I don’t mean to keep coming back to Kavanaugh, but the whole affair is just so bizarre I find it fascinating. Until the Supreme Court nomination, I (and I suspect 99% of the country) had no idea who this guy was, and then came the most epic smear this country has ever seen, with witnesses […] … learn more→

I found out early on that academic work required finding ways to deal with a load of information. My undergraduate honours class, taken in addition to regular courses, required novice scholars to read three to four primary sources and then five or six papers each week. Whew. We all had to find ways to read […] … learn more→

The choices that societies make concerning the treatment of children can bring about the greatest of debates and prompt significant political action. Our research teaches us that the question of a how a child should be treated — what value societies place on children — is not only a modern question, but an ancient one. As […] … learn more→

The presence of law enforcement in schools – better known as school resource officers – has become increasingly common. These officers, who have full law enforcement powers, are supposed to keep students safe. Earlier this year, however, a former Michigan school resource officer – Matthew Priebe – was convicted and sentenced to one year in jail for doing […] … learn more→

According to the National Observatory of Student Life ( OVE ), more than eight out of 10 students report having been in a precarious situation at least during the year. This value is stable over the last surveys on living conditions , conducted in 2010, 2013 and 2016. This very high value is to be qualified in that it covers […] … learn more→

Constructivism is an educational philosophy that deems experience as the best way to acquire knowledge. We truly understand something – according to a constructivist – when we filter it through our senses and interactions. We can only understand the idea of “blue” if we have vision (and if we aren’t colour blind). Constructivism is an education […] … learn more→

The Ontario government’s so-called Student Choice Initiative was recently declared unlawful following a court challenge launched by the Canadian Federation of Students and the York Federation of Students. The Ontario Divisional Court’s decision voids the government’s requirement that post-secondary institutions must distinguish between fees that are considered compulsory and those deemed non-essential. The directive also allowed more students to opt out of paying fees to […] … learn more→

It took me quite a while to realise that I was being bullied. Bullying in academia doesn’t look like bullying at school: I wasn’t pushed up against a wall or excluded from playtime games. But I have been shouted at in meetings. I have been sent breathtakingly critical emails, filled with ill-informed assumptions and irrational, […] … learn more→

I always had conflicting thoughts about how I deal with my students. On the one hand, they’re adults…I don’t like forcing adults to do things like handing in homework. On the other, I know the best way to learn a skill is to practice the skill, and homework forces them to do the requisite practice…but […] … learn more→

When results come out for big education tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which primarily measures 15-year-old students’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematics and science, the focus is often on which countries scored the highest. The education systems of countries that do well on this test are often portrayed as models for the […] … learn more→