Monday, April 22, 2013

Chapter 4: Categorizing the Data -- Late 20th Century Documents -- Dorothy MacKeracher’s 1984 review of the Canadian structure


4.4a

Categorizing the Data -- Late 20th Century Documents -- Dorothy MacKeracher’s 1984 review of the Canadian structure


   While working on the website canadianeducationalpolicystudies.ca, the digital reference I designed to permit readers to access in a one-stop collection, 20th century Canadian public education policy documents, it was clear to me that a structural explanation of Canada’s education system was necessary in order to give a structural framing to the “hidden layer” the website was revealing. A description of the underlying bureaucratic/organizational framework was required. In searching for such an organizational overview, I came across a section of a report to the Third Conference of Ministers of Education of Member States of the European Region of UNESCO.  The conference recommended a comparative study on common problems in education. New Technologies in Education was decided as one problem area and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO was asked to coordinate this part of the study. TV Ontario was selected with their Office of Development Research (ODR) to oversee it. To prepare the Canadian review of technology in education, Dorothy MacKeracher was hired to provide an overview of the educational system in Canada and her article was considered so thorough and representative in its explanation as to be available in its sole form in the library catalogue at the University of Alberta in 2005 when I was looking for such a thorough but brief review. I included a transcription of her overview with permission from TV Ontario on the website.
   MacKeracher’s review of the Canadian structure includes some directed political comment with ideological positioning. Additionally, MacKeracher briefly provides a summary of concerns arising in public education in 1984, the year the UNESCO project was undertaken. The set of public education policy documents under consideration here – Late 20th Century Documents – is argued in this dissertation to be defined by conditions that were markedly different from the 1970s set. By 1984 the economic recession and the response of the education system to this reality is a focus for the public. While MacKeracher's review is not the only example regarding the appearance of specific economic factors defining the late twentieth grouping, it provides a summary written precisely in 1984: 
The concerns MacKeracher identifies here are reflected in the three documents under review for the 1980s -- Yukon’s 1987 First Nations report is not so much about recession as it is about relevance in First Nations education. Ontario’s 1987 Radwanski Report, and British Columbia’s 1988 Royal Commission Report, a report commenced March 1987 strongly reflect the concern with relevance and accountability.  


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