Manitoba School Research Articles

Authentic Assessment for Motivating Student Learning and Teaching Effectiveness in Rural, High-Need Secondary Schools in Manitoba, Canada

Authentic Assessment for Motivating Student Learning and Teaching Effectiveness in Rural, High-Need Secondary Schools in Manitoba, Canada

The Late Nineteenth-Century North American Catholic Schools Question: Tangled Disputes over Catholic Public Education in Manitoba and Minnesota

Abstract: Debates over the role of the state in Catholic education rocked both the United States and Canada during the early-to-mid 1890s. Arguably the two most famous of these disputes—the “Manitoba Schools Question” (1890–1897) and the “Faribault Plan” (1890–1893) in Minnesota—unfolded alongside one another in neighboring polities. Both centered on whether Catholic schools could receive taxpayer funding and whether they should be recognized as public institutions. This article explores cross-border press coverage of them to demonstrate their deep top-down and bottom-up ties. It argues they represent two sides of a broader, intertwined late nineteenth-century North American Catholic Schools Question.

The nexus of food and nutrition security in youth: linking a Canadian survey and administrative data

Abstract Background Food insecurity is impacted by social determinants of health and is a risk factor for poor nutrition. Simultaneously, nutrition insecurity remains a pervasive public health concern in wealthy countries, especially for children. This study describes characteristics of youth that may increase risk of food and nutrition insecurity. Methods A cross-sectional study of grade nine students took place in 37 schools in Manitoba, Canada. Students completed a web-based survey on food security, diet, and nutrition-related behaviours. When consenting, parents/guardians could provide their child's health number. This sub-sample (n = 943) was linked with social and health variables through a de-identified data repository and used for this study. Bivariate associations explored relationships between sociodemographic information, diet quality, eating behaviours, mental health, and food security. A multivariable logistic regression model determined adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence limits for food security, and a general linear model for diet quality. Significance was set at p < 0.05 for all analyses. Results Twenty percent of participants were food insecure and 70% had sub-optimal diets. Food security was positively associated with living in a rural area, in higher income neighbourhoods and eating family dinner more frequently, while living in a northern area or in social housing, were negatively associated. Food security was not significantly related to diet quality; however, better nutrition was associated with being female, higher self-rated health, absence of a mental health diagnosis, and more frequent breakfast consumption, while receiving social assistance and living in a northern area were negatively associated with diet. Conclusions While results show a socioeconomic and geographic vulnerability to food insecurity, the diet quality of most adolescents was low. A multidimensional public health approach is needed to resolve these connected yet different issues. Key messages • Food insecurity and nutrition insecurity are public health concerns that require distinct but related interventions. • Scaling up income supports to resolve food insecurity is insufficient to improve dietary quality across adolescent populations.

Is it Too Optimistic to Assume Light Touch Interventions can Improve Educational Workers’ Wellbeing? Insights from a Field Randomized Control Trial in Canada

Educator wellbeing has broad implications for students and schools. Current approaches to address this problem are generally resource-intensive. This trial used novel nudges to increase wellbeing and decrease burnout among educators and other school-based faculty. We designed a light touch intervention where T1 received evidence-based wellbeing weekly text messages and T2 received weekly messages plus leadership endorsement emails. We evaluated this intervention in a large-scale three-arm RCT with participants (n=1,155) from K-12 schools in Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia. When compared to the control group, we saw no significant difference between the control group and T1 and T2 groups on burnout or wellbeing. The failure of these evidence-based text messages in increasing educators’ wellbeing and reducing their burnout highlights both the difficulty of addressing this problem and the importance of learning lessons from trials with null results to contribute to our knowledge base of improving educators’ wellbeing.

Navigating Turbulent Waters: Leading One Manitoba School in a Time of Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the practice of school leadership, requiring greater flexibility, creativity, and innovation. Guided by institutional theory, this paper suggests that leadership adaptations are influenced by environmental pressures such as coercive (e.g., from governmental or regulatory agencies), mimetic (e.g., attempts to emulate best practices from other schools), and normative pressures (e.g., professional standards endorsed by professional societies or unions). By using a qualitative co-constructed autoethnographic approach (See Kempster & Iszatt-White, 2012), the paper presents the Covid-19 timeline in Manitoba, identifying stakeholders and associated environmental pressures. It also features the personal leadership adaptations experienced by a school principal (Susan). The findings suggest that coercive pressures are mostly associated with creativity and inventive leadership practices. Mimetic pressures may lead to copying behaviours, and normative pressures are associated with enhanced foundational knowledges, all depending on contextual factors. The findings also highlight the significant emotional and physical toll the pandemic has taken on school principals.

John Clifford, Militant Evangelicals, and the Colonial Model for ‘Secular’ Schools (1870s-1920s)

At the time of the enactment of compulsory primary education, the Baptist minister John Clifford, along with other Evangelical pressure groups, advocated for the enforcement of State-funded secular schooling. They defended a ‘secular’ education, i.e. a curriculum infused with a broad Protestant ethos, which should be bestowed upon all children throughout Britain and its empire. For Clifford and militant Evangelicals, British Dominions offered models of State secular schooling because of the effective separation of State and Church within their realms. This article explores the militant Evangelical views on ‘secular’ education, along with the fights waged against (Roman Catholic) denominational schooling. It explores the arguments that enthusiastic Evangelical imperialists brought forward to defend their vision of the ideal Briton – a Protestant citizen free from clerical influence. It also studies the Roman Catholics’ reactions to Evangelical attacks against their separate school system, and investigates the Manitoba School Issue as a test case confronting two opposing worldviews on education, the State, and the Churches.

Hamilton Mack Laing's specimen of a whooping crane, Grus americana

Hamilton Mack Laing, a hunter-naturalist, taught in rural schools in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, from 1901 to 1911. He collected a whooping crane ( Grus americana) near Whitewater Lake in 1905, which he later regretted when the species's decline and rarity were becoming recognized. Although suggested otherwise, there is no evidence that Laing collected more than one whooping crane.

Raising the Compulsory Age of Attendance in Manitoba Schools: Uneven Results

Compulsory school attendance policies establish a school entry age and a school leaving age for students. In 1916, the Province of Manitoba introduced a compulsory attendance law that mandated students attend school from the age of 7 to the age of 14. Fifty years later, further amendments were made to the school leaving age, but the school entry age did not change. On December 6, 2010, the Province of Manitoba presented Bill 13: The Preparing Students for Success Act in the provincial legislature increasing the compulsory school attendance age in Manitoba from 16 to 18. The purpose of this statute was to ensure that students stay in school and complete their high school education in response to continually low high school graduation rates in the province. Manitoba became only the 3rd province in Canada to enact a compulsory school leaving age of 18. The impact of this legislation on educators and administrators was included in the findings of a dissertation that analysed the policy that introduced this increase in the school leaving age as well as its historical precedents. The primary question of this paper addresses is, “How did educators and administrators interpret and implement the increase to the compulsory school leaving age to 18 years in three Manitoba schools as a result of The Preparing Students for Success Act 2011? This paper is organized in three parts. Part I reviews the statutory history and rationale in Canada for a compulsory school attendance age limit. Part II looks at the Manitoba rationale for increasing the school attendance age through The Preparing Students for Success Act 2011 as well as its success at meeting this policy’s objective. Part III provides a reflection on lessons learned from the Manitoba experience.

Interrogating Sanctioned Violence: A Survey of Parents/Guardians of Children with Disabilities about Restraint and Seclusion in Manitoba’s Schools


 
 
 There is increasing concern that restraint and seclusion are being misused in schools, most often with students with disabilities. This issue is silent at the provincial level in Manitoba, with no regulation from the Ministry of Education. In order to examine the extent to which restraint and seclusion were being used in schools in Manitoba with children/youth with disabilities, an anonymous online survey involving a convenience sample of parents/guardians of children/ youth with disabilities was conducted. The 48-item questionnaire was disseminated through disability advocacy organizations in this province. Parents/guardians reported a high frequency of the use of restraint and seclusion, limited consent to the use of these practices, and an absence of written notification that they had occurred. Of great concern, some parents reported that their child was subjected to mechanical restraint and practices known to have a higher risk of causing death (e.g. supine and prone holds, being left in rooms that were locked from the outside etc.). A majority of parents reported their child had suffered trauma, and signs of physical injury also were noted. The results of this study indicate that restraint and seclusion are being misused as behaviour management techniques, especially with students with disabilities. These practices contravene Canada’s commitment to international standards regarding the rights of children and youth with disabilities, and change is required. The implementation of regulatory standards, legitimizing the voice of parents of children and youth with disabilities, and training for educators in positive behaviour interventions and supports are proposed.
 
 

The SNC-Lavalin Affair: Justin Trudeau, Ministerial Resignations and Party Discipline

The SNC-Lavalin affair ranks among the most spectacular cases of ministerial resignations and party discipline in Canadian history. In 2019, discord plunged Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government into turmoil amid explosive news stories, cabinet shuffles, committee testimony, an ethics investigation and party discipline. SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec-based company, faced criminal charges and urged the Trudeau government to negotiate an alternative, or else jobs might be lost. The Prime Minister’s Office, the clerk of the Privy Council and the minister of finance were at loggerheads with Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould over her refusal to do so. This chronicle situates the political events among antecedent cabinet crises of the Manitoba schools question in 1896, the conscription crisis in 1944 and nuclear armament in 1963. The 2019 episode was the first involving women ministers and social media, and the only one to erupt over a relatively obscure policy issue. All cases were a prelude to the governing party losing seats in the next election.

Differential effects of a school-based obesity prevention program: A cluster randomized trial.

School‐based healthy living interventions are widely promoted as strategies for preventing obesity. The peer‐led Healthy Buddies™ curriculum has been shown to improve obesity‐related outcomes in school‐aged children. We examined whether these improvements existed among subgroups of children stratified by sex, income level and urban/rural geography. In a cluster‐randomized controlled trial, elementary schools in Manitoba, Canada, were randomly allocated to Healthy Buddies™ (10 schools, 340 students) or standard curriculum (10 schools, 347 students). Healthy Buddies™ participants had 21weekly lessons on healthy eating, physical activity and self‐efficacy, delivered by children age 9–12 to children age 6–8. We assessed pre‐ and post‐intervention body mass index (BMI) z‐scores, waist circumference, healthy living knowledge, dietary intake and self‐efficacy among the younger children. Compared to standard curriculum (n = 154), Healthy Buddies™ participants (n = 157) experienced a greater reduction in waist circumference (−1.7 cm; 95% confidence interval [CI][−2.8, −0.5 cm]) and improved dietary intake (4.6; 95% CI [0.9, 8.3]), healthy living knowledge (5.9; 95% CI [2.3, 9.5]) and self‐efficacy (5.3; 95% CI [1.0, 9.5]) scores. In subgroup analyses, effects for waist circumference (−2.0 cm; 95% CI [−3.6, −0.5]), healthy living knowledge (9.1; 95% CI [4.4, 13.8]) and self‐efficacy (8.3; 95% CI [3.3, 13.3]) were significant among boys. Dietary intake (10.5; 95% CI [5.5, 15.4]), healthy living knowledge (9.8; 95% CI [4.5, 15.0]) and self‐efficacy (6.7; 95% CI [0.7, 12.7]) improved among urban‐dwelling but not rural‐dwelling children. Healthy Buddies™ was effective for boys and children living in urban settings. Enhanced curricula may be needed to improve program effectiveness for select subgroups of school‐aged children.

A Province of Their Own: Dominique-Ceslas Gonthier and the First Canadian Dominican Communities

This article explores the growth of the Canadian province of the friars of the Order of Preachers in the midst of major shifts in the social-political reality and in the church through the leadership of one of the first Canadian friars, Dominique-Ceslas Gonthier. In his own unique and particular way he is implicated in, and sheds light on, significant social and ecclesial issues: the Manitoba schools question; the growth of the ultramontane church in Canada; the redaction of the papal encyclical Mirari Vos; and the establishment the Holy See’s permanent delegation to Canada. Due to his activity in these social and political issues, Gonthier leveraged himself to facilitate the establishment of new communities in the Canadian Dominican province and simultaneously its indigenization.

“I’m Not Where I Want to Be”: Teaching Principals’ Instructional Leadership Practices

This paper reports on the ways in which teaching principals in rural schools in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada enact instructional leadership within the five leadership domains conceptualized by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008). Although participants suggested that they were “not where they wanted to be” in their efforts to enact instructional leadership, their actions demonstrate exemplary practice in this regard. The nature of the discourse perpetuated by leadership groups and teachers’ associations that equates instructional leadership with classroom visits only has the effect of decreasing teaching principals’ self-efficacy as instructional leaders. We argue for recognition of these leaders’ efforts to support learning, and a reconstitution of the role of the teaching principal such that instructional leadership expectations are realistically manageable for leaders in small rural schools.

Incidence, Awareness, and Reporting of Sport-Related Concussions in Manitoba High Schools.

Federal and provincial governments in Canada are promoting provincial legislation to prevent and manage sport-related concussions (SRCs). The objective of this research was to determine the incidence of concussions in high school sport, the knowledge of the signs, symptoms, and consequences of SRC, and how likely student athletes are to report a concussion. A cross-sectional survey of athletes (N = 225) from multiple sports in five high schools in one Manitoba school division was conducted. Participants in this study were well aware of the signs, symptoms, and consequences of SRC. Cognitive and emotional symptoms were the least recognized consequences. SRC is prevalent in high schools in both males and females across all sports. Of the 225 respondents, 35.3% reported having sustained an SRC. Less than half (45.5%) reported their concussion. Athletes purposely chose not to report a concussion in games (38.4%) and practices (33.8%). Two major barriers to reporting were feeling embarrassed (3.4/7) and finding it difficult (3.5/7) to report. There was, however, strong agreement (Mean 5.91/7, SD 0.09) when asked if they intend to report a concussion should they experience one in the future. The results suggest that high school athletes would benefit from more SRC education. Coaches and team medical staff must be trained to be vigilant for the mechanism, signs, and symptoms of injury in both game and practice situations. This study will also inform the implementation of pending legislation in Manitoba and perhaps other provinces in Canada.

Mejora escolar, liderazgo y reforma sistémica: una retrospectiva (School improvement, leadership and systemic reform: a retrospective)

Mejora escolar, liderazgo y reforma sistémica: una retrospectiva (School improvement, leadership and systemic reform: a retrospective)

Reflections of a Principal and Supply Superintendent of Schools in the North-west Territories (1957–1966) and as a Supply Superintendent of Schools in the Province of Alberta (1967–1969)

William Bock was born December 24, 1928 in Manitou, Manitoba. In 1948 Bill, as he was known, graduated from grade twelve at the Mennonite Collegiate Institute and began teaching school “on permit.” In those days it was possible to teach in public schools in Manitoba on application for a permit from the provincial government, if one was to be enrolled in “Normal School”—the earliest form of organized teacher training in Canada. One year later, in 1949, Bill graduated from the Winnipeg Normal School. As requirements for the practice of the profession of teaching steadily increased from the 1960s onwards, Bill found himself back in the classroom as a student for quite a number of years, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Manitoba in 1958. In 1961 he enrolled in the Education Administration program in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, but found he was unable to complete it due to the responsibilities of a wife and four children to support on a limited income.

Living On: Lidwien van de Ven

In conjunction with Mosaic's 50th Anniversary Symposium, Living On, the University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery presented the photographic work of Lidwien van de Ven. The installation was van de Ven's first solo exhibition in North America.

Lidwien van de Ven's Ramallah, 11/09/06 (boy sitting): or, The Chances of Concealment

What follows is a highly personal response to one of Lidwien van de Ven's photographs in the Lidwien van de Ven: Living On exhibition at the University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery. Readers will soon recognize the truth of what I openly confess here at the outset: I have no competence in art criticism, and I am no more than an amateur photographer myself. I am writing about this photograph simply because I find it compelling. To my surprise, it elicits from me thoughts about the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl, thoughts that hear strains of Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder.

Community Schools: New Perspectives on the Wraparound Approach

An increasing number of children and youth have mental health disorders. To address this issue, federal and provincial mental health policymakers in Canada have recommended: (a) improving the coordination of services, and (b) increasing the role that schools play in providing supports. One way to operationalize these recommendations is to implement the wraparound approach in the context of a full-service community school. This qualitative, multiple-case study of three community schools in Manitoba, Canada, explores the experiences of stakeholders in community schools as they relate to support for children and youth with mental health disorders and their families. The findings indicate that community schools engage in practices that align with the 10 guiding principles of wraparound. Given the broad-based partnerships in community schools and their focus on collaborative action, they hold promise as sites with the potential to lead the implementation of the wraparound approach.

THE EFFECT OF OCCUPANCY ON ELECTRICITY USE IN THREE CANADIAN SCHOOLS

Through building performance simulations, previous studies showed the effect of occupants on buildings' energy consumption. To further demonstrate this effect using empirical evidence, this study analyzed the effect of occupancy on real-time electricity consumption in three case-study schools in Manitoba. Within each school, one classroom as well as the gymnasium were sub-metered to collect real-time electricity consumption data at half-hourly intervals. The study focused on electricity consumption for lighting and plug loads, which make up 30% of energy consumption in Canadian commercial and institutional buildings. A comprehensive method was developed to investigate energy-related occupant behaviour in the sub-metered spaces using four different tools simultaneously: 1) gymnasium bookings after school hours over a four-month period, 2) half-hourly observations of lighting and equipment use in the sub-metered spaces in each school over a two-week period, 3) a daily survey administered to teachers in the sub-metered classrooms over a two-week period, and 4) occupancy and light sensors to evaluate actual recorded occupancy and light use durations over a four-month period. Results showed that recorded occupancy durations over a 4-month period only explained less than 10% of the variations in classrooms' lighting electricity consumption, meaning that lights may have been used frequently while classrooms were unoccupied. Results also showed the differences in gymnasiums' electricity consumption were still statistically significant between the three schools, even after school hours and when the gymnasiums were not used or booked for other activities. This study is the first to provide in-depth evaluation of the effect of occupancy on electricity consumption in Canadian schools.