Ontario Ministry of Education Policy and Aboriginal Learners’ Epistemologies: A Fundamental Disconnect

The Ontario Ministry of Education has made a recent commitment to address the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non- aboriginal students with the release of various policy documents. Yet, there appears to be a disconnect between the policy principles and the standardized means of reconciling these differences in achievement, teacher education, and parental involvement. The dualities between the expressed intent presented in the policy documents and the reality of Aboriginal epistemologies imply overtones that are symptomatic of the colonial treatment of Aboriginal peoples in this province and country. There is, then, a need to rethink critical aspects of the policy, for the profound implications it has on educational policy and student achievement in this province and beyond.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Elementary Music Education in Ontario

It could be argued that one of the most significant constraints within which music leaders in school work is that of curriculum. In the past 18 years, the Ontario Ministry of Education has released three Arts curricula for the elementary grades. In 1995, the New Democrat Party under the leadership of Bob Rae produced The Common Curriculum: Policies and Outcomes, Grades 1-9, followed closely by a new document in 1998 under the Harris “Common Sense Revolution” government. The expectations for music in this curriculum were considered by music education advocacy groups in Ontario to be too difficult to be taught by non-music specialists. Most recently in 2009, the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training under yet another new leadership of the Liberal government and Dalton McGinty, released the latest elementary music curriculum. This study will investigate the perceived challenges and opportunities that music teachers, both specialists and generalists, have met when teaching the 2009 Ontario elementary music curriculum. Contributing to this research will be a curriculum writer/consultant, a representative from a music education advocacy group in Ontario, and two music educators to preservice teachers. Data will be collected through interviews and voluntarily contributed documents and artifacts

Developing an approach to assessment for the elementary science and technology curriculum of Ontario

This paper describes how teachers taking part in the Elementary Science and Technology Partnership based at Queen's University, Ontario were introduced to a model of assessment and how the use of this model will be implemented and evaluated. A brief description of the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training science and technology curriculum for grades 1 - 8 students is presented to provide the context for this work

CHARACTER EDUCATION RE-CONCEPTUALIZED FOR PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION

In this paper we explored conceptual ambiguities of character education within the present Ontario Ministry of Education initiative. Through the critical lens of moral development theories and theories of mind, social and cognitive domains and their affect on character development were examined. Based on these findings three shortcomings in implementation were identified: a lack of clarity in defining „character‟, a lack of recognition of the importance of cognitive and social processes in moral development, and a lack of clarity in effective strategies for character development. The recommendations for future implementation of character education were proposed.

Implementing Parent Engagement Policy in an Increasingly Culturally Diverse Community of New Immigrants: How New is “New”?

The Ontario Ministry of Education announced the Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools in 2010. This policy aims to support parent engagement and provides a vision of its implementation at schools, boards, and the ministry. This mixed methods case study sheds light on its implementation and thus its implication by exploring the parent engagement experiences of parents and teachers. The study results reveal that the actual and desired levels of engagement are different between new immigrants and the established ornon-immigrant families, and that teacher education in parent engagement is desirable in optimizing parent partnerships

Educational Professionals Awareness, Identification, and Support of Young Caregivers

“Young carer” (YC) is a term used to describe youth under the age of 25 who take on caregiving roles to support a family member with a disability, illness, addiction, or language barrier (Aldridge & Becker, 1993; Charles et al., 2012; Stamatopoulos, 2015). Although the Ontario Ministry of Education mandates that educators ensure student success (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014), the YC role continues to negatively influence attendance and curriculum engagement at school (Lakman et al., 2017). To ensure that YCs receive the support they need to be successful in school, an educator’s role must be considered. Therefore, this study’s research questions were, “In what ways are educators aware of young caregiving?” and “What role to educators perceive they have in identifying and supporting YCs?”. Through an applied research design, 8 teachers and 3 principals were individually interviewed for 90-minutes each. Inter-rater reliable thematic analysis resulted in three main themes of awareness, identification, and support. Although not all educators were aware of the YC term, all educators were aware of the caregiving role among children and youth. Consistent with OME mandate, educators reported that student success was important. Although educators felt they had a role in identifying and supporting YCs to ensure success, the majority did not perceive it was mandated. This finding was inconsistent with previous YC research that suggested YCs did not feel supported in school (Lakman et al., 2017). Therefore, the present findings encourage teacher training to ensure YCs receive the support they need. Key Words: Young Carer, Education, Awareness, Identification, Suppor

Literacy Development in School-Aged Children With Simultaneous Bilateral Cochlear Implants

This 2-year study investigated the literacy development of school-aged children who were born deaf and received simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants at the age of 2 years old or younger. All participants lived in Ontario, Canada, and were identified with a hearing loss through UNHS or an Audiologist between birth and 21 months of age. Eight students, 2 females and 6 males, ranged in age between 5.5 and 9.1 years old, placing them in senior kindergarten to Grade 4 at initial time of testing. One participant withdrew after Phase 1, therefore data analysis was conducted on 7 participants. Levels of achievement in reading, writing, language, and phonological processing were measured through standardized assessment tools appropriate for school-aged children: the Clinical Evaluation of Language FundamentalsFifth Edition (Wiig, Semel, & Secord, 2013), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 2001) and the Woodcock-Johnson Test of AchievementIII (Schrank, Mather, & Woodcock, 2004). Writing samples were assessed using A Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing, Kindergarten to Grade 3 (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005), and The Ontario Curriculum: Exemplars, Grades 18: Writing (Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, 1999). Overall, the results of the study indicate that this cohort of 7 students demonstrates average achievement in reading, receptive and expressive language, vocabulary, and phonological awareness that is within age norms. It is only in the area of writing that age-appropriate outcomes are not being achieved. It is also worth noting that, of the children in this group, those who received their implants before 12 months showed the strongest performance is all areas

Modeling Various Teaching Methods In A Faculty Of Education In Science Education: Chalk And Talk, Virtual Labs Or Hovercrafts

This research was conducted with 291 Junior/Intermediate (J/I) pre-service teachers in a ubiquitous laptop Bachelor of Education program at Nipissing University. The authors modeled a lesson using three different teaching styles using flight as the content medium, a specific expectation found in the Ontario Ministry of Education grade six Science curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education, 1998). The three parts of the lesson were entitled:  1) “Chalk and Talk”, which followed a traditional teacher directed teaching style, 2) “A Virtual Lab” where pre-service teachers gather information about flight via an online website from their laptops, and 3) “A Hovercraft Lesson” which engaged the pre-service teachers in four learning stations about hovercrafts, one of which was to experience riding a home-made hovercraft from plywood and a leaf blower. The pre-service teachers participated in the lessons and then completed an online survey that enabled the rating each of the lessons for strengths and weaknesses, engagement, and their motivation toward the topic. Pre-service teachers rated and commented about the lessons in regard to teaching preference, preparation time, and perceived student engagement within a school setting.  The online survey gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey informed the authors on the type of learning and teaching style the pre-service teachers preferred and why. It also provided information on the advantages and disadvantages of the three different teaching styles as perceived by the pre-service teachers. Analysis indicates that the pre-service teachers preferred the Hovercraft lesson regardless of the preparation time required or the safety hazards. Previous research indicates that pre-service teachers tend to teach in a style in the classroom as they were taught in a Faculty of Education; therefore, modeling and analyzing various teaching methods is an important component of teacher education

An Investigation on the Value of Integrating Mental Health Supports in Education to Build Capacity for Change

Current statistics in Ontario show that one in five students suffer from mental health issues (Canada, 2012). Mental health disorders cause significant distress, impairing students’ functioning at school, at home, and in the community (Children’s Mental Health Ontario, 2014). Research has shown that prevention and early intervention strategies targeting students at risk for mental health challenges are beneficial, cost-effective, and reduce the need for more costly, intensive interventions. (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013). In response to recent Ontario Ministry mental health initiatives (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006; 2011; 2013), the Peel District School Board, in Ontario, Canada, launched an interprofessional, mental health and behaviour program called Intensive Support (IS). The primary goal of this support service is to build capacity for preventative and early intervention knowledge and programming about mental health within school staff. Since schools play an important role in the prevention and early intervention of students’ mental health needs (Durlak & Wells, 2011), this case study investigated whether the IS program contributed to building organizational capacity for mental health promotion and the prevention of mental health problems. The intent of this study was to allow school staff the opportunity to dialogue, through semi-structured interviews, about what specific strategies and collaborative learning supports school staff value most in the IS program. This study examined staffs’ perception of and experiences with engaging with the IS program. More specifically, the study explored what specific supports for learning staff identified and valued as contributing most to increasing their capacity for change and how IS program supports could be enhanced. Findings of this study reveal that specific learning conditions need to exist to build capacity in schools. In addition, specific recommendations to enhance the IS program were suggested as determined by the study’s participants. Keywords: mental health, education, building capacity, interprofessional team, collaboratio

Internationalizing Teachers’ Preparedness: The Missing Link in Ontario’s Strategy for K–12 International Education?

While the need to internationalize teacher education is recognized by scholars and practitioners, little attention is paid to the role of policies and policy makers in supporting this endeavour. This study focuses on the enactment of Ontario’s K–12 international education strategy by examining four key policy actors—the Ontario Ministry of Education, the Ontario College of Teachers, school boards, and Faculties of Education—and their role in realizing (or not) the internationalization of teachers’ preparedness. A siloed approach, conflict in policy messaging, overlooked policy alignments, and weak policy framing result in weakening the relevance and importance of the internationalization of teachers’ preparedness to meet Ontario’s objectives of inclusivity, diversity, and equity in its public education