Contacts
Info
On each episode, we host academics, educators, and advocates interested in advancing public education a public good. Click https://voiced.ca/wp-content/uploads/Public-Good-Podcast-Catalogue.pdf for Season One of the podcast.
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On each episode, we host academics, educators, and advocates interested in advancing public education a public good.
Click here for a full catalog for Season One of the podcast.
show less
Click here for a full catalog for Season One of the podcast.
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
Transcribed
24 SEP 2026 · Episode Abstract:
In this episode we explore why locally elected school boards matter. Although this is a podcast focused on the prairie provinces, we consider how recent actions by the Ontario government--to assert control over school boards, eliminate local voice, and move toward centralization--serve as a warning about what is lost when we surrender local democracy. Bill 33, Ontario’s Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025, expands the Education Minister’s power to investigate, direct, and—in certain circumstances—take control of school boards, significantly increasing provincial oversight of their finances, governance, and operations. We consider how moves to centralize (eradicate) school boards advances neoliberal agendas of marketization and privatization and how this results in students being viewed as budget lines. We consider how the loss of local governance impacts equity and inclusion, including the implications of weakening the local governance structures that communities have used to address systemic racism and advocate for students with the greatest needs. Ultimately, this episode asks not only what we risk losing when school boards disappear, but what it would take to strengthen local democratic governance and reimagine school boards as institutions that serve the public good.
Guest Bio:
Sachin Maharaj, is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership, Policy and Program Evaluation, at the University of Ottawa. His research, which focuses on student phone use in schools, the work of school boards/districts, teacher unions, and the equity implications of school choice has been published in Critical Education, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Leadership and Policy in Schools, and the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy. Professor Maharaj is also a contributor to the Toronto Star and regularly appears in media outlets like CBC, CTV, Al Jazeera, Maclean’s and TVO. His current research projects examine anti-racist school district reforms and the implementation of policies to restrict student cellphone use in schools.
References/Resources:
Farhadi, B., Maharaj, S., & Shah, V. (2026, April 16). What Ontarians need to know about ‘student achievement’ reforms that will run school boards like businesses. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.xn9dtmn53
Maharaj, S. (2020). From oversight to advocacy: An examination of school-board leadership. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 19(3), 431–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2019.1585548
Maharaj, S., Tuters, S., & Shah, V. (2022, October 20). Even school boards are now experiencing severe political polarization. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.vjspyfwt4
Maharaj, S., Tuters, S., & Shah, V. (2024). Anti-CRT attacks, school choice, and the privatization endgame. Critical Education, 15(2), 29–36. https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v15i2.186883
Transcribed
18 SEP 2026 · Episode Abstract:
This episode explores teacher competency discourses. Teacher competencies are frameworks that define the knowledge, skills, practices, and behaviours expected of teachers, often translating the complex work of teaching into observable and measurable standards, suggesting a uniform and best way to teach, and ignoring the varied contexts in which teachers work. These discourses make teachers the problem and the solution, impose definitions of the “good teacher,” and ignore the multitude of factors that impact student learning. Their emergence has been motivated by neoliberal education reforms and the growing influence of organizations such as the OECD. Manitoba, recently formalized teacher competencies through Bill 35—The Education Administration Amendment Act (Teacher Certification and Professional Conduct), The Alberta government also introduced legislation governing the discipline of teachers in 2022.
Guest Bios:
https://chrr.info/person/people_network/melanie-_janzen/#:~:text=Melanie%20Janzen%20(she%2Fher),of%20the%20Red%20River%20M%C3%A9tis. (she/her) is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. She is a settler living and working in Winnipeg, Canada, on Treaty One Territory and the homeland of the Red River Métis. Melanie’s research uses critical perspectives to explore the inter-related workings of power and discourses and how these affect the experiences of classroom teachers, the ongoing marginalization of children, and the undermining of public education. Prior to working at the University, she was a teacher for 15 years. She currently serves on the boards of the Canadian Association for Young Children and People for Public Education.
https://cje-rce.ca/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/5833is a curriculum scholar and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. With over 20 years of experience working in K-12 classrooms in Ontario and BC, her research is grounded in phenomenology and critical theory as a means of provoking “second thoughts” about classroom, teacher, and educational experience. Specifically, her research explores teacher authority, the discursive implications of Canadian and international educational policies, the educational potential of the everyday in the classroom, and the metaphors that shape an understanding of the possibilities for schooling and teacher education.
Christie Petersen (BFA, B.Ed., PBDE, M.Ed., PhD) is an instructor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. She has over 20 years of experience in the public school system as a classroom teacher, visual arts specialist, resource teacher, and acting principal, teaching students across EY, MY, and SY. Christie’s research focuses on early career teachers and the transition into the profession, including critical consideration of induction practices, mentoring, and the gendered expectations of teachers. Her work engages with ecofeminist thought, feminist poststructuralism, and critical theory to consider what it means to learn and become teacher within the contemporary educational landscapes that are intensified by the shifting complexities and subsequent manifestations of inequity, neoliberal reform, climate crisis, and the ongoing impacts of colonization.
References/Resources:
Janzen, M., Petersen, C., & Tosi, R. (2025). Teacher competence discourses: Exposing, controlling, and punishing the ‘bad’ teacher. Journal of Education Policy, 41, 1–20.https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2025.2600315
Morris, J., Couture, J.-C., & Phelan, A. (2023). Riding Fences: Anticipatory Governance, Curriculum Policy, and Teacher Subjectivity. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne de l’éducation, 46(3), 517–544.https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.5833
Transcribed
10 SEP 2026 · Episode Abstract:
This episode considers the weaponization of neutrality in education. Neutrality has the air of common sense, gaining power through repetition, yet it does not withstand deeper questioning: What does it mean to be neutral? Can you describe a neutral classroom? Is the provincial curriculum neutral? Are school policies neutral? Are there not topics that require teachers to take an ethical stand? Despite decades of pointed critiques of neutrality, education reformers continue to invoke the term to advance status quo politics under the guise of neutrality, and to discourage, stigmatize, or make dangerous political views that challenge the status quo. In full ignore-ance of these critiques, the Alberta government recently introduced Bill 25, An Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and a Manitoba school division has proposed policies that impose a particular politics on schools while invoking the language of neutrality, balance, and impartiality.
Guest Bios:
Carla L. Peck is a Professor of Social Studies Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, Adjunct Professor in the Department of History, Classics & Religion, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick, and Director of Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future, a SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant. She researches teachers’ and students’ understandings of democratic concepts, teachers’ and students’ historical understandings, and is particularly interested in the relationship between students’ ethnic identities and their understandings of history. https://carlapeck.wordpress.com/
Check out Dr. Peck’s new co-authored book: Sears, A., & Peck, C. L. (2026). Rescuing Reason: How History Education Can Help Save Democracy. University of Toronto Press
Kevin Lopuck has taught high school social studies in English and French immersion programs in Selkirk, Manitoba since 2001. In February 2025, he began an interchange with Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning, where he is helping redevelop Manitoba’s K–11 social studies curriculum. He holds a B.Ed. and M.Ed. from the University of Manitoba and is currently a PhD candidate there, researching the emotional weight of teaching high school social studies. Kevin is Past President of the Manitoba Social Sciences Teachers’ Association and serves on the board of directors of the Social Studies Educators Network of Canada.
References/Resources:
Alberta Education & Childcare. (2026, July 13). https://www.alberta.ca/removing-politics-and-ideology-from-alberta-classroomsAlberta.ca.
Alberta Teachers’ Association. (2026, April 21). https://teachers.ab.ca/news/ata-raises-concerns-about-bill-25s-scope-impacts Alberta Teachers’ Association.
CTV News. (2026, April 7). https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/alberta-primetime/article/legislation-around-ideology-in-classrooms-will-have-chilling-effect-education-professor/CTVNews.https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/alberta-primetime/article/legislation-around-ideology-in-classrooms-will-have-chilling-effect-education-professor/
Gareau, C. (2026, September 3). https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hanover-division-health-care-privacy-9.7330291. CBC News.
Lopuck, K. (2026, February 5). https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.v3ruv79wvThe Conversation.
Mlinarevic, S. (2026, July 8). https://www.thecarillon.com/local/2026/07/08/hanover-school-division-board-passes-first-reading-for-student-activism-policy The Carillon.
Moore, S. D. M. (2025, February 20). https://www.mbteachermag.ca/2026/07/08/winter-2025/ The Manitoba Teachers’ Society.
Ross, E. W., & Vinson, K. (2013). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265384800_Resisting_Neoliberal_Education_Reform_Insurrectionist_Pedagogies_and_the_Pursuit_of_Dangerous_CitizenshipWorks and Days, 31, 27–58.
Sears, A., & Peck, C. L. (2026).https://thinking-historically.ca/rescuing-reason-how-history-education-can-help-save-democracy-utp-2026/ University of Toronto Press
Credits
The show's producers are Melanie Janzen & Shannon D.M. Moore
The co-hosts are Shannon D.M. Moore & Justin Fraser
The technical producer is Devin King
The cover art is by political cartoonist, Chris Chuckry.
The songs 26 Ghosts III, 16 Ghosts II, and 35 Ghosts IV by Nine Inch Nails are used through a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Transcribed
6 SEP 2026 · In this trailer, we introduce a new "franchise" of the Public Good podcast, Public Good on the Prairies. In this trailer, Stephen Hurley passes his co-host chair to Justin Fraser. Stephen explains what he has been up to since recording the last season of Public Good, Justin introduces himself, and we offer an outline of what listeners can expect in this Prairie focused season.
The show's producers are Melanie Janzen & Shannon D.M. Moore
The co-hosts are Shannon D.M. Moore & Justin Fraser
The technical producer is Devin King
The cover art is by political cartoonist, Chris Chuckry.
The songs 26 Ghosts III, 16 Ghosts II, and 35 Ghosts IV by Nine Inch Nails are used through a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
8 FEB 2024 · Episode Description
In the fourth and final episode of a four part mini series about "parental rights", Stephen and Shannon speak with Heather Ganshorn from SOS Alberta.
Heather Ganshorn is the Research Director for Support Our Students Alberta, a volunteer organization that advocates for an equitable and accessible public education system. SOS believes that privatization threatens public education by diverting dollars from accountable systems that serve all children to unaccountable private providers who serve a customer niche rather than the public interest. Heather has written a number of media articles and op eds on current issues related to privatization and curriculum in Alberta. She is also an academic librarian at the University of Calgary, with experience in research support and knowledge synthesis.
Through this episode, Stephen and Shannon speak to Heather Ganshorn about the ways that the parental rights movement advance and legitimize privatization of/in public schools. Ganshorn describes the parental rights movement as a smokescreen for groups with a broader culture war agenda. In addition, Ganshorn elucidates the connection between groups stoking fear about parental rights and those calling for more school choice. Stephen and Shannon ask Heather about specific examples within Alberta and also what she has noted about the spread and alliances of parental rights groups across Canada. Ganshorn offers a clear answer about the problem of increased parental choice; these choices are not available to everyone and leave schools to make choices about students.
Episode Resources
Carter, M. (2008). “Debunking” Parents’ Rights In The Canadian Constitutional Context. The Canadian Bar Review, 86(3), Article 3.https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/view/4085
Cowen, J. (2022, July 20). After two decades of studying voucher programs, I’m now firmly opposed to them. The Hechinger Report.http://hechingerreport.org/opinion-after-two-decades-of-studying-voucher-programs-im-now-firmly-opposed-to-them/
Ganshorn, H. (2023, January 23). Populism, Polarization and Privatization in Alberta Education. The Monitor.https://monitormag.ca/articles/populism-polarization-and-privatization-in-alberta-education/
Ganshorn, H. (2022, November 8). Undermining public education. Education Forum.https://education-forum.ca/2022/11/08/undermining-public-education/https://education-forum.ca/2022/11/08/undermining-public-education/
Ganshorn, H., & Moussa, M. (2022, September 1). Beware “privatization creep” in education system. Leaderpost.https://leaderpost.com/opinion/heather-ganshorn-medeana-moussa-beware-privatization-creep-in-education-system
LeBrun, L. (2024, January 8). Conservative MP Helped Draft Text of Conspiratorial United Nations Petition, Author of Petition Says. PressProgress.https://pressprogress.ca/conservative-mp-helped-draft-text-of-conspiratorial-united-nations-petition-author-of-petition-says/
Magusiak, S. (2022, September 16). Danielle Smith Backs Plan to Spend More Public Dollars on Elite Private Schools and Homeschooling. PressProgress.https://pressprogress.ca/danielle-smith-backs-plan-to-spend-more-public-dollars-on-elite-private-schools-and-homeschooling/
Magusiak, S. (2023a, April 27). New Data Shows Danielle Smith’s Education Plan Benefits Wealthiest Socioeconomic Households. PressProgress.https://pressprogress.ca/new-data-shows-danielle-smiths-education-plan-benefits-wealthiest-socioeconomic-households/https://pressprogress.ca/new-data-shows-danielle-smiths-education-plan-benefits-wealthiest-socioeconomic-households/
Magusiak, S. (2023b, April 30). Mapping Canada’s Right-Wing Networks. PressProgress.https://pressprogress.ca/mapping-canadas-right-wing-networks/https://pressprogress.ca/mapping-canadas-right-wing-networks/
Magusiak, S. (2023c, October 26). Right-Wing ‘Take Back Alberta’ Group Purges Top Organizers As It Plans to Target School Boards Across Canada. PressProgress.https://pressprogress.ca/right-wing-take-back-alberta-group-purges-top-organizers-as-it-plans-to-target-school-boards-across-canada/
Ravitch, D. (2023, January 8). Josh Cowen: The Extremism of the School Privatization Movement. Diane Ravitch’s Blog.https://dianeravitch.net/2023/01/08/josh-cowen-the-extremism-of-the-school-privatization-movement/
Additional Resources
SOS Alberta: https://www.supportourstudents.ca/Have You Heard Podcast: https://www.haveyouheardpodcast.com/
2 FEB 2024 · Episode Description
In the third episode of a four part mini series about "parental rights", Stephen and Shannon speak to Dr. Wayne Journell.
Dr. Journell is Professor of Social Studies Education and Associate Chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG).
A former high school social studies teacher, Dr. Journell received his undergraduate degree and teacher licensure at James Madison University. He then received a master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in Secondary Social Studies Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since then, he has taught at UNCG, where he also coordinates the Secondary Teacher Education Program.
Dr. Journell's research focuses primarily on the teaching of politics and controversial issues in secondary education, with secondary interests in teaching social studies with technology and via inquiry. Dr. Journell has received numerous awards for his scholarship, including being a two-time recipient of the Exemplary Research in Social Studies Award from the National Council for the Social Studies. He is also the current editor of Theory & Research in Social Education, which is the premier empirical journal in the field of social studies education, and editor for the Research and Practice in Social Studies book series at Teachers College Press.
Bio source: https://www.waynejournell.com/
Through this episode, Stephen and Shannon speak to Dr. Journell about the distinction between public and private values--and the relevance of this distinction to the public school classroom. Specifically, we speak about issues that remain open and valid for discussion in public school classrooms, and those that should be approached as closed or settled. Dr. Journell introduces criterion that can help educators determine which issues are closed for debate in public school classrooms. In particular, we speak about the ethical responsibility of educators to approach issues as closed/settled when they impact the identity, rights, and well-being of students in the classroom. Dr. Journell’s writing, and responses through this interview, intersect with discussions of parental rights and the attempted enforcement of private values in public schools. As he says, people can hold private values, but in the public school classroom we must uphold decided public values.
Episode Resources
Journell, W. (2016). Teaching Social Studies in an Era of Divisiveness: The Challenges of Discussing Social Issues in a Non-partisan Way. Rowman & Littlefield.
Journell, W. (2017). Framing Controversial Identity Issues in Schools: The Case of HB2, Bathroom Equity, and Transgender Students. Equity & Excellence in Education, 50(4), 339–354.https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2017.1393640
Journell, W. (2018). Should Marriage Equality be Taught as Controversial Post-Obergefell v. Hodges? Teachers College Record, 120(8), 1–28.
Journell, W. (2022). Classroom Controversy in the Midst of Political Polarization: The Essential Role of School Administrators. NASSP Bulletin, 106(2), 133–153.https://doi.org/10.1177/01926365221100589
9 JAN 2024 · Episode Description
In this first episode in a four part mini series about "parental rights", Stephen and Shannon speak to Dr. Jen Gilbert.
Dr. Gilbert is Professor and Chair of the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning (CTL). Dr. Gilbert’s scholarship and teaching explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ students, teachers, and families in schools and the history of controversies over sex education in schools. Dr. Gilbert's work is international in scope and she has established a strong research partnership network in both the U.S. and Australia. She is an active public scholar and designs projects that explores the connections of social equity and education. Dr. Gilbert previously held Professorship and academic leadership roles at York University in the Faculty of Education. She has been formally recognized for her scholarship, mentorship and leadership by the American Educational Research Association, World Association of Sexual Health and Canadian Society for the Study of Education.
Bio Source: https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/54461-jen-gilbert
Dr. Gilbert begins the episode by explaining the ways that parental rights have been used throughout history to oppose more inclusive models of gender and sexuality in schools. While there are historical echoes, we also speak about the specific factors in the current context that have amplified and mobilized the parental rights movement. Dr. Gilbert challenges the misunderstanding that sexuality is brought into schools through teachers and curriculum, and provokes the construction of the innocent child that is often used to limit important conversations about gender and sexuality in schools. We also speak about the way the notion of parental rights privileges particular parents and erases parents and children. Dr. Gilbert shares two important cases in which youth have opposed regressive curricular moves. Rather than limiting and narrowing curriculum, we speak about the ways sex education, and discussions of gender and sexuality more broadly, need to move beyond the health curriculum. Dr. Gilbert ends our interview with an important, although reluctant, manifesto about how to foster educational hospitality.
Episode Resources
Gilbert, J. (2010). Ambivalence only? Sex education in the age of abstinence. Sex Education, 10(3), 233–237.https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2010.491631
Gilbert, J. (2014). Sexuality in School: The Limits of Education. University of Minnesota Press.https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt7zw6j4
Gilbert, J. (2016). The pleasure of protest: LGBTQ youth in school. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 13(1), 33–35.https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2016.1138260
Gilbert, J. (2018a). Contesting consent in sex education*. Sex Education, 18(3), 268–279.https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1393407
Gilbert, J. (2021). Getting dirty and coming clean: Sex education and the problem of expertise. Curriculum Inquiry, 51(4), 455–472.https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2021.1947732
Gilbert, J. (2018b, November 29). Responding to sexual violence in schools: What can educators learn? The Conversation.http://theconversation.com/responding-to-sexual-violence-in-schools-what-can-educators-learn-107769
Gilbert, J., & Rawlings, V. (2022, June 21). “Parental rights” lobby puts trans and queer kids at risk. The Conversation.http://theconversation.com/parental-rights-lobby-puts-trans-and-queer-kids-at-risk-184804
21 DEC 2023 · Episode Description
In this second episode in a four part mini series about "parental rights", Stephen and Shannon speak to Dr. Lauren Bialystok.
Professor Lauren Bialystok is an Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in the Department of Social Justice Education. Her areas of expertise are ethics and education, identity, feminist philosophy, social and political philosophy, and women's health and sexuality. She is the co-author (with Lisa Andersen) of Touchy Subject: The History and Philosophy of Sex Education (Chicago, 2022) and author of a forthcoming book on identity and education.
Bio Source: https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/11213-lauren-bialystok
Through this episode, Dr. Bialystok shares her perspective on what is motivating the parental rights movement. Drawing on her recently co-authored book, Touchy Subject, Dr. Bialystok explains how the history of sex education can shed light on the current context. Stephen and Shannon also ask Lauren about her writing on the conflicts surrounding comprehensive sex education in Ontario, specifically about the way political leaders have used the conflict to create division, undermine public education, and deprofessionalize teachers. Lauren offers a clear perspective as to why we cannot cater curriculum to particular parents. Importantly, she reminds listeners that children’s rights exist, while codified parents’ rights do not.
Episode Resources
Bialystok, L. (2017). My Child, My Choice? Mandatory Curriculum, Sex, and the Conscience of Parents.https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/78899
Bialystok, L. (2019). Ontario Teachers’ Perceptions of the Controversial Update to Sexual Health and Human Development. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne de l’éducation, 42(1), 1–41.
Bialystok, L., & Andersen, L. M. F. (2022). Touchy Subject: The History and Philosophy of Sex Education. University of Chicago Press.
Bialystok, L., & Wright, J. (2019). ‘Just Say No’: Public dissent over sexuality education and the Canadian national imaginary. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40(3), 343–357.https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2017.1333085
Bialystok, L., Wright, J., Berzins, T., Guy, C., & Osborne, E. (2020). The appropriation of sex education by conservative populism. Curriculum Inquiry, 50(4), 330–351.https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2020.1809967
28 SEP 2023 · Through this four episode special series of Public Good, Stephen and Shannon speak to presenters from a SSHRC funded symposium, Public Conversations About Privatization: Rejecting the Marketization of Public School Systems in Canada. The symposium, held on May 26 & 27th, 2023, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), brought together academics, educators, activists and community groups from across Canada to discuss: a) the ideological motivations of educational reforms; b) the way these reforms are manifesting “uniquely” in each province; and c) the political and community resistance to the reforms. The two-day symposium included ten thought provoking presentations on the three symposium themes (ideological motivations, provincial privatization, resistance). Through this special podcast series, we will speak to presenters from within each theme. In this fourth episode we speak to Sachin Maharaj (U of O), Stephanie Tuters (OISE), and Vidya Shah (York) about resistance. Specifically, the moves to resist the undermining and privatization of public education across Canada.
Bios
Sachin Maharaj, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy and Program Evaluation in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. His research, which focuses on school boards, teacher unions, and the equity implications of academic streaming and school choice, has been published in Education Policy Analysis Archives, Leadership and Policy in Schools, and the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, he was a secondary school teacher for 14 years at the Toronto District School Board. He is currently writing a book taking a critical look at Ontario educational policy, to be published by the University of Toronto Press.
Steph Tuters is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. She researches how social justice pursuits are enacted through leadership, policy, and practice. She is currently investigating how actors within and outside of school districts are working towards racial and greater social justice. Steph has published 13 journal articles, 4 book chapters and numerous popular articles. She has done professional development for school boards, teacher and Principal organisations, and adult educators.
Dr. Vidya Shah is an educator, scholar and activist committed to equity and racial justice in the service of liberatory education. She is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, and her research explores anti-racist and decolonizing approaches to leadership in schools, communities, and school districts. She also explores educational barriers to the success and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and racialized students. Dr. Shah teaches in the Master of Leadership and Community Engagement, as well as undergraduate and graduate level courses in education. She has worked in the Model Schools for Inner Cities Program in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and was an elementary classroom teacher in the TDSB. Dr. Shah is committed to bridging the gaps between communities, classrooms, school districts and the academy, to re/imagine emancipatory possibilities for schooling.
References
Maharaj, S. (2019a). From Oversight to Advocacy: An Examination of School-Board Leadership.Leadership and Policy in Schools, 19(3), 421-443.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331948433_From_Oversight_to_Advocachttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/331948433_From_Oversight_to_Advocac
Maharaj, S. (2019b). Teacher Unions in the Public Sphere: Strategies Intended to Influence Public Opinion - ProQuest.https://www.proquest.com/openview/87d4bcce8439f1d7464dbe1f950d4989/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=51922&diss=y
Maharaj, S., & Bascia, N. (2021). Teachers’ Organizations and Educational Reform: Resistance and Beyond. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy / Revue Canadienne En Administration et Politique de l’éducation, 196, 34–48.https://doi.org/10.7202/1078516ar
Ryan, J., & Tuters, S. (2017). Picking a hill to die on: Discreet activism, leadership and social justice in education. Journal of Educational Administration, 55(5), 569–588. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1148292
Shah, V. (2018). Leadership for social justice through the lens of self-identified, racially and other-privileged leaders. Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education, 6(1).https://journals.sfu.ca/jgcee/index.php/jgcee/article/view/168/399
Shah, V. (2021). The Colour of Wellbeing: How Do We Ensure the Wellbeing and Success of BIPOC Students and K-12 Staff. EdCan Research. https://www.edcan.ca/articles/colour-of-wellbeing/
Shah, V., Aoudeh, N., Cuglievan-Mindreau, G., & Flessa, J. (2022). Subverting whiteness and amplifying anti-racisms: Mid-level district leadership for racial justice. Journal of School Leadership, 32(5), 456–487.https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1347567
Shah, V., Cuglievan-Mindreau, G., & Flessa, J. (2022). Reforming for racial justice: A narrative synthesis and critique of the literature on district reform in Ontario over 25 years. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 198, 35–54.https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/73144
Shah, V., & Grimaldos, D. (2022). Lies, denials, and cover-ups: The pervasiveness of whiteness in school districts relations with black and racialized parents. Urban Education. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420859221095004
Shah, V., & Grimaldos, D. K. (2023). Rising up: Collectivizing, strategizing, and forging solidarities among parents and caregivers leading for racial justice. VUE (Voices in Urban Education), 51(1).https://vue.metrocenter.steinhardt.nyu.edu/article/id/20/
Tuters, S. (2017). What informs and inspires the work of equity minded teachers. Brock Education Journal, 26(2).https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked/index.php/home/article/view/605
Tuters, S., & Portelli, J. (2017). Ontario school principals and diversity: Are they prepared to lead for equity? International Journal of Educational Management, 31(5), 598–611.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315501499_Ontario_school_principals_and_dhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/315501499_Ontario_school_principals_and_d
Tuters, S., Portelli, J. P., & MacDonald-Vemic, A. (2018). Navigating neoliberalism: Challenges faced by social justice educators. In M. J. Harkins & S.E. Singer (Eds.), Educators on Diversity, Social Justice, and Schooling: A Reader. Canadian Scholars.https://canadianscholars.ca/book/educators-on-diversity-social-justice-and-schooling/
15 SEP 2023 · Through this four episode special series of Public Good, Stephen and Shannon speak to presenters from a SSHRC funded symposium, Public Conversations About Privatization: Rejecting the Marketization of Public School Systems in Canada. The symposium, held on May 26 & 27th, 2023, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), brought together academics, educators, activists and community groups from across Canada to discuss: a) the ideological motivations of educational reforms; b) the way these reforms are manifesting “uniquely” in each province; and c) the political and community resistance to the reforms. The two-day symposium included ten thought provoking presentations on the three symposium themes (ideological motivations, provincial privatization, resistance). Through this special podcast series, we will speak to presenters from within each theme. In this second episode of the special series we speak to Adamo di Giovanni (U of Windsor, PhD student), Heather Ganshorn (SOS Alberta) and Ellen Bees (P4PE) about the provincial privatization. This theme was intended to demonstrate how privatization is manifesting “uniquely” across the provinces, but also to demonstrate how these supposed distinctions between provinces reveal similar motivations and tactics.
Guest Bios
Adamo Di Giovanni is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor. His dissertation research investigates how neoliberalism and capitalism shape contemporary education discourse and policy. He explores how education policy might evolve toward collectivism and community as a way to address inequality and more effectively deal with 21st century social, environmental, and economic issues. Adamo is currently a Research Assistant on a SSHRC Insight Grant examining the educational impact of mis/dis/information. Adamo is also an Ontario elementary school Vice-Principal within the Greater Toronto Area with over 15 years of experience in elementary schools.
Heather Ganshorn is the Research Director for Support Our Students Alberta, a volunteer organization that advocates for an equitable and accessible public education system. SOS believes that privatization threatens public education by diverting dollars from accountable systems that serve all children to unaccountable private providers who serve a customer niche rather than the public interest. Heather has written a number of media articles and op eds on current issues related to privatization and curriculum in Alberta. She is also an academic librarian at the University of Calgary, with experience in research support and knowledge synthesis.
Ellen Bees is a grade seven educator in Manitoba. She is a community organizer with People for Public Ed, working with the aim to promote consistent and substantive funding of public schools in Manitoba. She recently published her Master's thesis Manitoba Education Reforms, White Settler Discourses, and the Marginalization of Indigenous Perspectives (2022) at the University of Manitoba, which examines how neoliberal discourses of learning and achievement work to marginalize Indigenous perspectives within Manitoba education reform documents. Her research has focused on the education reform movement in Manitoba, including "Cultural Capital and Cultural Community Wealth: A Critique of the BEST Report" (2021) and "Culturally Unresponsive: The Manitoba Education Review and Colonial Perspectives" (2021), which was co written with Shannon D. M. Moore.
References:
Bees, E. (2022). Manitoba education reforms, white settler discourses, and the marginalization of Indigenous perspectives.http://hdl.handle.net/1993/36814
Bees, E., & Moore, S. D. M. (2021). Culturally Unresponsive: The Manitoba Education Review and Colonial Perspectives. Inform-Ed.https://inform-ed.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Culturally-Unresponsive-The-Manitoba-Education-Review-and-Colonial-Perspectives.pdf
Ganshorn, H. (2023, January 23). Populism, Polarization and Privatization in Alberta Education. The Monitor.https://monitormag.ca/articles/populism-polarization-and-privatization-in-alberta-education/
Ganshorn, H. (2022, November 8). Undermining public education. Education Forum.https://education-forum.ca/2022/11/08/undermining-public-education/https://education-forum.ca/2022/11/08/undermining-public-education/
Ganshorn, H., & Moussa, M. (2022, September 1). Beware “privatization creep” in education system. Leaderpost.https://leaderpost.com/opinion/heather-ganshorn-medeana-moussa-beware-privatization-creep-in-education-system
Parker, L. (2017). Creating a Crisis: Selling Neoliberal Policy Through the Rebranding of Education. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 183, Article 183.https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168
Parker, L. (2021, April 5). Ontario’s ‘choice’ of fully online school would gamble on children for profit. The Conversation.http://theconversation.com/ontarios-choice-of-fully-online-school-would-gamble-on-children-for-profit-158292
Resources:
- People for Public Ed: https://peopleforpubliced.com/
- SOS Alberta: https://www.supportourstudents.ca/
- Critical Education: https://ices.library.ubc.ca/index.php/criticaled/
- Graphic Recordings of the Symposium: https://peopleforpubliced.com/graphics
On each episode, we host academics, educators, and advocates interested in advancing public education a public good. Click https://voiced.ca/wp-content/uploads/Public-Good-Podcast-Catalogue.pdf for Season One of the podcast.
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On each episode, we host academics, educators, and advocates interested in advancing public education a public good.
Click here for a full catalog for Season One of the podcast.
show less
Click here for a full catalog for Season One of the podcast.
Information
| Author | voicEd Radio |
| Organization | voicEd Radio Canada |
| Categories | Education , Politics |
| Website | www.spreaker.com |
| shannon.moore@umanitoba.ca |
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