Governance of Public Education in Canada

Ahhh, such an interesting topic… I am sure those of you who have been reading this blog… silence… crickets chirping… um anyone?, will be so excited to read about this particular topic. Haha.

Sorry, I really never have been very good at being intentionally funny. Can you tell?

Well, this week in class we discussed the governance of public education in Canada and while it might sound a little dry, it actually was a worthwhile topic. Educating myself on the inner workings of the establishment I plan to work for is a no brainer. And, I would argue, should be for all teachers. You cannot change what you do not understand!

Being newly educated on the topic, but still relatively uninformed in the grand scheme of things, I have to say, I think that our governing structure is a little archaic. However, that would also imply that a lot of governing structures are archaic since the governing structure for public schools is pretty similar to a lot of other companies and levels of government in our country.

When I say archaic, what I really mean is that I think there is room for change. I think a visual will be the easiest way for me to make my point. Observe the distance between this sentence I am typing right here, as I begin to type out the levels of governance…  
                                                                                                             
Provincial Government

School Divisions and School Boards

Superintendent of Schools

School Level 

Principal/Vice Principal

Teachers and Staff

…and my sentence all the way down here. Arguably if this were a building, it would likely be a sky scraper and that means that it would be pretty hard for the people on the main level to BE HEARD BY THE PEOPLE ON THE TOP LEVEL.

Admittedly, I have no better idea or system really because this kind of hierarchical system is all I know and is the system used for almost every kind of governance. And it does have its place. However, I would argue that its inadequacies are also being put on centre stage as the world economy continues to flounder and struggle. The system is crying for help. This kind of governance structure was designed for efficiency, unfortunately more often than not functions pretty inefficiently.

Education is chronically underfunded and always needs more money. But if we go back to that sky scraper analogy it becomes pretty easy to imagine how difficult it is for the people on the main floor to get what they need if the people on the top don’t really ever come visit but still make all the decisions. I’m not trying to imply that people that are the problem in levels of governance (well maybe sometimes, but I’m an optimist and tend to see the best in others ), it is the scale. The people at the top don’t have time to go and talk to all of the people at the bottom, there isn’t enough people at the top or hours in the day to ever be able to. At the same time if the people at the bottom tried to make all the decisions, it would be hard because their own circumstances and subjectivity would make it harder to make the tough calls. In addition, there would just be too many people trying to make decisions and that’s complicated too.

Nonetheless, having people at the top making big decisions for all of the people at the bottom is a problem if the people at the top are disconnected from what is happening at the bottom. But this argument has grown entirely too big for governance in public education and is really an argument for levels of governance in general. And it isn’t really an argument, rather more of an observation because I have no suggestions for how it could be productively changed.

The observations are important though. Not because my observations are earth shattering or radical but because these kinds of observations begin conversations, and conversations can lead to in-depth discussions and discussions can lead to planning and planning can lead to action and action can lead to change.

As educators it is important for us to make observations and have conversations. Lots of those conversations will never become anything more than just that, a conversation. But every once in a while a conversation just might lead to something more- progress. And an education system that is progressive will lead to a society that thinks more progressive. My rhetoric might be getting old, but it’s true. You want to change society? Start in a classroom.


An article I discovered a few weeks after writing this post about Canada's Aboriginal Education System:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/putting-the-system-in-education-for-on-reserve-students/article2349550/