This study investigates the extent of portable classroom use in the province of Ontario between the years 2010 and 2020. The research uses administrative data obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Education and from the 27 largest school boards in the province. The findings reveal that portable classrooms are used as long-term solutions to address…

Academic libraries around the world are cancelling big deal journal subscriptions at an increasing rate. This is primarily due to budgetary challenges, the unsustainable hyperinflationary pricing of these packages, and a need to move toward new open access models. It is a complex situation with many vested interests and stakeholders. Some…

We provide a case study of how Carnegie Foundation grants to the University of Alberta (Western Canada) during the Great Depression impacted the university's community engagement practices. Previously unutilized archival sources contribute to a historical survey of the university's Department of Extension as Carnegie philanthropy enabled the…

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended public education systems around the world. Schools are shut, children are at home, and teachers and parents are anxiously waiting for what comes next. In British Columbia, trustees in many school districts are also considering budget cuts for the 2020-21 school year in advance of an expected and precipitous drop…

This fact sheet reports on education funding in British Columbia (BC). Funding for public education significantly increased in 2017-18 and is projected to continue to increase in line with increasing student enrollment. However, government spending on K-12 education as a proportion of total public spending continues to decline. An increase in…

The return of the Conservatives to power in Ontario, Canada in 2018 saw major attacks on the province's K-12 education system, centering on increases to class size and mandatory e-learning courses for students which, taken together with other budget cuts, amounted to the elimination of thousands of teaching and support staff positions, as well as…

In 2015, the Government of British Columbia (BC), Canada, reversed a long-standing mandate to provide tuition-free Adult Basic Education (ABE) to all adults. Drawing upon internal government policy documents and inter- and intra-ministerial communications obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) tools, key policy documents, social media…

Much literature focusing on the academy is concerned with the spread of neo-liberalism into the university sector. We argue that universities in Canada are operating in an era of "accountability governance," with ideologies, discourses, and practices centred on quality, accountability, and efficiency. We explore the interplay between…

In the face of ongoing school budget cuts, increasing student numbers and national educational policy environments that demand more from schools, like it or not, school leaders are being forced to be much more market-oriented in their thinking and ways of being than at any other time before. A school is an important site for social development,…

As the realities of austerity agendas exert pressure on adult education around the globe, this paper attempts to map the developing, albeit small, field of anti-austerity adult education in Canada. In doing so, I attempt to trace the connections between anti-austerity education and existing fields of adult education. I argue that the cases we see…

Librarians are stretched thin these days--budget cuts and decreasing numbers are forcing us to look at new ways of doing things. While the embedded information literacy model has gained popularity in the past number of years, it may be time for a new model of information literacy. We must arm teaching faculty with the tools they need to teach…

Perhaps the most predictable lesson learned about the imposition of fiscal austerity over the past few years has been that it has generally failed where it has been tried. A recent Education International study of EI members examines global trends in freedom of association and collective bargaining in the education sector since the 2008 financial…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

While technology use is becoming ever more ubiquitous in society, there are times when even the most useful of technologies faces non-adoption for a variety of contextual reasons. Educational institutions are increasingly relying on online academic support services such as e-tutoring to balance rising demands for public accountability over…

Given the prevalence of child poverty in Canada, its effects inevitably get played out in schools and classrooms. Poverty negatively shapes learning opportunities for students. The Canadian Teachers' Federation's (CTF's) research has found that many low-income children experience reduced motivation to learn, delayed cognitive development, lower…