Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The special responsibilities of leaders in educational institutions for accountability both to learners and to the wider community with respect to policies, practices and programs are the focus of this seminar. Contemporary approaches to program assessment and to ensuring cost-effectiveness in educational management are applied to cases emerging from student experience.

COURSE DETAILS:

Instructor
Name: Dr Brian Lewthwaite
Phone: 867-689-2767
Email: Lewthwaite@xtra.co.nz
Office Hours: by appointment
Profile URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian-Lewthwaite, https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/view/jcu/F50B8DF5A40A60BEFB293EBAA4EFF07A.html

This course is restricted to students in the Yukon EdD cohort program

MEETING DATES:

Jan 12/13, 26/27

Feb 9/10, 23/24

Mar 8/9

MEETING TIMES:

Fridays: 4:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Saturdays: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Stephen Ball, a British Professor in Educational Policy, states (2014) that:           

            Policies pose problems to their subjects. Problems that must be solved in   context. It may be possible for some to 'hide' from policy but that is rarely        a common option. Policy matters, and we cannot predict or assume how    they will be acted on, what their immediate effect will be, what room for    manoeuvre actors (such as educational leaders) will find for themselves.

In brief, policy can pose problems for people, especially educational leaders required to lead for policy implementation. As Ted Aoki (1986) asserts, educators operate in a 'tensioned' place, because we operate or dwell in a zone between two [policy] worlds: the worlds of [policy]-as-plan and [policy]-as-lived-experience.” Educators consider, adjust and recreate the intended [policy] in an effort to enact it in a manner consistent with their own beliefs and the environment in which they are situated (Pinar, 2000).

In this course we will examine the construct of 'policy', with emphasis on our historical and current context. The cohort 'dwells' in a variety of contexts and policy impacts on us significantly, with attention to emerging attention to First Peoples' education. Historically, policy development and associated programming and practice, as evidenced in policies such as the Indian Act, have had significant negative consequence on Canada's First Peoples. More recent policy developments such as Self-Governing Agreements have altered this pathway. As asserted by esteemed Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elder Percy Henry, "in the past, education was very poor to us. We had no say. Now (with the actualization of our Self-Governing Agreement) we look for change on our terms" (Lewthwaite, 2014).  Our current social and educational landscape provides opportunity to understand policy development, past and present, and to consider our role within this context and possible research opportunities and approaches.  Commonly a doctoral dissertation will be located within a policy context, such as investigating a school's response to the Truth and Reconciliation Call for Action.

In this course doctoral candidates will:

• identify policies in the current educational context;
• demonstrate their knowledge of the construct of 'policy' and how policy impacts on past and current educational practice and programming, with attention to First Peoples;
• develop a critical awareness of historical and contemporary policies impacting on educational settings, with attention to First Peoples;
• understand the 'tensionality' for educators in enacting policy, from the perspective of an educational leader;
• identify and investigate a policy, program and/or relevant to their current setting and critically articulate its origin and ramification for enactment;
• develop a critical awarness of emerging policy, program and practice informed by various influences, such as Critical Pedagogy, Fiscal Accountability and Transformative Practices in Indigenous Education;
• articulate a possible research approach to evaluate the effectiveness of policy and program implementation.

Policy areas to be addressed:

• Historical and current policies impacting on Canada's First Peoples ( as examples: Gradual Assimilation Act, Indian Act, Together Today for our Children Tomorrow, Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, Self-Governing Agreements, Territorial and Provincial Curricula)
• Inclusive and Special Education
• Professionalism and Evaluation
• Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Curriculum
• Fiscal implications of policy directives.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

RECOMMENDED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: