The Ontario Action Researcher
 

Editorial

RAISING YOUR VOICE!
EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION , THE BASICS, AND PROFESSIONALISM IN ACTION RESEARCH

Kurt W. Clausen, Co-Editor

In 1997, the newly installed Conservative government distributed a pamphlet entitled Excellence in Education in which they outlined all the reforms that they were intending to accomplish within the Ontario school system. Two resolutions spring forth from this manifesto that are of special relevance to this edition of the Researcher. The first is a commitment from the Ministry of Education and Training to place a greater emphasis on “a solid foundation in the basics” – the Ministry elaborated on this statement by referring to desired increases in students’ knowledge of reading, writing, spelling, math, science, and technology. The pamphlet explains that this would easily be accomplished through a greater concentration of resources, expertise, and effort where they belong – on students, on learning, and in the classrooms of this province (p. 5). This top-down “so let it be written, so let it be done” approach has evidenced itself through such deconstructive tasks as cuts to the infrastructure of the school system and to numerous educational programs. What has been more obscure, however, is mention of any gains that are made in specific classrooms based on the Ministry’s “local concentration” tactic.

It must be pointed out that the authors of this volume represent, in small measure, the army of practitioners and scholars who are carrying out the Ministry’s promises on a daily basis at the local level. In turn, they deal with barriers to literacy, reflective journaling, attitudes toward the sciences and career training. However, if one reads their articles quite carefully, one will notice that while they are bringing these promises of expertise and effort to life, they are doing so out of a long-standing dedication to their subject and a need to solve an immediate problem rather than paying heed to any external direction. Indeed, their actions are paralleled in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book le petit prince. The sun always sets on the King’s command with dutiful obedience. What gives the King this authority? Why it rests on the fact that his orders are reasonable and his commands given when conditions were most favourable.

This brings us to the second point raised in Excellence in Education– the need to see teachers as professionals. In giving them this status, the pamphlet merely made mention of the Ontario College of Teachers, who were delegated the task of developing and enforcing standards of teaching. In the Ministry’s own words, this still remains a top-down process where “teachers will get the best training possible, throughout their education and their careers” (p. 3) - just from a new manager. However, in calling teachers professionals, the Ministry has also implicitly given them a new standing in the educational community – that of semi-autonomous “experts of their location”. If the status is sincerely given, teachers should no longer be seen as simple transmitters of orders and dutifully markers. What “professionalism” means is the ability for the professionals to think for themselves – as action researchers – to examine a situation, to judge where weakness lies, and to strive to make the situation better through their own judgement.

Another aspect of professionalism that these authors display is their sense of community. When one thinks of the traditional world of education, one pictures the lonely existence of the closed classroom door and the sole academic. Here, this paradigm is broken in a number of ways. Deb Opersko and Jennifer Sztramko both are quick to throw their egos aside in their research and forge multiple connections within the school system that will help them in their search. They did not merely go to the “next level in command”. They sought out the most appropriate help, be it a superintendent, a librarian or a good friend in the next room. Going one step further, Janet McIntosh, Sa’adah Ridwan and Dr. Kardiawarman show us how permeable the connections are between the school system and university-level research. When brought together for a single purpose, these two communities seem to work well together.

As you may notice, the ultimate goals of each educational researcher do not stray too far from the expectations set by the Ministry (and that includes those goals of Ms. Ridwan and Dr. Kardiawarman from Indonesia ). What do change between these authors are the procedures, teaching methods and understandings with which they must come to grips as they struggle towards these goals. Like a doctor, another professional, the educator’s ultimate goal is to help the student – it’s just that each student has different needs, responds to different motivations, and has different ambitions. Here, the expert’s ability to judge the local becomes the all-important factor.