Attention is divided between individual work, group work, and community work. The course is counter-hegemonic. Dominant perspectives include: critical theory, feminism, and existentialism. Permission of Instructor is required to enrol. Failure to contact the instructor for a screening interview well in advance (at bonnie.burstow@utoronto.ca) may result in not being able to take the course.
This course will focus on gender processes in work settings. We will identify patriarchal rules and expectations which run through contemporary workplaces (factories, offices, homes, hospitals, shopfloors, etc.) and propose ways in which normalizing discourses which reify gender hierarchies can be challenged. The course will focus on how ''gender,'' ''race'' and ''class'' can be conceptualized as processes rather than demographic attributes possessed by individual workers. We will trace the connections between gendered jobs and gendered workers and explore how individuals learn to ''do gender'' in organizational settings.
While our economic GDP is growing today via enclosure and destruction of the Commons, our human wellbeing and sustainability increasingly depend not only upon protection of the Commons (economic, ecological, cultural and electronic) but their extension in most areas of human experience. With the participation of all faculty members of the AECD Program, the course will be based on introducing students to the following: i) a history of Commons in societies; ii) conceptualization of Commons; iii) relevance of Commons for understanding adult education in relation to a variety of learning contexts and social issues. In this context, the course will specifically seek to explore the following dynamics of change: a) the current impact of ‘counter-commons’ market measures of wealth, well-being and ‘development’; b) current commons- related education, policy and activism in economic, social, cultural and spiritual realms at the local, national and global levels; and c) theoretical and strategic debates among commoners and between commoners and corporate ‘sharing economy.’
This course focuses on learning for the global economy. We will explore workers' learning which occurs during migration and as a result of the movements of global capital. In order to support the growing interconnectedness between workplaces located in different countries, organizations and states have developed strategies and programs which serve to "train" workers to engage in transnational interactions. Workers engage in a wide range of language, communication, and vocational training as a result of migration as well as through their involvement in global economic processes. We will explore what and how workers learn to conceptualize the "world as a single social space" (Robertson 2002) and the impact of this learning on their lives and communities.
Peter Senge's concept of the Learning Organization has now been embedded in organizational thinking since 1990. Many organizations have struggled to create learning cultures with varying degrees of success and much has been discovered about the factors that contribute to or inhibit this success. In this course, we will look at the Learning Organization as Senge and others have conceived it through the lens of productive conversation. The course will employ a variety of learning strategies including student presentations, theory bursts and organizational simulation. As part of our process, we will examine our own ability to create a learning organization within the class and the impact that our conversations have on the quality of our own learning.
The content of this course focuses on work and learning dynamics within professional workplaces and seeks to place these dynamics within their broader social, political, economic and historical context. Themes concerning professionalization, de-professionalization, professionalism, the nature of professional and/or expert knowledge, ethics, identity, knowledge cultures, and the organization of professional labour processes will also be addressed. The first half of the course will review the history of approaches to the meaning and study of professions as well as address key concepts, issues and dynamics of professions and professional work. The second half of the course will focus on leading conceptual issues and research on professional learning dynamics specifically. Students will be encouraged to combine the development of course assignments with existing research projects/goals/interests. The basic elements of a typical week in this course are as follows: 1. Opening lecture video posted by the instructor on Monday evening of each week 2. Group discussion each week (Monday to Thursday) 3. Closing lecture video posted at the end of each week (based on key themes emerging from the discussion groups and related issues from the readings).