Faculty of Education Graduate Theses
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Item Micropolitical Settler Solidarity in Public Education: Indigenous-Settler Educator Friendships(2024-11-15) O'Leary, Alex; Education; Airton, LeeFriendships between Indigenous and settler educators represent a relationship at the heart of decolonization and Indigenous education initiatives in today’s public education system in what is currently known as Canada. The beginnings of Indigenous-settler relationships on Turtle Island are rooted in colonial violence that imposed a hierarchal relationship of oppression of Indigenous people. Naturally and foreseeably, colonization produced strained, hurt, and distrustful relationships with settlers. Acknowledging the cultural context of this relationship is essential to consider when looking at the Indigenous-settler relationships that aspire to heal this fractured relationship amidst the past and ongoing impacts of colonization. This study looks at Indigenous-settler educator friendships in education settings and how they may impact how decolonization work is being engaged in educational systems today. The researcher interviewed three Indigenous-settler friendship pairs in multiple stages to gain an understanding of how their friendship began, which qualities were shared amongst all three pairs, and how these relationships impacted their important work together as well as the participants as individuals. The study's findings suggest that educator friendships are vital contributors to being able to do decolonization work and fostering one’s sense of safety, belonging, and fulfillment within and beyond the school workplace. This research is valuable to the world of education as it provides insight into the necessary and authentic relationships involved in decolonization in public education systems.Item Learning History to Understand the Present: Exploring Aspects of Historical Mindedness in Ontario’s High School History Curriculum, 2005-2013(2024-10-02) McCuaig, Christopher; Education; Christou, TheodoreThis study investigates specific aspects of the curriculum documents for Ontario’s Grade 10 course Canadian History since World War I released in 2005 and 2013. This course is worthy of study as this is the only mandatory History course at the high school level in the province. For many students Grade 10 History is also the final opportunity to study history in a school setting, and therefore can impact the way that they think about the subject beyond the school. The primary focus of this study is centred on what Ontario high school students are expected to learn about Canadian history, as published by Ontario’s Ministry of Education through curriculum guides; and specifically how Ken Osborne’s component of historical mindedness that he terms HE2, or the use of history for the understanding of the present, is reflected within the documents. Through gaining a clearer understanding of how Ontario’s 2005 and 2013 history curriculum has reflected specific aspects of historical mindedness as outlined by Ken Osborne, the study discusses the alignment between these concepts and the curriculum documents studied, including commentary on whether or not HE2 can be seen as an effective framework when thinking about approaching the study of history in Ontario in the time period. Although there are some differences between the curriculum documents studied, overall each can be seen to be in alignment with priorities such as: 1. connecting past events with current issues; 2. incorporating students’ experiences; and 3. including a student-centred approach to class activities. The overall program goals for these curriculum documents are concerned primarily with students developing skills that will help them live their lives and because of this, HE2 can be seen as an effective framework when thinking about approaching the study of history in Ontario classrooms.Item Parental Engagement In School Improvement Planning: Perceptions Of A Principal And Parents In A Secondary School Setting(2024-09-30) Tillmann, Tyler; Education; Kutsyuruba, BenjaminDespite extensive research and funding dedicated toward promoting effective parent engagement policies in Ontario public schools, there is a lack of detailed information “about the best ways to involve parents and other members of the community in school improvement planning” (Leithwood et al., 2004, p. 2). The Ontario Ministry of Education has established numerous policies aimed at promoting parent engagement within schools and, more specifically, within school improvement planning; these policies can be found in Ministry policy documents such as the School Effectiveness Framework (2013) and the Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools (2010). While policy documents and policies aimed at promoting effective parent engagement are numerous, they often set forth terms of parent engagement that are defined by the Ministry or school board rather than being co-created with parents and families. Therefore, this study aimed at addressing the gap that exists in educational policy and academic research about how to mostly effectively engage parents in school improvement planning by exploring Ministry, board, and school level improvement planning policy along with a principal's and parents’ perceptions of the phenomenon. A qualitative case study methodology was used to examine the school improvement planning process within a secondary public school in Southeastern Ontario. An analysis of publicly accessible school improvement planning policy documents and transcripts from semi-stuctured interviews was conducted to reveal how parent engagement policy in school improvement planning was actualized at the school level. A synthesized set of findings revealed that parents are most significantly involved in school improvement planning through communication. While the school that served as the case study of the research worked towards communicating their school improvement plan to parents, they lacked means of engaging parents through other critical areas like decision-making and collaboration with the community (Epstein, 2011). Meanwhile, parents demonstrated a general understanding of school improvement planning; however, they lacked an understanding regarding their unique role in improvement planning and the value of their engagement in the process.Item Dominant or Underrepresented: How Social Position and Program Context Impact Teacher Candidates’ Professional Identity Formation(2024-09-26) Gabhi, Mandeep Kaur; Education; Airton, LeeWhile Ontario classrooms have increasingly diverse student populations, underrepresented groups remain poorly represented in the teaching workforce and in many teacher education programs (Holden & Kitchen, 2018). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how teacher candidates (TCs) from underrepresented and dominant groups negotiate the process of professional identity formation in the sociocultural context of their teacher education program. The data for this study was collected using three semi-structured interviews over the course of the consecutive education program at Ontario University (OU). The participants were purposely sampled TCs from the dominant group (N=6) and underrepresented group (N=5) (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003). My study was informed by phenomenological approach to qualitative inquiry and used multiple qualitative methods embedded in the social-constructivist paradigm (Guba & Lincoln, 1989. The phenomenological approach allowed me to study and understand the underlying structures that influence the professional identity formation for TCs by focussing on their experiences in the context of their program (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The findings from this study brought forth the distinct uniqueness that TCs from each group bring with them while starting the program; guided by their social position and lived history. The teacher education program and its context (coursework, educators, practicum placements etc.) over the course of the program implicitly or explicitly impacted the process of professional identity formation for the TCs. While the TCs from dominant group perceived their engagement in the program as only partially beneficial due to their existing knowledge about the profession and rather a means through which they were able to re-affirm their perceptions of self as teachers; TCs from underrepresented groups experienced the program as a cautionary tale of potential experiences of bias and discrimination due to their ethnicity, accent, disability, sexuality, immigration history etc. Overall, the findings from the study bring forth the role of teacher education programs beyond the sites for preparing the next generation of teachers but also a site for the negotiation of identity formation that accompanies the process of learning in the teaching community that supports and perpetuates the dominant structures and ideology.Item You’re On Your Own Kid, You Always Have Been: An Institutional Ethnography for Supporting First-In-Family Women Attending Ontario Universities(2024-09-25) Reale, Brynn; Education; Pillay, ThashikaJames & Taylor (2023, p.14) find that first-generation university students are defined by their relation to an educational system designed to serve an “outdated model of the typical student.” Students who are first in their family to go to university are particularly placed at- risk as a diverse cohort, often intersected by multiple equity categories, such as low socioeconomic status (SES), Indigeneity, disability, and/or racialization, who experience compounding disadvantages in educational settings (Groves & O’Shea, 2019; O’Shea et al., 2018) that are heightened without adequate/relevant guidance or support from immediate family members. The purpose of this research was to illuminate systematic structural barriers that materialized in institutional texts and continue to perpetuate inequitable ruling relations representative of an “old boys’ network” (Henry et al., 2017, p.290): white, western, male, middle class, heterosexual, able bodies. I investigated how hegemonic centres of universities perpetuate deficit discourses that situate marginalized women who are first-in-family students in this disadvantaged position, why such students are responsible for accommodating to meet academic and institutional standards, and how they know. Using Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnography as my method of inquiry, with attention to critical feminist pedagogies, I analyzed Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada as a textually mediated institutional site, and revealed the existing ruling relations that subject first-in-family students to obstacles to their education and overall quality of student life. First-in-family students must “bend” to accommodate these obstacles and the disjunctures they create. Informant narrative accounts informed the direction of this institutional ethnography. This institutional ethnography revealed how local ruling relations are textually mediated, that they burden marginalized first-in-family university students, and that universities exploit first-in-family students in their failure to provide structures that position them in the institution to equitably derive the benefits of higher education.