The Ministry of Education/Faculties of Education Forum was held on May 10 in Toronto, and provided an opportunity for educators and policy-makers to share practices, evidence, research, policies, innovations and questions to advance learning.
York University’s Diane Vetter co-chaired the event alongside Hanca Chang (education officer, Ontario Ministry of Education).
Denise Dwyer, assistant deputy minister of the Leadership and Learning Environment Division and John O’Meara (Lakehead University) representing the Ontario Association of Deans of Education, welcomed over 300 participants to the forum.
The opening plenary session featured live and videotaped excerpts from the project “All I’s on Education: Imagination, Integration, Innovation”. The project, which was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Council of Ontario Directors of Education, experimented with innovative, imaginative and integrated teacher practice through a number of teacher-led classroom-based inquiry projects from 10 different school boards across Ontario.
The project was housed at York’s Faculty of Education and supported by Principal Investigator Kathleen Gould-Lundy and York University researchers Steve Alsop, Marc Husband, Jafar Hussain, Naomi Norquay, Tina Rapke and Belarie Zatzman. York Teacher Candidates Arthur Burrows, Kaitlin Burns and Angela Corapi, who participated in the original project, brought the project to life on the Forum stage.
The forum was well attended by a number of our faculty members who also presented their collaborative research at the event including:
- Sue Winton (York U) & Yvonne Kelly (YRDSB) “Building Capacity to Address Class in Teaching and Learning”;
- Tina Rapke (York U) & Marc Husband (York U) “Using Video Club to Enhance Mathematics Teaching and Learning”; and
- John Ippolito (York U), Jay Wolkoff (YRDSB), Maria Lucic (YRDSB), Jeewan Chanicka (Minstry of Education) “Building Institutional Capacity through Dialogue among Minority Families and their Children’s School in the York Region District School Board”.
York teacher candidates Daniela Figliano, Patria Schaubel, Victoria Ennis, Melissa Marchesano, Michal Seridio, Krystyn Tzimas, Andrew Truong and Tristan CastroPozoCastro were invaluable volunteers who supported presenters and participants throughout the day.
The forum was a great opportunity for our faculty and students to engage in dialogue, share knowledge, deepen learning, refine practices and connect with colleagues in the education sector.