Education Commons^™

School Principals' Understandings Of Student Difference And Diversity And How It Influences Their Work, Katina Pollock, Patricia Briscoe

Education Publications

This article explores how Ontario principals make sense of difference within student populations and how this sensemaking influences how they do their work. The article reports on a qualitative study in Ontario, Canada that included 59 semistructured interviews with school principals from English Public, secular school districts in Southern Ontario. Four themes emerged in principals’ descriptions of student populations: (a) perceiving everyone as the same, or homogeneous; (b) perceiving visible differences associated with particular religions, race, and cultures; (c) perceiving invisible or less visible differences, such as academic differences, socioeconomic status, mental health issues, gender identity, and sexual orientation; and …

Teaching For Equity: A Case Study Of Teachers’, Vice Principals’, And Principals’ Perspectives In Three High-Poverty Elementary Schools In Ontario, Canada, Abhilasha Duggal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Elementary students in high-poverty schools have diverse learning needs. Their academic and social learning, in particular, varies between students - especially so for those students from culturally non-dominant backgrounds. In 2009, the Ontario Ministry of Education mandated that all school boards in Ontario develop and implement equity education policies, as specified in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 119: Developing and Implementing Equity and Inclusive Education Policies in Ontario Schools (2009). This dissertation explored the implementation of Ontario’s Equity Strategy in three highpoverty elementary schools within one district school board in Ontario. This exploratory case study investigated the following research questions: 1. How …