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An analysis of issues and problems in conceptualizing, operationalizing, and evaluating a total school environment in terms of a range of divergent goals and values. Major topics include strategies for program development and change in the context of education in Ontario, Canada, and internationally; theoretical and empirical bases differentiating educational environments, the role of the program manager, and skills needed to manage program development, organization, implementation, and evaluation.

Practical considerations in solving political problems in and about schools. Focus is on the five levels of local governance: family/school, micro-politics (within the school), neighbourhood, meso-politics (the school and the central office), and the board. Special attention to understanding background variables such as the environment, institutions, power, and issues. Workshop activities centre around processes such as coalition-building, advocating, believing, and co-producing. Readings include procedural, fictional, and conceptual materials.

Administrators in education and teachers are continually asked to decide on matters of equity, to adjudicate between conflicting value positions, and to accommodate different rights and human interests in their planning. Often administrative practice in these areas is less than successful. This course will study various ethical schools of thought and modern approaches to social justice. It will apply that content to administrative practice in education. Particular attention will be given to equity issues in areas of race, culture, gender, age, social class, national origin, language, ancestry, sexual orientation, citizenship, and physical or mental abilities.

This course deals with how teachers contribute to and are affected by administrative processes. It looks at the determinants of teachers' classroom strategies, the work culture of teachers, teachers' careers, the role of teachers in school decision-making, the relationship of teachers' educational commitments to aspects of their broader lives (such as age, religious and political beliefs, and gender identity), and the role of teachers in fostering or inhibiting educational change. The course will be of interest to elementary and secondary teachers and to educational administrators.

Issues surrounding performance evaluation of teachers and administrators in school systems will be examined. Topics include current practices in evaluation, evaluation policies and procedures, the legal context, the political dimensions, and related areas such as recruitment and selection of personnel. The conceptual background centres around a systems approach to personnel development. The thrust of the discussions, however, will be on practical problems in evaluation in schools within the Canadian setting.

Some unique problems, presented to the administrator placed in special structures or environments, are examined with a view to developing appropriate applications of administrative processes. Depending upon resources of staff and needs of students electing this course, it will cover the administration of any one of, or combination of, the following: programs of special education, colleges and other institutions of higher education, large urban complexes, areas presenting special sociocultural problems, computer-assisted administration, and comparative educational administration.

An examination of the current context of legal discourse related to the practical exigencies of present-day school experience. A detailed study of statutory and common law sources under which educators operate. The law is not immutable. Emphasis on negligence, malpractice, human rights and the school system, teacher rights, and student discipline and the Young Offenders Act and Zero Tolerance.

This course offers a broad survey of contemporary research, theory and debates in Sociology of Education. The course is organized by 3 major connections between schools and society: social organization, selection, and socialization. It will examine how schooling has become a core institution in modern society, central for understanding emerging forms of culture, economy, inequality, and social organization. The course will prepare students to conduct research on many educational topics at both K-12 and post-secondary levels. It will focus on trends that have shaped education in the modern era, particularly over the past 30 years. Most readings will be by North America-based empirical sociologists, though we will also look at many international trends.

This course provides an introduction to educational policy, leadership and change in general and to this program in particular by focusing on foundational concepts and theories significant to the understanding of education and educational administration. It offers a critical examination of a wide range of topics central to educational administration, educational policy, leadership and change, such as organization, community, power, authority, change, difference, leadership, and values. This examination will take into account major historical developments in the field as well as differing theoretical stances or paradigms, such as positivism, functionalism, interpretivism, critical pedagogy, feminism, post-structuralism and post-modernism. The course will help students understand how to use theory to make sense of educational practice in productive ways.

This course will focus on the social and policy contexts in which elementary and secondary educators work. Students will be exposed to a variety of issues related to schooling in a diverse and complex environment such as: differing purposes, philosophies, and values of education; multiculturalism and social justice; equity issues related to race, class, gender, and language; parental influences on schooling; the relationship of schooling to the labor market and the economy; choice of school and program; decentralization and centralization; standards and accountability; educational finance; school reform; educational and non-educational pressure groups and stakeholders. Through an exploration of these or related topics, this course will help students to continue to develop their understanding of different paradigms and methods used in research in educational administration, leadership, policy and change.

This course is designed to acquaint students with the practices and issues associated with administration, organization, and leadership in educational organizations with culturally diverse student populations. Students will have the opportunity to critically analyse and appraise the practices and issues involved in the administration and leadership of such schools. They will also have the chance to probe and clarify their own conceptions of, and attitudes toward, multiethnic and anti-racist education generally and leadership in such school organizations specifically, in ways that will assist them with their own administrative practices.

The course explores the meaning of classroom change from the teacher's perspective, addressing such issues as contemporary views of learning, the nature of teacher development, and the context of teaching. The perspective is then used to better appreciate how those in school leadership roles can facilitate efforts by teachers to improve their own practices, as well as meaningfully respond to out-of-school pressures for change.

A companion course to 1047. Contemporary conceptions of leadership are examined for their value in helping present schools improve and future schools serve their publics well. Understanding of expert leadership is developed through the study not only of expert leaders' behaviors, but also of their feelings, values, and problem-solving strategies. The formal and informal experiences that contribute to the development of leadership expertise will be examined.

This course has been designed to be the final course for students in the 10-course M.Ed. Program in Educational Administration. The course provides an opportunity for students to explore and develop a comprehensive view of the field of educational administration, through a series of seminars designed to help summarize, integrate and consolidate knowledge of the field. Students will link particular problems in practice to the theoretical bases of the field, through the lenses of the major strands of our program: change, leadership, policy and social diversity. There will be a focus on analysis, synthesis and application, building a deeper understanding, situated in the broader field. The culmination of this course will be the creation of a comprehensive portfolio reflecting the student's understanding of the breadth and depth of the field.

Specialized study, under the direction of a staff member, focusing upon topics of particular interest to the student that are not included in available courses. While credit is not given for a thesis investigation proper, the study may be closely related to a thesis topic.

This course is the first of two courses to develop people to become school principals in Ontario. A key component of the course is the critical evaluation and focus on current research in the areas related to leadership practices and their effects, instructional leadership, education change and reform efforts. The course's content includes a critical awareness of current problems associated with educational leadership practice and application to current issues and problems in education informed by cutting-edge research and professional practice. The outcome of these courses is to hone the judgment of practitioners within the educational setting. Through the assignments students must demonstrate originality in the application of new knowledge and concepts.

This is the second of two courses which explores the role of the principal, one of the most influential roles in our educational system. It provides a foundation for candidates assuming the role of principal or vice-principal in Ontario schools and is one component of ongoing professional learning focused on the development of the personal and professional knowledge, and the skills and practices that lead to exemplary practice in the role of principal. The program is designed to support candidates in becoming reflective educational leaders who are informed consumers of education research in their ongoing professional growth, and who can lead effectively in the dynamic, diverse contexts of Ontario, characterized by rapidly changing events and circumstances.

Numbers and data have a growing influence in educational policy-making at the local, national and international levels. Large-scale assessments are increasingly used for monitoring and accountability; randomized controlled trials are considered the ‘gold standard’ in assessing the effects of educational policies, with important implications for resource allocation. This course is an introduction to the uses of quantitative research in comparative, international and development education. The goal is for students to be able to read, understand, critique and synthesize quantitative evidence, and to formulate policy recommendations on key educational debates. We will read empirical research on topics such as privatization of schooling, international large-scale assessments (PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS, etc.), school segregation, vocational education, decentralization, private tutoring and gender inequality. We will compare economic versus sociological approaches to quantitative comparative research in terms of major underlying theories and assumptions and how these guide methods and analyses. Students will learn how to evaluate which evidence is credible, including what to look for in high-quality sampling, measurement, assessment, analysis and interpretation. No background in statistics or quantitative research methods is required.

Gender issues and gendered practices in education have global relevance and have received sustained scholarly and policy interest in northern and southern societies, as well as in the work of major international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, and various United Nations' agencies, bilateral donors, and transnational civil society organizations. This course will provide students with an opportunity to critically and comparatively explore different theoretical (e.g., feminist, womanist, Women in Development, Women and Development, Gender and Development, social change, education etc.) and discursive frameworks (e.g., human capital, human rights, human capabilities), policies and practices (e.g., Education for All, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, affirmative action, single-sex education initiatives, feminist pedagogy etc.) that have constituted and shaped the broad and interdisciplinary field of gender and education over the last century. Given that the emphasis in this course is on "gender" as a socially constructed, performed, and contested identity(s), we will critically and comparatively investigate the educational opportunities, experiences and outcomes for girls, boys, women and men, as well as people identifying as non-binary, from early childhood to adulthood. Critical attention will also be given to the intersections of gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation (among other categories of social difference) in relation to educational access, survival, output, and outcomes.

This course is designed to assist students to develop an understanding of and an identity with the field of adult education. Major philosophical, historical, and conceptual bases are examined; also contemporary agencies and programs, issues, and trends in the practice of adult education. It is required that all Master's students include either LHA1100H or LHA1102H in their program of study.

This course introduces students to basic principles and processes of program planning, and how they apply to adult educational contexts. Relevant literatures and cases will be examined to illustrate different approaches to planning with particular emphasis on non-profit, public sector and community settings.

This course attempts to come to grips with the meaning of community development in a highly networked, increasingly information-dependent society. The course looks at such issues as the relationships between community organizing and community development and the role of social capital in community economic development. Models of community development that involve government programs such as social housing and community health centres are considered as are market-based approaches involving micro-lending, co-operatives and social enterprises. It is required that all Master's students include either LHA1100H or LHA1102H in their program of study.

This course introduces quantitative and qualitative research methods and theoretical perspectives. It is designed as an exploration into a range of research / inquiry methods appropriate for adult education and community development. The course examines the underlying philosophical assumptions of these methods, and the implications that these assumptions have for framing research questions, data collection, analysis, and dissemination strategies. It also provides opportunities to engage in practical, hands-on experience with developing research questions, data collection, and data analysis. The students are given an opportunity to reflect on the ethical, procedural, and political implications of research work and what it means to be "the researcher" and "the researched". The course is designed as a hybrid or blended course, which means that it is taught through face-to-face and online sessions and activities.

This course articulates various theoretic grounding for qualitative research and helps students become conversant with a wide variety of qualitative methodologies (i.e., grounded theory, feminist interviewing, ethnography, participatory research, biographic analysis, arts-informed inquiry, aboriginal research methodologies and institutional ethnography.) Gathering of information through observation, participatory observation, dialogue, and collection of documents will all be considered. Emphasis is on both understanding and practice. Learners will design or co-design a concrete piece of research and take it through the ethical review process. They will also present on at least one methodology. In line with this, they will learn about ethical conundrums, about matching methodologies with objectives and values, about methods for choosing participants. There is special emphasis on becoming critically aware as researchers - on understanding and integrating issues of power and difference.