Over the last three decades, many women and men who were political prisoners in the Middle East have come to Canada as immigrants and refugees. In their countries of origin, they resisted oppressive social policies, ideologies, and various forms of state violence. Their journeys of forced migration/exile took them away from their country, families, and friends, but they arrived in Canada with memories of violence, resistance and survival. These former political prisoners did not want the sacrifices that they and their colleagues had made to be forgotten. They needed to find effective ways to communicate these stories. This research was conducted from a critical feminist‒anti-racist perspective, and used life history research to trace the journey of one such group of women and men. This group of former political prisoners has been meeting together, using art as a mode of expression to share their experiences, inviting others to join their resistance against state violence. Interviews were conducted with former political prisoners and their supporters and artist facilitators who were part of the art workshops, performances, and exhibits held in Toronto, Canada from January 2010 through December 2011. This dissertation examines the importance of memory projects and of remembering in acts of public testimony and the significance of providing spaces for others to bear witness to those stories. This research also contributes to the body of knowledge about the role that remembering, consciousness, and praxis play in individual and community recovery, rebuilding community, and continued resistance.

This research project is based upon the assumption that humanity is passing through a period of great transition, or “Great Turning,” in which we have a critical opportunity to pass from a destructive “industrial growth society” to a “life-sustaining society” (Macy and Brown, 1998). I argue that the current scale of social, political, environmental, economic, psychological, and spiritual challenges reflects an underlying “disconnect disorder” (Arabena, 2006), and that these combined external and internal crises present an opportunity for widespread transformative learning and a collective shift. My core hypothesis is that this transition depends on humanity’s ability to engage in a dual process of individual and collective transformation through remembering our connections with ourselves, with one another, with the natural world, and with a sense of purposeful engagement in the world. I investigate this hypothesis through an in-depth, relational study of the Ecology of Leadership program (EOL) at the Regenerative Design Institute (RDI) in Bolinas, California, an organization that aims to “serve as catalyst for a revolution in the way humans relate to the natural world.” The Ecology of Leadership represents a unique model of transformative adult education that incorporates the principles of “inner permaculture” and regenerative design to support participants in cultivating personal and collective transformation. I introduce a “relational” theory and methodological approach, which centralizes Indigenous and ecological principles of relationship, respect, reciprocity, and regeneration. Using interviews (p=20), surveys (p=409), arts-based data (p=12), sharing circles (p=8), and participatory research, I integrate personal and participant narratives together with images, graphics, poems, and practices to bring this case study of the Ecology of Leadership to life. I also advocate for a new model of “regenerative research,” in which the research itself is life-giving and contributes to the healing, transformation, and regeneration of the researcher, the community of research, and the whole system. Based upon my interactions, observations, and interviews in the EOL program and my reflections and supportive research, I conclude by articulating the “Ecology of Transformation,” a holistic model for transformation that incorporates inner and outer change with practices for reconnection to oneself, the natural world, and the village.

Over the past several decades, secular schools in North America have been expected to impart moral education to students. An array of approaches, strategies, methods, and philosophical and theoretical orientations for doing so are promoted in education literature. Two, in particular, have also been politically endorsed in Ontario, Canada—character education and community service. Yet, there remains discrepancy among teachers’ practices, knowledge, awareness, and intentions. Anecdotal reports indicate that relatively few teachers provide a consistent and comprehensive moral education, and those who do, act primarily on their own initiative and at their own discretion. Previous empirical evidence suggests that teachers who are moral agents conceive of, enact, and reflect on a personally developed form of moral education, which is embedded in the moral and ethical dimensions of school and classroom life, curriculum, and pedagogy. This single-case study aims to broaden and deepen the scholarship of moral agency as moral education, by exploring the question How does a teacher, who prioritizes the moral education of students, envision, enact and reflect on that moral education. Positioning myself as a conduit, within what is often considered to be a closed-door culture of teaching, I metaphorically opened one teacher’s classroom door and exposed her practices. The result is a uniquely comprehensive and genuine portrait of moral agency, which details the use of a variety of strategies and methods for imparting morality. These include intentionally modelling moral behaviours, conduct and dispositions; fostering relationships with and among students; creating a classroom community; delivering virtues lessons and messages; encouraging discussions of a moral nature; nurturing self-discipline in students; providing opportunities for community service; and assessing students’ social and moral development. The harmonious co-existence of these strategies and methods within one classroom and one teacher’s practice; the complementary and supportive way in which the teacher makes use of them; and their independence of any particular philosophical or theoretical orientation for moral education, represent the main insights of this study. These insights suggest that moral education in a secular classroom might be more comprehensively understood and promoted as moral agency.

The research, on which this account is based, took place within the context of Blooming Acres, my home, and the learning community that I co-founded with my wife Sherri-Ann. In the first chapters, I tell the story of how I came to home-educate learners with complex special needs at my farm north of Toronto, Canada. I describe the neurological disorders that the children in my care are diagnosed with and map out the main literature that guides how I think about and practice education. The aim of this section is to paint a picture of the context in which the research takes place and describe my role in this community. The second section consists of my research with two of the children who lived and learned at Blooming Acres. This includes their stories as told by them, their parent(s), and the educators at Blooming Acres. As I juxtaposed the life experiences of these learners with each other, and wove together aspects of these stories, significant themes emerged relating to their academic and medical histories, as well as their social, extracurricular, and family life, and finally, their experience at Blooming Acres. I employed a life history methodology; one that honours the meaning and knowledge that exists in the storied lives of individuals. As I applied this methodology and engaged in the storied lives of these learners I learned more about what it is like to live and learn with neurological disorders. Four major themes emerged. The first, Pathology for Support / Support for Pathology, relates to learning issues, referral, assessment, diagnosis, medications and “school battles”. Second, Parent Stress includes behavioural issues, judgment, stressful calls from teachers and principals and school failure. Third, Oasis Teachers / Mentors is an expression of care, support, social competence, self-esteem and relationships. Finally, Strengths and Coping is a culmination of issues such as advocacy for support, strategies for success, identifying and coping with stress, understanding diagnosis and becoming well. These emergent themes are articulated within the context of neurology and school failure (risk) and the context of transformation and getting well (resilience). This work contributes to parenting, education, social work, disabilities, medical and risk / resiliency literature.

This work brings an anti-colonial reading to the production and maintenance of racial logic in Cuban schooling, through conversations with, and surveys of Cuban teachers, as well as through analysis of secondary and primary documents. The study undertaken seeks to contribute to the limited existent research on race relations in Cuba, with a research focus on the Cuban educational context. Teasing and staking out a middle ground between the blinding and often hollow pro-Cuba fanaticism and the deafening anti -Cuban rhetoric from the left and right respectively, this project seeks a more nuanced, complete and dialogical understanding of race and race relations in Cuba, with a specific focus on the educational context. With this in mind, the learning objectives of this study are to investigate the following: 1) What role does racism play in Cuba currently and historically? 2) What is the role of education in the life of race and racism on the island? 3) What new questions and insights emerge from the Cuban example that might be of use to integrated anti-racism, anti-colonialism and class-oriented scholarship and activism? On a more specific level, the guiding research objectives of the study are to investigate the following: 1) How do teachers support and/or challenge dominant ideas of race and racism, and to what degree to do they construct their own meanings on these topics? 2) How do teachers understand the relevance of race and racism for teaching and learning? 3) How and why do teachers address race and racism in the classroom? The data reveal a complex process of meaning making by teachers who are at once produced by and producers of dominant race discourse on the island. Teachers are the front line race workers of the racial project, doing much of the heavy lifting in the ongoing struggle against racism, but are at the same time custodians of an approach to race relations which has on the whole failed to eliminate racism. This work investigates and explicates this apparent contradiction inherent in teachers’ work and discourse on the island, revealing a flawed and complex form of Cuban anti-racism.

Since Tajikistan’s independence in 1991 the number of rural girls leaving school after grade 9 has been increasing at an alarming rate. In order to improve rural girls’ secondary school attendance and retention, in 2006 Save the Children, local non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, and the Ministry of Education implemented a two-year UNICEF-funded Girls’ Education Project (GEP). This mixed-method study compares rural girls’ secondary school experiences and opportunities at six schools (three GEP schools and three non-GEP schools) in two districts located in regions with the lowest levels of female secondary school participation nationwide. Two research questions guided this study: 1) What factors serve as obstacles or enablers to girls’ secondary school experiences and opportunities in rural Tajikistan? and 2) How did the GEP attempt to overcome factors limiting rural girls’ secondary school experiences and opportunities and which aspects of the project were perceived to be most effective? The study’s theoretical framework contains concepts from two sets of theories: 1) social reproduction (schooling as a means of maintaining and reproducing the status quo) and 2) empowerment (schooling as a means of changing the status quo). Data collected reveals two groups’ perspectives: 1) adult participants (Ministry of Education officials, NGO staff, school administrators and teachers) and 2) rural female upper secondary school students. A multi-level data analysis process was used to compare findings within and across districts. Factors that serve as either an obstacle or an enabler of girls’ educational experiences and opportunities include those relating to the community/society, family, school, and self. Factors related to community/society include the dominant belief that a girl is “grown-up” by 15 and should no longer go to school which intersects with family poverty to create a major barrier to girls’ non-compulsory secondary schooling. Factors affecting girls’ schooling related to the family were the most significant determinant of a girl’s schooling. Of all the GEP activities, participants consistently considered the girls’ overnight camp to be the “best” activity. Findings show how enabling just a few girls to return to school significantly increases the likelihood of other girls being allowed to attend school in these rural communities.

Over the past several decades, secular schools in North America have been expected to impart moral education to students. An array of approaches, strategies, methods, and philosophical and theoretical orientations for doing so are promoted in education literature. Two, in particular, have also been politically endorsed in Ontario, Canada—character education and community service. Yet, there remains discrepancy among teachers’ practices, knowledge, awareness, and intentions. Anecdotal reports indicate that relatively few teachers provide a consistent and comprehensive moral education, and those who do, act primarily on their own initiative and at their own discretion. Previous empirical evidence suggests that teachers who are moral agents conceive of, enact, and reflect on a personally developed form of moral education, which is embedded in the moral and ethical dimensions of school and classroom life, curriculum, and pedagogy. This single-case study aims to broaden and deepen the scholarship of moral agency as moral education, by exploring the question How does a teacher, who prioritizes the moral education of students, envision, enact and reflect on that moral education. Positioning myself as a conduit, within what is often considered to be a closed-door culture of teaching, I metaphorically opened one teacher’s classroom door and exposed her practices. The result is a uniquely comprehensive and genuine portrait of moral agency, which details the use of a variety of strategies and methods for imparting morality. These include intentionally modelling moral behaviours, conduct and dispositions; fostering relationships with and among students; creating a classroom community; delivering virtues lessons and messages; encouraging discussions of a moral nature; nurturing self-discipline in students; providing opportunities for community service; and assessing students’ social and moral development. The harmonious co-existence of these strategies and methods within one classroom and one teacher’s practice; the complementary and supportive way in which the teacher makes use of them; and their independence of any particular philosophical or theoretical orientation for moral education, represent the main insights of this study. These insights suggest that moral education in a secular classroom might be more comprehensively understood and promoted as moral agency.

This mixed-methods study contributes to the limited literature on global citizenship by comparing the impacts of two curricular methods used to educate for global citizenship: international education experiences and a school-wide approach. Using Round Square as the case study, an international association of secondary schools that incorporate both methods to foster global citizenship, and an adapted version of Hartman’s (2008) Global Citizenship Survey, this study examines the global citizenship qualities of 185 graduates from Canadian Round Square schools. Findings reveal that not only is the pursuit of global citizenship within schools valuable and possible, but that a school-wide approach is as effective a method to educate for global citizenship as international education experiences. Results are valuable as many schools lack the resources, capacity, and motivation for global citizenship programming, particularly if programming relies on international education activities. Results also question the necessity of international opportunities to foster global citizenship.

This design-based research study investigates the development of progressive discourse among participants (n=15, n=17, n=20) in three online graduate course contexts. Progressive discourse is a kind of discourse for inquiry in which participants share, question, and revise their ideas to deepen understanding and build knowledge. Although progressive discourse is central to knowledge building pedagogy, it is not known whether it is possible to detect its emergence in the patterns of participation in asynchronous conferencing environments or what kinds of instructional scaffolding are most effective to support its development. This study offers a unique perspective by characterizing episodes of discourse where participants honor the commitments for progressive discourse and by refining designs of peer and software-based scaffolding for progressive discourse. Results showed that measures such as note count, replies, and thread sizes can determine some qualities of online discourse but do not shed light on the development of progressive discourse. Thus an in-depth analysis of discourse for groups was developed to trace the interdependent individual contributions to the group discourse. Peer scaffolding that made norms for progressive discourse explicit was introduced to encourage participants to engage in sustained student-centered discourse for inquiry. Findings show that this intervention was most effective at the beginning of a course for newer online learners and newer graduate students, and least effective for students who were practicing K-12 teachers. A significant barrier to fostering progressive discourse is the tendency for teachers to reject these norms and revert to belief-mode thinking and devotional discourse typical of traditional schooling. Additionally, findings suggest that software-based scaffolding (as found in Knowledge Forum’s scaffold support feature) is a promising avenue for future design innovations to encourage progressive discourse. Although the results of this study are only suggestive, the findings do illustrate ways in which graduate students can uphold the commitments to move beyond expressions of socio- affective connection and opinion to discuss ideas in ways that lead to more useful explanations. The implications for these results for analyzing the quality of online discourse and the designs of instructional scaffolding in online learning environments are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Jacqueline D. Spears / This study explored the impact of requiring a video term-paper project and media literacy instruction to address the desired educational goals of increasing student ownership of learning, learning course-related concepts, providing evidence of communication skills, and increasing knowledge of key media literacy concepts. Study participants came from convenience samples drawn from a technology course taught by the researcher and from a writing course taught by a colleague. The sixty participants were male (41) and female (19) college students in different years of their courses of study. Participants comprised traditional-age (18-24) and non-traditional-age (25+) students possessing varying levels of familiarity with the skills examined. A quasi-experimental, two-group control/intervention design was used, augmented by additional data collected from the intervention group. The quasi-experiment consisted of pre-and post-test measurements of media literacy, with both groups receiving media literacy instruction an intervention in the form of a video term-paper research project completed by the intervention group. Additional data were gathered from student surveys and interviews conducted with the intervention group. The quasi-experiment did not provide evidence that either the media literacy instruction or the video term-paper project increased knowledge of media-literacy concepts. However, the data collected indicated that the video project was a relevant challenge that engaged students in active participation in their learning. Despite the inherent difficulties in the use of writing and communications skills in technology classes, science and technology educators should investigate the benefits of using media projects in their courses.