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Exploring Teachers' Insights into Their Professional Growth and other Experiences in Diverse Classrooms in Alberta
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- Author / Creator
- Tereshchuk, Daniela D'arc Fontenele
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Recent rapid changes in immigration intake have impacted education in Canada, particularly in Alberta. As a result of these changes, the student demographic has grown increasingly more diverse. The Edmonton Public School Board, for example, noticed a significant growth in the English Language Learner (ELL) student population, more than doubling the number of this particular group of students in recent years. Some comparative educational rankings such as the much publicized Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggests some decline in the overall performance of Canadian students. These school performance indicators are closely watched by concerned parents and stakeholders. These factors combined have contributed to put pressure on school administrators and teachers, and triggered educational reforms seeking to meet the complex needs of the increasingly diverse student population through advocating for a greater degree of accountability from schools. This study explores the perceptions of the experiences of four high school English language arts teachers in a major city in Alberta, who are diverse in background and in their perceptions lived experiences, on how education is responding to the current increased diversity in the classrooms and schools, and how these teachers see their professional growth in the context of this diversity. It is a multiple case study of each of these four teachers and their insights into the present situation of diversity in their classrooms and schools. As I was unable to see clearly an a priori theoretical framework for this work as my hoped for approaches through the work of Freire and the German/American neo-Marxist critical theorists did not resonate either with my own experience or that of the four teachers who offered their insight, I approached this task as one of constructing a possible theoretical account of the results via a grounded theory approach. The one theory that clearly did arise out of the views of the four teachers is that there is inadequate representation of the views of practicing teachers informing educational policy in Alberta at the present time.
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2019
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.