Sensemaking: How is the Equitable and Inclusive Education Policy Understood, Explained, and Implemented by School Administrators in Ontario?
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Ontario Ministry of Education’s policy related to equitable and inclusive education (PPM 119) has been in existence for some 25 years, starting from what was called the Antiracism and Ethnocultural Equity Policy (1993) up to the 2013 version, which includes additional marginalized groups as well as strategies and timelines to support these groups. This study examines, from cognitive and social identity perspectives how secondary school administrators in a school board near Toronto, Ontario, make sense of their school board’s complexly-encoded policy and how it works with various stakeholders to explain and implement two areas of that policy: a) curriculum and assessment and b) school climate and the prevention of harassment and discrimination. Composed of 10 qualitative interviews with self-identifying equity-minded secondary school administrators, as well as analysis and synthesis of the policy and literature, this study investigates the interaction between these administrators’ familiarity with a school board’s version of the Ministry policy and their individual cognitive and social identities as they are situated in the sensemaking of this policy. While the findings reveal a strong commitment from all participants to engage in this work to better support and serve their communities, there are wide and varying understandings of the policy, how sense is made of it, conceptions of what the policy asks administrators to consider, and how personal and social experiences, values, and beliefs inform their work in these two areas. The findings support discussion in terms of creating specific professional development opportunities for administrators—including fostering a knowledge of the historical understandings that underlie the policy—with the goal of moving towards centering the work of equity and inclusion on improved student support in this area, as part of a social determinant of a person’s health and life outcomes.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Carolyn A Albanese
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3155759452