Dr. Steve Sider and Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad are both faculty members at Laurier University's Faculty of Education. Their recent article in The Conversation posed some important questions about ways to hold the important issues that have been brought to light during the pandemic on the radar of schools and communities. In this conversation, we talk about systemic inequity, the language we use to frame the issues and some practical ways to begin conversations with staff, parents and community member...
Aug 11, 2020•58 min
Jason Lay is a secondary school teaching at Vaughan Secondary School in the York Region District School Board. He has been very dedicated on social media, holding issues of a safe return to school in front of his Twitter followers. My conversation with Jason digs deeper into his concerns, his insights and his advice. Follow Jason on Twitter: @jlay02
Aug 11, 2020•24 min
A lot of conversation around safe re-opening of schools has centered around class size and the need to ensure safe physical distancing. Marcie is an Ontario-based Education Assistant (EA) and, as this conversation points out, there needs to be a much deeper discussion about the health and safety requirements of the large number of students with learning challenges and special needs.
Aug 09, 2020•23 min
In this second of a two part series, Vidya Shah and Erika Shaker reflect on announcements being made across the country about re-opening schools. We dig deeper into the need for more substantial funding, the "tyranny of choice", continuing issues of inequity and ways to authentically engage the public in conversation about...well...public education. Vidya Shah is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, York University. Vidya is driven by an expertise in and passion for passion for justi...
Aug 07, 2020•49 min
Carol Jones and Leslie Hutchison are both members of the Ontario Association for Developmental Education, an organization established in 1957 and includes teachers, educational assistants, principals, consultants, and other support staff and parents who work with and for students with developmental challenges. The organization recently conducted a survey, "Return to School Survey Related to COVID 19 Amplifying Voice of Educators and Educational Workers Who Serve Students with Developmental Disab...
Jul 29, 2020•34 min
Vidya Shah is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, York University. Vidya is driven by an expertise in and passion for passion for justice and equity. Erika Shaker is National Office Director at Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, & Editor of Our Schools/Our Selves. Their article, “Leaving Normal: Reimagining Schools Post-COVID and Beyond”, appears in the most recent edition of Our Schools/Our Selves: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/subscribe-osos...
Jul 24, 2020•40 min
Kathleen Gould Lundy joins Stephen Hurley to look back on a 2004 project that raised the voices of Canadian youth around their visions for school and education. Led by Kathy through a partnership with the Canadian Education Association/EdCan Network, "Imagine a School" connected cohorts of high school students from across the country through drama, poetry and music. Find out about the project, how the messages still resonate and about Kathy's very powerful view of the arts in our schools—especia...
Jul 24, 2020•34 min
Today, I'm joined by two members of the Ontario Parent Action Network (OPAN). Seth Bernstein is an education worker, parent and the teacher/parent liaison Ontario Parent Action Network. Rachel Huot is a parent organizer with OPAN. In this conversation, we talk about the government's response to the current COVID-19 crisis and what that means for reopening schools in September. We also talk about the work of the organization and their advocacy/activism in defence of public education. Find out mor...
Jul 22, 2020•34 min
Barbara Silva is the Director of Communications for Alberta-based Support Our Students, an advocacy/action group dedicated to equitable and accessible public education in Alberta. In this conversation, we talk to Barbara about how their organization is working during this time of COVID-19 and how they are holding the provincial government accountable for its plans to re-open schools in September. Find out more about Support Our Students at https://supportourstudents.ca...
Jul 22, 2020•23 min
Andy Hargreaves internationally known and acclaimed researcher, writer, speaker, consultant and policy advisor is Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa and Research Professor in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. His new book, Moving — A Memoir of Education and Social Mobility (Solution Tree) places some of the most pressing challenges of our time against the backdrop of Andy's own story of growing up in a society steeped in class, meritocracy and social mobility....
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr
Ms. Marit Stiles is the MPP for the Ontario riding of Davenport. Marit also serves as the Education Critic for the Official Opposition (NDP). Marit Stiles recently tabled a motion in the Provincial Legislature calling on the Conservative Government to get serious about "back to school" plans for the Fall in Ontario. In this conversation, we discuss that motion, the importance of advocacy, activism and leveraging the positive energy that has marked this recent period in our history. Learn more ab...
Jul 18, 2020•30 min
Richard Doornink is no stranger to stories. His background in film and video study and production, editing and a love for writing has brought him to the release of his first novel. 1967—A Coming of Age Story will certainly resonate with anyone growing up in Canada in the 60's, but it will also work its way into the hearts and imaginations of those who grew up in a different time. In this conversation, Rick and I talk about the impetus for the book, the idea of setting as a character, some of the...
Jul 17, 2020•33 min
Harvey Bischof is the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher's Federation (OSSTF), and represents over 70 000 secondary school teachers and education workers across the province. Harvey joins me to talk about the progress being made toward a return to school in the Fall, some of the creative ways that we could be looking at the challenge and some of the elephants that might be hanging around in the discussion room.
Jul 15, 2020•27 min
Dr. Jewel Amoah is one of 14 Human Rights and Equity Advisors hired to school districts across Ontario. It's part of a pilot program designed to foreground issues related to develop cultures of respect for human rights and equity in public schools. Dr. Amoah is a Human Rights scholar, advocate and activist and is the newly appointed Human Rights and Equity Advisor (HREA) for the Halton District School Board.
Jul 14, 2020•32 min
Negin Riazi is a PhD Candidate at UBC's School of Kinesiology in the Faculty of Education. Recently, her article, co-authored with Dr. Guy Faulkner, appeared in The Conversation Canada. "Free-range kids: Why a child’s freedom to travel and play without adult supervision matters" was the subject of our conversation today. We explored the importance of letting our children explore their surroundings in a way that promotes independent mobility, a sense of responsibility and freedom. Here's a link t...
Jul 14, 2020•28 min
Dr. Stuart Shanker is a research professor emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology at York University and the Founder/CEO of The MEHRIT Centre. He is also the founder and Science Director of the Self-Regulation Institute. Stuart’s new book Reframed: Self-Reg for A Just Society brings together his deep knowledge of philosophy, political theory and psychology to create the type of multi-disciplinary perspective that so many of us are longing for in this divided and siloed world. In this conversation...
Jul 12, 2020•48 min
Ron Canuel is the former CEO of the Canadian Education Association (EdCan) and a former Director General of the Eastern Township School Board in Quebec. He is never at a loss for words or insights into new visions for schools and education. Ron joins me to talk about the desire to "return to normal" when schools go back in the Fall, but also the types of questions that we need to be asking to preventing us from falling back to default thinking.
Jul 04, 2020•26 min
Sean Vanderklis is Mississauga from Curve Lake First Nation, a resident of the Niagara Region and one half of the podcast/broadcast team known as One Dish, One Mic. You can hear them weekly on Sunday mornings at 10 on AM 610 CKTB. Sean and his broadcast partner Carl Doxtdater are the recipients of the 2020 CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowship. Sean and I talk about the transition from podcasting to broadcasting, the differences in perspective among Indigenous communities, and the ways in which I...
Jul 03, 2020•28 min
Kalli Anderson is a broadcast journalist, a documentary film-maker and a Director of Audio Journalism at CUNY"s Craig Newmark School of Journalism. Kalli's article in Today's Parent. "Ontario's back-to-school plan ignores a glaringly obvious problem" has caught the attention of parents and educators alike. Find out what that glaringly obvious problem is—and more—in this episode of In Conversation. Read the Today's Parent article: https://www.todaysparent.com/kids/school-age/ontario-school-reopen...
Jun 30, 2020•31 min
Nicole and Barbara DeLory have a very unique connection. Not only are they mother and daughter, but Nicole has written a book based on some of her mother's writing. Nicole's book is Night at the Gardens and it draws inspiration from Barbara's book, Three Centuries of Public Art Historic Halifax Regional Municipality. Find out about both books and this unique collaboration in this special episode of In Conversation. From Halifax, Nova Scotia, it's Nicole and Barbara DeLory....
Jun 20, 2020•27 min
From beginning to end, it took 41 days for Eric Walters to write and publish his latest book. Today is release day and we were thrilled to spend an hour with Eric and members of his Orca Book Publishers team on voicEd Radio. Join Eric Walters, Leslie Bootle, Andrew Wooldridge, Fiona Ross and Luke Hurley in this special conversation about Don't Stand So Close To Me. Find out more about the book by visiting https://www.orcabook.com/
Jun 04, 2020•1 hr
Shree Paradkar writes about issues of race and gender at the Toronto Star. in 2018/19, Shree was the Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy which gave her the space to explore issues of race and equity in our public education system. In this conversation, Shree speaks of the questions that framed her year-long fellowship, the patterns that she discovered and some of the calls to action that emerged from this work. You can find the complete "Education without Oppression" series at https://theatkinson.c...
May 27, 2020•40 min
Premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, "Influence" takes us into the world of marketing and manipulation within our most foundational public institutions. It’s grounded in the story of Lord TImothy Bell, the firm Bell Pottinger and a politically-charged South Africa, but the questions posed and the realities revealed should be important to all of us. A great conversation about deep journalism, following the money and media literacy.
May 26, 2020•37 min
David Barnum returns to voicEd Radio to talk about his approach to Place-Based learning in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis. David teaches elementary school in North Vancouver and is also a Faculty Associate in the Faculty of Education, Graduate Studies in Education at Simon Fraser University.
May 26, 2020•28 min
Khary Lazarre-White is the cofounder of Brotherhood Sister Sol, an organization that provides four-six year rites of passage programming, thorough five day a week after school care, school and home counseling, summer camps, job training and employment, college preparation, community organizing training, and international study programs to Africa, the Caribbean and South America. In this conversation, Khary shares his 25 year journey with Bro/Sis, his theory of change and how the organization emb...
May 21, 2020•38 min
We last caught up with Ottawa resident, Lindsey Barr, soon after she began World Changing Kids, an organization that empowers young people to make a difference in the world. Today, we connect with Lindsey again to see how her work has been transformed by the current COVID-19 crisis. Find out about Lindsey's work by visiting https://worldchangingkids.ca/
May 15, 2020•14 min
Angela Hanimyan is a teacher at an Ontario-based Montessori school with over 26 years of experience teaching young children. That experience, coupled with a knowledge of Self-Reg and social emotional learning has led to the writing of Fearless Felicia. In our conversation, we explore how this story will help children identify their feelings and empower them to take ownership of their feelings and positively transform them.
May 15, 2020•27 min
Michelle DIttmer is President and Co-Founder at Canadian Gap Year Association, a national not-for-profit that provides support for young people looking for an alternative step in educational and/or career pathways through taking a gap year. In this conversation, we talk about the trend toward more students considering a gap year, and how the Canadian Gap Year Association can support that thinking and planning. Find out more about Michelle's work by visiting https://www.cangap.ca/...
May 09, 2020•26 min
Rick Kelly is the founder and the energy behind Just Us: A Centre for Restorative Practices. Through his work, Rick inspires us to "widen the lens" as we look at how we build, nurture and heal relationships in our organizations, communities and families. There's a whole lot more to Rick's work than can be written here so you're invited to explore more through his website: https://justusrestorativepractices.weebly.com/
May 08, 2020•35 min
Dr. Bryan Sanders is passionate about rethinking education using a critical techno constructivist lens. Yup, try to say that three times fast! it's a perspective that draws together key thinking by Dewey, Freire and Papert, and it not only led to his doctoral thesis, but also to some of his current energy around the way that we can do school in a different way. Along with Dr. Verena Roberts, Bryan regularly brings together other educators and education thinkers to open up education discourse in ...
May 06, 2020•36 min
