This qualitative pilot study introduces and reflects on early development and implementation of the Zero Fee Tuition (ZFT) program in the rural, oil and gas town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. This innovative, primarily municipally funded program, implemented in 2019, provides local students with up to $5,000 in free tuition for select…

Attrition and turnover among early career teachers (ECTs) have garnered the attention of policymakers and educational leaders across Canada. However, due to provincial/territorial responsibility for education in Canada, teacher induction efforts to keep novice teachers in the profession depend on school system structures and policies specific to…

This article presents the results of the development and implementation of a mentorship program, now in its sixth year, designed to support the professional development of teaching skills for faculty and contract instructors. The program is unique in that it is a combination of a variety of other approaches such as formal and informal mentoring as…

The earliest School Resource Officer Programs in Canada date back to the 1970s. This study examines how police officers, teachers, school administrators, students, and journalists use a discourse of relationship-building between police and youth to frame School Resource Officers (SROs): who they are, the work they do, their roles in students'…

Purpose: In the wake of interlocking pandemics, educational systems are resetting in important ways, pursuing aims that are not exclusively instructional (e.g., social justice, well-being). As systems (re)build, they may vary in how they manage their institutional and policy environments, which may or may not be reorienting toward these same…

Intergenerational initiatives have the potential to bring generations together and can have a wide range of benefits for the health of older adults as well as for the development of young people. This paper presents a five-phase participatory action research protocol for the co-design and pilot implementation of a toolkit supporting…

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated school closures across Quebec. Educators shifted to online learning and complied with COVID-19 safety measures for in-person teaching, impacting the implementation of Quebec's Sexuality Education program. Drawing on responses from a sample of 165 inservice teachers working in English school boards…

Many postsecondary institutions host a knowledge dissemination event for students to publicly share their scholarly, research, and creative works. These events improve student communication skills and self-efficacy. The authors propose that these events also can affect students' sense of belonging. CREATE is Vancouver Island University's…

Computer science (CS) education helps students acquire skills such as computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. Since these skills take preeminence in the rapidly changing 21st century, CS education promises to significantly enhance student preparedness for the future of work and active citizenship. Based on prior analyses and…

The mental wellness of university students can be critical for their success. In an attempt to minimize stress for students, many universities have implemented a policy for a fall break with limited evidence to support its intended outcomes. This case study offers a critical appraisal of the formation of the fall break policy at one medium sized…

Public education systems are often large, diverse, fragmented, and historically very hard to change. While previous reforms targeted primarily school staff, large-scale policies now include a broader audience including non-system organizations (e.g., knowledge brokering organizations) that may influence directly or indirectly policy…

This study follows a network-based Assessment Redesign Project at a Canadian university to investigate engagement and sustained implementation. The following strategies were employed in the project: mini-grants, embedded support, a community of practice, and social networks. Assessment facilitators worked in discipline clusters to achieve mutual…

Over the last decade, interest in nature-based educational programs has been growing in Canada, yet there has been little research on the nature of these programs and how they are being implemented. This small-scale study provides baseline information on the characteristics of Canadian Forest Schools, the challenges that educators face in starting…

The Working Group on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Learning Differences was launched in 2021 as an initiative of the Global Cities Education Network (GCEN). Fourteen school districts each worked to implement a unique action plan designed to strengthen SEL supports in their district, including for students with learning differences. Districts…

Final-year nursing students are known to face high levels of stress due to increased demands in academics and clinical practicum. In this study, a virtual peer mentoring program was pilot-tested, involving alumni as mentors. Using a mixed-methods approach, we sought to describe the acceptability, feasibility and satisfaction associated with the…