Multiple StFX researchers are among leading scholars from across the country to contribute to a new book that examines how teacher leadership is reshaping Canadian education and influencing policy and practice.
The recently published e-book Research in Teacher Leadership in Canada: Transformative and Contextualized Agency, presenting research that highlights the transformative and contextualized agency of teacher leaders, and posted in the Canadian Association for Teacher Education (CATE) website, contains four chapters with a number of StFX authors involved.
The StFX authors include Dr. Katarin MacLeod, Regina Cozzi, Nicole Cameron, Sarah Rokosh, Dr. Marc Husband, Dr. Brittany MacDonald-MacAulay, Dr. Allison Tucker, and Dr. Carolyn Clarke.
Research in Teacher Leadership in Canada brings together research that highlights the many ways teachers are leading innovation in schools across Canada, says its co-editor Dr. Cathryn Smith of Brandon University. It explores the challenges and opportunities of teacher leadership, emphasizing the power of educators to drive meaningful change from within their classrooms, and it is structured to include diverse research perspectives on teacher leadership across different educational contexts, from elementary to high school classrooms to post-secondary teacher education programs.
BRINGING OCEAN LITERACY INTO CLASSROOMS
In the chapter “Dialing Up Classroom Engagement and Recognizing Emerging Leadership: Bringing Ocean Literacy Learning into the Classrooms of Rural Northeastern Nova Scotia,” authors Dr. Katarin MacLeod, Regina Cozzi, Nicole Cameron and Sarah Rokosh of StFX and Dr. Wendy Kraglund-Gauthier, Yorkville, present a piece of a broader research project focused on exploring ocean literacy in Nova Scotia.
This portion focused on the leadership opportunities for StFX pre-service teachers and X-Oceans facilitators as they built capacity in ocean education though X-Oceans Outreach programming targeting school communities, especially in rural regions of the province.
The authors say the findings revealed how pre-service teachers and facilitators not only increased their capacity in knowledge, learning, and leadership, but also underscored how hands-on learning enhances understanding of ocean content and sparked interest in ocean-related careers.
“This is profoundly significant as it highlights, through the lens of collaboration, how local outreach programs like X-Oceans, university students, pre-service teachers, and schools can unite their efforts to better support the youth in rural communities connecting STEM and ocean literacy in a real-world setting,” they say.
SUPPORTING EMERGENT MATH TEACHERS
Education faculty member Dr. Marc Husband says the focus of his chapter, "Supporting Emergent Mathematics Teacher Leaders Towards Developing Inclusive Leadership," discusses the importance of professional development for elementary mathematics teacher leaders. The chapter, with co-authors Dr. Robyn Ruttenberg-Rozen of Ontario Tech University and Dr. Rob Elkington of Trent University, focuses on task design and its role in promoting inclusive teaching practices through activities like co-teaching, participation in a video club, and analysis of student work samples.
The data was collected in a course Dr. Husband teaches in the certificate in elementary mathematics program at StFX.
“I think the inclusion of this work is significant as it represents a contribution to Canadian research in teacher education. It emphasizes the innovations at StFX and other Canadian institutions that are advancing teacher leaders. Specifically, my chapter was the only one about mathematics education. The chapter aligns with the broader themes of the book, highlighting innovative professional development practices that foster inclusive leadership among elementary mathematics teachers,” he says.
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Engineering faculty member Dr. Brittany MacDonald-MacAulay says her book chapter, “From the Ground Up, Building the Foundation of Engineering Ethics via Social Media Platforms as a Teacher Leader,” allowed her to reflect on novel changes she was making in her first year engineering course, Engineering Design and Graphics, around bridging the gap between industry and academia (“where I find the two are often treated as separate entities rather than a pathway,” she says) and her endeavours to include information on engineering ethics in the course curriculum.
Dr. MacDonald-MacAulay says she learned about the CATE Working Conference from education professor Dr. Katarin MacLeod. “This was an exciting opportunity as I had been endeavoring into educational studies and had already taken M.Ed. courses toward my acceptance into the Educational Studies PhD program where Dr. MacLeod had signed on to be my PhD supervisor and had worked with me to plan our project and pathway,” she says. “This is very meaningful for me as, as a chapter author coming from a non-education background, without a B.Ed., to not only be considered for a chapter in a book about educational practices, but to then be successful in publication was a huge honour.”
Dr. MacDonald-MacAulay also thanked her students who participated in her surveys, helping make this research possible.
ENACTMENTS OF LEADERSHIP
StFX education faculty Dr. Allison Tucker and Dr. Carolyn Clarke are authors with Vickie MacDougall, Nicole Kelly, and Natasha Farr of Newfoundland and Labrador schools on the chapter, “Women Elementary Teachers Enactments of Leadership: An Invitation to Consider Perspectives on School Leadership.”
Their work explores the school-based teacher leadership of women elementary teachers, who demonstrate leadership in their everyday practices, despite lacking formal leadership roles. Leadership in education, commonly understood through the formal leadership positions held by designated leaders in schools, neglects leadership shown by teachers in response to school contexts, they say. The researchers investigate their experiences of women elementary teachers as leaders through their documented reflections.
“We believe that the inclusion of this work is important as it helps reframe leadership as demonstrated by women elementary teachers who are currently in the education system." say Dr. Tucker and Dr. Clarke. "Our chapter tells the story of teachers who are not tasked with leadership, who naturally enact leadership. As practicing teachers their voices are valued and essential, yet often unacknowledged.”
