In recent years, education has been a major focus of government policy in many of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Governments have had an effect on changes in the education enterprise including curriculum, testing, governance, finance, and accountability. -- Greater accountability has been advocated for education systems as a means of ensuring that taxpayers are getting reasonable value for their education dollar. Strategies and tools for increasing school accountability have become an integral part of broader school reform initiatives. -- In examining reform initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1990s and Alberta in the early 2000s, it has been observed that business model techniques have played a major role in driving school reform. In comparing education reform in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta, one finds that the Alberta model of reform is well advanced in areas of technology, school development models, and student performance. However, it must be noted that the Alberta system is well-funded compared to the Newfoundland and Labrador system. -- The language and practices of the corporate world have increasingly become a part of school reform. As a result, today's Canadian education systems utilize business and economic models in pursuing the education enterprise.

A comparison of educational reform in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta: a document analysis of the North American economic business model and its effect on education reform in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta

We investigate the representation of colonialism and Indigenous peoples in K-12 education in Canada. Focusing on three provinces—Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and British Columbia—we analyze strategies of inclusion and exclusion at play in Ministry of Education-approved primary and secondary curricula and textbooks. Drawing on findings from our larger research project, we discuss the implications of these strategies on student consciousness. Our examination suggests that in all three educational jurisdictions, students are learning a logic of relation premised on the disappearance of Indigenous peoples as sovereign, self-determining nations. Silence around Indigenous philosophies and territories, apologia for colonial incursions on Indigenous territories, and reinforcement of racialized hierarchies of being all work to minimize colonial violence and preclude imagination of distinct, vital, and self-determining Indigenous nations. Particularly troubling are the ways in which curricula and texts invite students to participate in the perpetuation of colonial modes of thought and action.

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Securing Indigenous Dispossession Through Education: An Analysis of Canadian Curricula and Textbooks

Trillium Listed! Economics Now introduces students to basic principles of micro and macro economics, with a focus on the history of economic thought and economics on the world stage. It examines closely economic decision-making, including the role of government in employment and unemployment issues as well as in the global economic issues. French version Economie Contemporaine available. Please contact Cheneliere Education for details.

John Piper

Papers

Economics Now: Analyzing Current Issues