S.J. Willis was British Columbia’s longest-serving Deputy Minister. Between 1919
and 1945 he influenced directly the policies and procedures of the province’s educational
enterprise.
Willis assumed a primary role in policy-making. It was to Willis that the Ministers,
school inspectors, teachers and members of the public made known their suggestions and
complaints. Although he continued to manage the Department with a high degree of central
authority, he was more inclusive of teachers and trustees in policy-making than were his
predecessors. His ingenuity in this respect is one of the central themes of this thesis.
Willis set the tone for dealings with the Department. Public perceptions of the
Department, and those of teachers in the field, were determined largely by their dealings with
the Deputy. He managed day-to-day operations while Ministers tended political relationships
and participated in government.
As Deputy Minister, Willis provided political advice to his ministers, thus taking
responsibility for controversial issues as an ordinary duty. All the while, Willis showed he
understood the scope and limitations of his powers. He was careful to support the politicians
and governments he served without assuming the mantle of elected representatives. The
record of his career exemplifies that of the traditional civil servant.
This study concludes that Willis’ bureaucratic legacy can be instructive to
contemporary government officials and suggests that the Deputy performs an important
function in providing continuity between changing governments and Ministers. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/6923 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Giles, Valerie Mary Evelyn |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 3318497 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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