Provincial Curriculum Research Articles

Pulled In All Directions

Kindergarten educators are experiencing tensions with pedagogical approaches for early literacy learning (e.g., Forgie et al., 2022; Pyle et al., 2018). They feel pressured to abandon play-based approaches in favour of direct instruction due to changes in provincial curriculum and school board policies (e.g., OHRC, 2022). This paper highlights themes and responses by participants in a study with kindergarten educators during the fall of 2023. Challenges expressed included changing messages from school boards, a lack of clarity regarding direction, and the introduction of prescriptive programs. Suggestions of ways educators can build knowledge and agency through collaborative conversations will be shared.

Case Study of Experiences with Transmediation for a Student with Learning Disabilities

This case study explored the experiences with transmediation by a fourth grade student with learning disabilities (LD) and his teacher. Findings revealed that the student encountered mixed responses to his practices by the classroom community. Underlying these perspectives were issues of social capital contributing to the power dynamics of the classroom, and two contrastive provincial curriculum documents guiding classroom literacy instruction and assessment. Drawing on these findings, we discuss the nuances and complexities of transmediation for students with diverse learning needs.

Curriculum violence in drama education

ABSTRACT This article examines a concept called ‘curriculum violence’ that offers a contribution to the field of curriculum studies, in deepening both teachers’ and scholars’ awareness of the ways in which our best intentions in the drama classroom may lead to potential harm for our students. We present two drama structures, both Canadian; the first by Carole Miller and Juliana Saxton and the second by Larry Swartz and Debbie Nyman. We then discuss what we view as a High risk issue; a new provincial curriculum to be implemented in Alberta, that we view as causing potential curriculum violence to students.

Learning to Teach Outside the Box: Exploring Newness in Literacies Pedagogies in a Pandemic

This article explores the innovative lesson planning assignments of preservice teacher, Marie, as part of an alternate teaching practicum during the pandemic closure of schools in Spring 2020. Marie viewed this shift in context as an opportunity to “think outside of the box”, to be creative and divert from a traditional lesson planning template. As we read the examples from Marie’s lesson plan assignments, we think with posthumanist theories of entanglement, intra-actions and the producing of newness in literacies pedagogies. We share data that show the entanglements of more-than-humans and humans within the innovative lesson plan format. In exploring Marie’s lesson plan redesigns and her reflections on them, we consider the ways these pedagogies were produced through the intra-actions of assignment criteria, provincial curricula, Marie’s knowledge of her students, families, available learning materials, and pandemic conditions. We consider how the implications of this lesson format contribute to newness in our ways of thinking and doing as teacher educators of literacies.

Dismantling barriers to access: The necessity of cripping sexuality education in Canadian schools

Despite sexuality education in school contexts being a highly politicized and ideologically fueled conversation, discussions of the specific needs of disabled students are often silenced, in particular for those who might be accessing special education programming. In this paper, we provide a call to action to explicate the crucial importance of addressing both ableist attitudes and constructions embedded within conversations of childhood sexuality and sexuality education, as well as policy and curriculum change to create more inclusive sexuality education approaches for disabled students and learners in Canadian provinces and territories. Many Canadian provinces do not mention disability or accommodations for disabled learners in their sexuality education curricula and all provincial curricula do not currently meet requirements set by internationally governing human rights policies. As such, this paper aims to bring to attention the different ways in which current school-based sexuality education is failing the human rights of disabled learners in Canadian schools and how sexuality education can be rethought through a social justice framework to ensure that the needs of all learners and that systems of inequality, such as ableism and heterosexism, are addressed in school contexts. Specific recommendations for policy and professional practice are provided to direct educators, policy-makers, and curriculum developers towards providing more inclusive sexuality education.

There is Many a Slip Betwixt Cup and Lip. An Inquiry to Dig Out Hurdles Faced by the Stakeholders in Gender Representation in English Textbooks of Pakistan

Gender is an important aspect of life noticeably revealed through visuals in textbooks with a deep impression on recipients. School textbooks are made compulsory for the students to read and later on they develop some perceptions and ideals about a society based on these read texts. These textbooks are a combination of text and images through which different concepts are taught. This study aimed to assess the awareness about the sensitization level of visual representation of gender created through textbooks in the provincial curriculum of the English language of Pakistan. The study's objective is to find out issues involved on the side of the stakeholders in bookmaking and publishing regarding gender representation. A qualitative research design was used to collect data from four chairpersons of textbook boards and two authors of textbooks from each province of Pakistan. Twelve in-depth interviews were conducted through a semi-structured interview guideline. Findings showed an apparent unawareness of all stakeholders regarding gender and their social, political, and economic representation. It was found that some of the stakeholders even did not know the true concept of gender and thought that gender equality means only the equal number of visual representations of males and females without bothering that how are they being presented. They ignore that it is more important to see how both sexes are embodied rather than how many times. Text is not in the domain of this study; only the perspective of the stakeholders about the visual’s representation is discussed here. The study brought issues into the limelight that must be resolved to make visuals complement the text and present latent meaning independently with a positive impact. This study will reveal how much is this important to make the stakeholders gender sensitized for the better and more positive gender representation. Keywords: Gender, Visuals, Semiotic, Textbooks, Stakeholders, Qualitative research DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-25-04 Publication date: September 30 th 2022

Multiple Literacies Within Reformed First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Secondary Curriculum

This study illuminates reformed literacy expectations via close examination of the recently released 2019 Ontario (Canada), First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Secondary curricular document. A summative latent content analysis of the renewed provincial curriculum found overwhelming support for critical literacy development. The Ontario government uses the term literacy 84 times in the transformed curricula, prompting this study to ask: What are the literacies and how should these be attained in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit secondary level education? This study found required literacies expected in grades nine through 12, included English literacy and skills, media, financial, and critical literacies.

'We are all in this together': Investigating alignments in intersectoral partnerships dedicated to K-12 food literacy education.

Background:Activities to foster food literacy in young people are increasingly common in schools, driven both by the public health sector and by curriculum mandates from education officials in government. In Canada, both Kindergarten–Grade 12 (K-12) classroom teachers and educators from community organisations deliver food literacy education programmes in schools, often framed as partnerships working in the interests of young people.Objective:The study examines the alignment between what both classroom teachers and community educators state are the desired outcomes for students of their food literacy education work and the topics/activities they engage in with students.Design, setting and method:We surveyed and interviewed teachers and community educators in British Columbia, Canada, and utilised participant observation and secondary data from food literacy education network activities.Results:Shared food literacy education goals and topics/activities were evident in the responses of classroom teachers and community educators. Teachers framed their food literacy education programmes around the curriculum-as-plan – in this case, the provincial curriculum known as the BC Curriculum – and then enacted a lived curriculum that students experienced in the classroom. Community educators offered programmes that were initially designed to meet their organisation’s focus, but which varied in terms of how much of the BC Curriculum was addressed.Conclusion:Our results show broad alignment between teachers and community educators in food literacy education goals and practices; however, there is potential to increase this alignment and build stronger partnerships that support teachers in enacting the BC curriculum and meeting the needs of their students.

Memory Aids as a Disability-Related Accommodation? Let’s Remember to Recommend Them Appropriately

Memory aids are now frequently provided to elementary and secondary school students to increase their success in achieving provincial curriculum standards. While such an accommodation may meet the immediate goal of improved academic performance it may not be warranted based on an actual long-term memory retrieval impairment and may therefore be inequitable, providing an unfair academic advantage relative to non-disabled students. Furthermore, providing memory aid accommodations inappropriately may rob students of the opportunity to learn effective study and retrieval strategies, leading instead to dependence on an accommodation that may not be continued once they enter post-secondary education. An appropriate accommodation at the post-secondary level of education removes a disability-related barrier (functional impairment) and assists only those facing such barriers; under human rights legislation, accommodations are not implemented to guarantee success, reduce anxiety, or provide unequal access to material. Memory aids improve the retrieval of information from long-term storage for everyone. As such, the current widespread provision of this accommodation prior to post-secondary studies must be evaluated critically, with such supports offered only when justified. A six-step process for determining when memory aids are an appropriate accommodation within the post-secondary setting is provided and discussed.

Literacies and identities in transnational education: a case study of literacy curricula in a Canadian transnational education programme in China

This ethnographic case study focused on a transnational education programme in an inner city in Mainland China that used both Chinese high school curriculum and Canadian provincial curriculum from New Brunswick. The goal of the study was to capture the desires and power relations that shaped literacy and identity options in the school's hybrid curriculum. Findings revealed the affordances of the programme in expanding students' cultural and linguistic knowledge and capabilities in two languages and the constraints to their literacy and identity options. Notable constraints included the compartmentalization of English and Chinese curricula, standardized literacy tests, and the school policies that limited teachers' incorporation of new media literacies and critical literacy. The study contributes to extant knowledge of transformative transnational literacy education that could help educators provide pedagogical opportunities for students to construct fluid and multi‐layered identities that connect to their complex, multilingual literacy practices.

2015 개정 교육과정에 따른 ‘시‧도 교육과정 편성‧운영 지침’의 개선 방향 탐색

2015 개정 교육과정에 따른 ‘시‧도 교육과정 편성‧운영 지침’의 개선 방향 탐색

Inuit-Centred Learning in the Inuit Bachelor of Education Program

The Inuit Bachelor of Education (IBED) program in Labrador is a partnership between the Nunatsiavut Government (NG) and Memorial University of Newfoundland. It is preparing teachers to be key participants in NG’s education system. The IBED students and Sylvia Moore, the lead faculty member in the program, have based this paper on a collaborative presentation. The writers explore the tensions between the current provincial curriculum offered in the regional schools and a curriculum that is founded on Inuit history, culture, and worldview, restores the central role of the Inuit language, and is community-based as recommended in the 2011 National Strategy on Inuit Education. The students discuss four key threads of culturally relevant education: land, language, resources, and local knowledge. Moore reflects on how the IBED program incorporates these same elements to support Inuit identity and the developing pedagogy of the pre-service teachers.

Teaching and learning philosophy in Ontario high schools

ABSTRACTPrimary objective: This study represents the first large-scale research on high school philosophy in a public education curriculum in North America. Our objective was to identify the impacts of high school philosophy, as well as the challenges of teaching it in its current format in Ontario high schools.Research design: The qualitative research design captured the perspectives of students and teachers with respect to philosophy at the high school level. All data collection was structured around central questions to provide insight into the dynamics of their shared process of teaching/learning.Methods and procedures: We conducted semi-structured with interviews philosophy teachers (n = 9), classroom observations (n = 142), and student focus groups at 16 diverse high schools. Transcripts were coded according to themes.Results: Our findings reflect the complicated nature of philosophy as a discipline characterized by abstract thinking. Participants found it mind-opening, yet challenging, providing educational opportunities that are largely absent in conventional schooling. They saw multiple connections between philosophy and other subjects, but also appreciated its distinctive benefits. Teachers relied primarily on textbooks and contemporary media to deliver the curriculum. We found that a teacher’s background in philosophy may influence what is taught in philosophy courses and how, especially given the flexibility of the provincial curriculum.Conclusions: The findings suggest that philosophy is a unique, beneficial subject that teachers enjoy teaching and students greatly value, characterizing it as both difficult and rewarding. Our study revealed that considerable differences exist in how philosophy is taught and learned around the province. The flexibility of the provincial curriculum appears to be an invitation for creative and responsive teaching; however, philosophy teachers’ weak preparation can, by their own admission, be a hindrance to effective curriculum delivery. Studying philosophy enhances students’ thinking about other academic areas of study and in some cases opens them up to new ways of thinking.

Supporting Emergent Writers Through Guided Play in a Kindergarten Classroom

In this paper, we describe a teacher-initiated imaginative-play scenario that took place in a kindergarten classroom in a small northern town in Ontario, Canada. The Fairy Door scenario afforded the 3- to 5-year-old children the opportunity to become writers in order to communicate with and make sense of an elusive visitor to the classroom. It presented the teachers with opportunities to scaffold the children’s writing attempts and provided them with valid assessments of the children’s understanding of texts and writing. We offer this unique form of pedagogical practice as a means to fulfill the play-based learning mandate of the Ontario provincial curriculum.

Debates sobre enseñanza de la historia: identidad canadiense, pensamiento histórico y conciencia histórica

Este artículo profundiza en los debates históricos y actuales en Canadá sobre la historia nacional y la enseñanza de la historia en el complicado escenario de trece jurisdicciones educativas de Canadá. En este trabajo se analizan los debates sobre los contenidos en la enseñanza de la historia y en los libros de texto, así como los enfoques en la escuela. Se analizan las formas en que un enfoque de pensamiento histórico está consolidándose en todo el país en el período actual, con una mayor atención a la investigación en la enseñanza de la historia y su difusión y su mayor presencia en los planes provinciales. Se considera el papel del gobierno federal en estos cambios, las organizaciones privadas sin fines de lucro, y los proyectos financiados por el gobierno nacional, tales como el Historical Thinking Project y The History Education Network.

“True to my own noble race”

While classrooms for Indigenous children across Canada were often taught by non-Indigenous men and women, at the Six Nations of Grand River, numerous Haudenosaunee women worked as teachers in the day schools and the residential school on the reserve. While very different from each other, Emily General, Julia Jamieson and Susan Hardie shared a passion for educating the young of their community, especially about Haudenosaunee culture and history, along with the provincial curriculum. They were community leaders, role models and activists with diverse goals, but they all served their community through teaching, and had a positive impact on the children they taught.

A multicentre investigation of organ and tissue donation education for critical care residents.

To describe critical care medicine residents' training, expertise, and skills regarding organ and tissue donation processes and procedures. We undertook a qualitative multicentre study and employed a purposive sample of program directors, physicians, nurses, residents, and organ donation leaders from all nine academic intensive care unit (ICU) training centres (five adult, four pediatric) in Ontario (n = 71). Interviews, conducted by telephone between December 2015 and March 2016, were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection and analysis were performed using an iterative process and continued until saturation was achieved. Five main themes were identified: 1) gaps in residents' knowledge for both neurologic determination of death (NDD) and circulatory determination of death (DCD) cases; 2) commitment to the provision of organ and tissue donation training; 3) limited experiential learning (NDD and DCD); 4) challenges related to the provision of training on organ donation and need for a standardized curriculum; and 5) communication with family members. Overall, this study showed system-level gaps in training resulting from the lack of a standardized provincial curriculum on organ donation. Qualitative data corroborated that residents need more exposure to clinical cases, especially regarding DCD donors. A standardized education curriculum would be beneficial for all residents within the ICU. Developing a better shared understanding of the donation process will improve team communication and performance, translate into a better end-of-life experience for families, and potentially result in increased donation rates.

The Educational Scalability of inquiry-Based Learning as a Means to Promote Authentic Student Achievement

Inquiry-based learning is regularly published as a standard method of delivering curriculum at the intermediate level in Newfoundland and Labrador. With any educational initiative there can be gaps between policy and implementation. This paper questions the possibility of a lack of consensus on what inquiry-based learning entails, policy implementation and the relationship between inquiry and authentic student achievement. A link is drawn between the ability to structure inquiry-based learning environments that can satisfy the standards associated with authentic student achievement and provincial curriculum. The relationship between these elements and the principles of scaling up educational innovation are also discussed as a means of developing frameworks that can promote authentic inquiry on a larger scale.

School Practices and Education Policy: Aboriginal Studentss Challenges and Successes

The academic success of Aboriginal students remains particularly concerning across Ontario, Canada, the United States and abroad. Less than half of all Aboriginal students in Canada receive a secondary school diploma since they often do not discern meaning in both the provincial curriculum and the priorities of public schools. In the province of Ontario (Canada), the Ministry of Education (OME) 2007 policy document, The Ontario First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework (the Framework) addresses the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners in public education. The Framework points to the epistemological learning preferences of Aboriginal students and aims to make all stakeholders more accountable for the academic success of Aboriginal students. This study examines the perceptions and experiences of Aboriginal students in northern Ontario publicly-funded schools in the context of the objectives of the OME policy Framework. The findings of this longitudinal qualitative study include two categories that are described as ‘Schools as Spaces of Socialization’ and ‘Principled Actions and Variability.’ The categories, as the discussion of the paper will suggest, bring to light the potential of Aboriginal students to first flourish in the imagination of their individual and collective identity, and second, to undertake the challenges associated to public schooling and thrive in what can be adverse environments. However, the findings of this study also point to the fact that some Aboriginal students perceive the various injustices of school practices and relations but in most instances, consider themselves as having very limited opportunities to enact change.

Prospective Teacherss Perceptions: A Critical Literacy Framework

The education of Aboriginal youth is, in some respects, in crisis. Aboriginal communities in Ontario (Canada) are as a group currently experiencing marginalization within the education system. As such it is imperative that efforts be made to better understand the system to improve the success rate for Aboriginal youth. The Ontario First Nation, Metis and Inuit Education Policy Framework (2007) has committed to “improve achievement among First Nation, Metis and Inuit students and to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students”. English and Language Arts teachers (K to 12) are compelled to consider how the policy discourse of the 2007 Aboriginal Policy Framework implicates upon the socio-political and socio-historical currency of literacy in their instruction. Consequently, this qualitative study examined one component of a large-scale project, in the tradition of grounded theory, including the implications of Aboriginal education policy discourse on literacy instruction as it applies to over 200 prospective teachers enrolled in a Teacher Education Program in Ontario, Canada. Participants identified two themes that they believed Aboriginal students would find most challenging, including: (i) tension with provincial curriculum and, (ii) feelings of misrepresentation.