Reconceptualizing Teacher Education Worldwide: A Canadian Contribution to a Global Challenge
An invitation to dialogue!
Friday, October 27, 2017: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
&
Saturday, October 28, 2017: 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Two decades of global educational reform, in the interest of economic competition, has led to unwarranted teacher accountability, curriculum standardization, and performativity. An emphasis on students’ test scores as the sole determinant of teachers’ success distorts the educational aims of professional practice, damaging professional pride and integrity, leaving teachers less time and enthusiasm for teaching. It is vital to the future of teacher education, and concomitantly public education, that we imagine alternatives to the homogenization of educational experience that globalizing policies install.
Drawing from the idea of Canada as an ongoing multi-state, multicultural, peace-keeping experiment attempting to address its own history of colonialism, the purpose of this symposium is to provoke a meaningful dialogue about some of the elements of a distinctively Canadian conception of teacher education:
- Academic Erudition (teaching as a learned profession with responsibility for the intellectual growth of the young and continuing study by teachers)
- Civic Particularity (teachers as interpreters of national cultures and guardians of particularity within civic communities)
- Ethical Engagement (teachers exhibiting moral conduct and resolve amidst conflicting and sometimes demoralizing political demands)
Organizers: Anne M. Phelan and William F. Pinar, Professors, UBC; Nicholas Ng-A-Fook and Ruth Kane, Professors, University of Ottawa.
Friday, October 27 & Saturday, October 28, 2017
Following a keynote address by Professor William F. Pinar, Canada Research Chair, and presentations by scholars from across Canada, all attendees will engage, via roundtable discussions, with the following question:
What curricular conditions would need to prevail for teacher education to foster teachers’ intellectual leadership, an appreciation of civic particularity and historical circumstance, and a capacity to engage ethically (pedagogically) with students’ histories and ideas?
DAY 1 – Friday, October 27, 2017
| 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast and registration |
| 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. | Welcoming remarks |
| 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. |
Keynote Address:
William F. Pinar, UBC |
| 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Break |
| 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. |
Presentations:
Theodore Christou, Queen’s University Teresa Strong- Wilson, McGill University |
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion |
| 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. |
Presentations:
Anthony Clarke, UBC Ying Ma, UBC Nicolas Ng-A-Fook, Ruth Kane, & Kiera Brant, University of Ottawa |
| 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion + Break |
| 4:30 p.m. | Departure |
DAY 2 – Saturday, October 28, 2017
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. |
Presentations:
Jan Hare, UBC Ann Chinnery, Simon Fraser University Avril Aiken, Bishops’ University |
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m | Roundtable Discussion + Break |
| 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
Presentations:
Melanie Janzen, University of Manitoba Phyllis Dalley, University of Ottawa Anne Phelan, UBC |
| 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion + Break |
| 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Closing Remarks and Next Steps |
| 4:30 p.m. | Departure |
This event will take place at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus
Ponderosa Commons Ballroom
6445 University Boulevard
This event was made possible by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
We would also like to thank the following sponsors:
- University of British Columbia Office of the Vice-President, Research
- Faculty of Education Office of Research (ORE)
- Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP)
- Centre for the Study of Teacher Education (CSTE)
