Education and Society Courses

This course focuses on raising awareness and sensitivity to equity and diversity issues facing teachers and students in diverse schools and cultural communities. It builds knowledge of how oppression works and how cultural resources and educational practices may be brought to bear on reducing oppression and improving equity. Restricted to students enrolled in the Education and Society Minor.

This course examines how children and adolescents develop and explores how best to facilitate their growth and learning in the area of education. Major topics include cognitive, emotional, social, moral, physical and language development. Themes addressed include interpersonal relationships such as pro-social and aggressive behaviour, as well as the influence of schooling, family life and culture. This course includes an experiential learning component whereby students will profile a child based on their cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development. Restricted to students enrolled in the Education and Society Minor. 

This course will explore the foundations of teaching as a professional practice, mainly in the Ontario context. The course focuses on theory and research underlying policies and documents such as the Ontario College of Teachers’ Foundations of Professional Practice and Ministry curriculum.  Students will engage in reflexive inquiry about educational practice and policies through class discussions, small group work, case studies and/or independent study. The course will critically examine the relationship between the principles of teaching through moral, ethical and professional practices. Prerequisite: Enrolment in the Education and Society Minor. 

This course introduces students to a multiliteracies framework through the pedagogical lens of social justice and diversity. Class participants learn to integrate the multimodalities of literacy in their teaching practice and expand their understanding of 21st-century literacy. Themes include language development, print literacy, digital literacy, critical literacy, visual literacy and multicultural perspectives on literacy. 

This course provides a historical overview and contemporary analysis of perspectives and practices of international education with a focus on international development and policy. Factors that shape the global architecture of education will be explored; these may include theories of globalization, education reform, comparative education, peace education, international schooling and global citizenship education. Students will have the opportunity to analyze education reforms and to address issues related to access and quality of learning. Restricted to students enrolled in the Education and Society Minor.

An exploration of Residential Schools in Canada and their impacts on education and lives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. This course investigates the historical educational ideology of residential schools and their relationship to colonization, the role of government and organized religion in the residential school system, and contemporary strategies that encourage stable and trusting relationships with Indigenous communities. This course will also explore aspects of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.