Teacher qualifications and shifts in Faculty of Education admissions policies once attracted little public attention. That all changed in November 2024 when the Canadian province of Manitoba made a fateful decision to remove minimum subject knowledge requirements from its admissions process. Leading Mathematics professors and subject specialists saw it as a ‘declaration of war’ against ..read more

‘Tall poppies’ tend to stand out in education as well as the business world. It’s one of those fields where standing out evokes a variety of responses.  A so-called Tall Poppy Syndrome (TPS) comes into play, here in Canada, when it is viewed as unseemly to flaunt or draw attention to your achievements. It is ..read more

For a country that once prided itself on being a “world class” superpower in education, the latest math scores on an International Education Association (IEA) test were met with total shock and a deafening silence. Our national education agency, the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) and all provincial ministries of education looked the ..read more

One day of the school year is normally reserved for Remembrance Day, the only day dedicated to acknowledging the horrors of war and to recognizing those who served our country in uniform and particularly those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. What happened at Sackville Heights Elementary School during the first week of November 2024 was ..read more

Chronic absenteeism rates among students have risen and are becoming normalized in the wake of the pandemic education disruption.  Teacher absences from class are also up, but – until now- have attracted less attention, particularly in Canadian K-12 education. Teacher absenteeism is not new but the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it ..read more

A funny thing has happened to post-pandemic learning recovery – it’s been abandoned in favour of ‘building back better’ plans with playful activities in Canada’s elementary schools.  Four years on, student learning loss, the literacy crisis, and mathematics skills deficits have miraculously disappeared in many Canadian K-8 public schools. Student-centred ‘discovery’ learning, grow your own ..read more

Education surveys commissioned by teachers’ unions can be problematic, especially if it’s obvious to respondents that the instruments contain loaded questions reflecting the strong preferences of their sponsors.  They are a reminder that education politics is a field littered with surveys aimed mostly at molding opinion. The latest example of this tendency was the New ..read more

Two of Canada’s provinces on the front lines of the ‘Education Culture War,’ New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, are holding elections in October 2024 and speculation is rife that gender identity policy and parent rights will dominate the campaigns.  Premiers Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick and Scott Moe of Saskatchewan have both championed ‘parents’ rights’ and ..read more

Generative AI is disrupting teaching and learning in schools, Sound advice and guidance on coping with Gen AI and its potential hazards hard to find and school system guides skirt the key issues ..read more

A small group of Nova Scotia parents of students, mostly in the middle elementary grades, who have surfaced, once again, expressing concerns that ‘inclusive education’ is failing their kids. Five yeears after implementing inclusive education reform, it's time for a public review of its effectiveness ..read more