This paper uses critical policy analysis to investigate how the concept of equity has been co-opted to promote a neoliberal agenda in education reforms in Manitoba. Early provincial reform documents contained a narrow definition of equity focused primarily on closing achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. These reform…

Organizational evaluation policies describe how evaluation practices should be structured and implemented. As such, they provide key insights into organizational priorities and values regarding evaluation. However, the link between evaluation policies and how evaluation policies translate into concrete practices has seldom been explored until now.…

This study focused on school division needs pertaining to classroom-based assessment policies in Saskatchewan. Using a critical policy analysis framework, this project narrowed in on the creation of assessment policies within school divisions in the province through the lens of superintendents (n = 16). Applying Verhoest et al.'s (2004)…

India, with the third largest higher education system globally, has the lowest gross enrolment ratio compared to G20 nations. The National Education Policy 2020 has made a strong recommendation to enhance the gross enrolment ratio for higher education to 50% by 2035. This figure stood at 19.4% in 2010 and 28.4% in 2021-22. The study, therefore,…

This article empirically examines the ways in which Initial Teacher Education in Scotland and Alberta, Canada, seeks to 'get students in', 'get them out and into the workforce', 'get on with teaching future teachers' and how it should 'get on with students'. Using Adams' (2016) policy heuristic, which posits that policy can be discerned in three…

An increasing number of studies have focused on policies in physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE). Policies are important because they prescribe behaviours or a course of action, and they legitimise some knowledge and perspectives while discrediting others. In the field of physical education (PE), a white,…

Ontario's special education grant increased from $1.6 billion in 2002-2003 to $3.2 billion in 2020-2021, representing approximately 12.5% of the overall education funding. Although demands to increase special education funding continue from an equity and inclusion standpoint, students with exceptionalities are at risk of lower achievement. This…

Attempting to support student mental health, many Canadian universities have implemented a fall break with the assumption it would be helpful in alleviating students' stress and anxiety. However, there is no baseline data regarding stress level or mental illness burden of students to understand its effectiveness. Using case study methodology with…

In this study, we analyzed the academic integrity policies of colleges in Ontario, Canada, casting a specific lens on contract cheating. We extracted data from 28 individual documents from 22-publicly-funded colleges including policies and procedures (n = 27) and code of conduct (n = 1). We analyzed the characteristics of the documents from three…

This paper investigates how test-based, standardized accountability is impacting on urban school leaders' everyday work in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. This critical policy analysis draws on theories of new public management and governmentality to document the experiences of school leaders as they enact and navigate test-based…

This paper critically examines two policy responses related to Canadian study permit processes that were adopted during two crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and the displacement of Ukrainian nationals due to war. We look at the expansion of the Student Direct Stream (SDS) to the Americas in 2021 and the creation of the Canada-Ukraine Authorization…

Internationalization at a distance (IaD) has been loosely defined as distance education across borders or the international mobility of knowledge without human mobility. It is largely celebrated, for example, for its potential to improve global education access and mitigate environmental harm. However, this depoliticized positioning risks…

Students who have been labeled as having "behaviour problems" in the school system have some of the worst academic and social outcomes of any student group. In most Canadian provinces, responses to students who misbehave are legislated through Safe Schools policies intended to guide districts and individual schools in responding to…

Education reform efforts stemming from the Programme in International Student Achievement have strengthened in recent years, particularly in response to the growth of global references societies -- high achieving educational jurisdictions such as Finland, Hong Kong-China, and more recently Estonia and Singapore. Despite political rhetoric,…

In times of intense migrations, securing a brighter future through education has become a growing concern in many societies. In particular, access to higher education for refugees has been the object of multiple initiatives among governments, civil society and non-government organisations. However, only 3 per cent of refugees access higher…