Drawing on data from three levels of education policy-making in Canada, in this paper we identify variegated interactions of global circulations of sustainability discourses in education in relation to priorities and responses at subnational levels of government, including provinces and territorial ministries of education, local school divisions,…

This article examines how school trustees (i.e., elected school-board members) conceive of their own leadership role and work with other levels of leadership within school districts. In a mixed-method study, a total of 121 school trustees were surveyed and 12 were interviewed across Ontario. A framework is proposed to better understand the tension…

In this article, we share findings from an analysis of Ontario Catholic school board policy documents (N = 179) containing Canada's newest human rights grounds: gender expression and gender identity. Our major finding may be unsurprising--that Ontario Catholic boards are generally not responding to Toby's Act (passed in 2012) at the level of…

Background: Outdoor learning offers clear physical, cognitive, social-emotional and academic benefits for children and yet, it is considered a grassroots approach to teaching and learning in elementary schools. Purpose: We examined teachers' perspectives on barriers and supports for outdoor learning in public elementary schools. Methods:…

Canada--and Ontario, in particular--is proud to be characterized as one of the most equitable education systems in the world. However, diversity poses unique challenges for Canadian education systems. This study presents findings from an environmental scan of equity policies across the 72 school boards in Ontario, which yielded 785 equity policies…

Following "E.D.G. v. Hammer", Canadian law has held that school boards, although they have a fiduciary duty to their students, do not guarantee the safety of their students from the acts of their employees. The scope of that fiduciary duty is narrow, restricted to a board acting with disloyalty, in bad faith, or in a conflict of interest…

Gatekeepers' language ideologies and beliefs about language learning determine how learners experience French as a second language programs, in particular, their access to, and success and inclusion in, the French immersion (FI) program. In this article, we explore how FI principals understand language learning and the inclusion of English…

C.B. Peterson Elementary School is identified as an at-risk school, as per the North West District School Board's (NWDSB) criteria. In light of rising diversity issues, the school board has released an Equity and Inclusion Policy, which is a top priority to C.B. Peterson's administration team. This new policy adds to the work intensification faced…

In 1973, British Columbia (B.C.) became the first province in Canada to forbid corporal punishment in public schools (B.C. School Act), followed by the majority of the other provinces. Alberta and Manitoba however, still have no provincially enacted legal prohibition, although many school boards have updated their policies to state that corporal…

This article investigates the political, cultural, and educational work of two pioneering Canadian gay teachers during the 1990s: James Chamberlain and Murray Corren. These advocate-practitioners took up roles as social activists, cultural workers, and engaged teachers whose transgressive acts focused on the social and cultural transformation of…

This article offers a detailed analysis of two school board-level policies in British Columbia, Canada that address the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgender, Two Spirit (LGBQ and TT) youth to demonstrate how the language of the policy holds meaning and re/produces particular knowledges. Rather than offer an analysis that…

High profile sexual assault cases by British Columbia elementary school teachers in 2010 revealed BC school boards had "disturbingly inconsistent" child protection policies. As a result of the intense media scrutiny, the BC Ministry of Education required all school boards to reassess and update their policies on reporting suspected child…

It is commonly understood that policy makers make curriculum policy and teachers implement it. Some teachers, however, have been in on the ground floor of curriculum policy development. Driven by events in their life histories and teaching contexts, these teachers develop and teach original course material in their own classrooms. Over time they…

Like schools, curricula are socially constructed and constituted within broader social, political, and historical relations of power, powerfully shaping students' beliefs and attitudes about themselves and their relationship toward the world. In light of this, the importance of literature selection cannot be overstated. School-sanctioned texts…

In 2012, Canadian media coverage on Bill 13--an Ontario legislative proposal to require all publicly funded schools to support Gay-Straight Alliances as a means of addressing issues concerning bullied lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students--instigated a divisive exchange among representatives of the Ontario Catholic school sector.…