Ontario education: More teachers college does not a teacher make

Ontario education: More teachers college does not a teacher make

Published in the Globe and Mail
Friday September 9, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/ontario-education-more-teachers-college-does-not-a-teacher-make/article2158466/

The piece by Rory Gifillan, Ontario education: More teachers college does not a teacher make, cites no evidence whatsoever in support of his position even though there is quite a bit of research on teacher education. It also contains several leaps of logic – for example that if more education is not helpful, less education might be good, or that one person’s opinion (in this case Kurt Hahn) is a good guide to public policy. People can legitimately disagree on the implications of the evidence and on what to do about teacher education, but to offer an opinion without any consideration of the research does not seem likely to enhance informed public debate.

Sincerely,

• Ruth Baumann
  
• Harold Brathwaite
  
• Lorna Earl
  
• Kathleen Gallagher, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
  
• Joan Green, Former Director of Education, Founding CEO of EQAO, International Consultant on Public Policy and Performance
  
• Bill Hogarth, Retired Director of Education, Education Consultant
  
• Ben Levin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
  
• Penny Milton, Former CEO, Canadian Education Association
  
• Charles E. Pascal, Professor, University of Toronto, Former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education
  
• Charles Ungerleider, Professor Sociology of Education (The University of British Columbia) and Director Research (Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, LLP.)

For those interested in further research on this issue some suggested resources include:

Crocker, R., & Dibbon, D. (2008). Teacher Education in Canada: A baseline study. Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education. Available at: http://saee.ca/upload/Teacher_Education_in_Canada.pdf

Darling-Hammond, L. (2000 ). How Teacher Education Matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 51:3 (166-173).

Pratt, D. (1977). Predicting Teacher Survival. The Journal of Educational Research, 71:1 (12-18).

Believe or not: Less educated legislators do a better job

Believe or not: Less educated legislators do a better job

Published in the Globe and Mail
Monday August 29, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/believe-it-or-not-less-educated-legislators-do-a-better-job/article2143984/

The claim that less educated legislators in the U S do a better job than more educated legislators because their states have lower unemployment is a logical fallacy. One of the first things taught in statistics is that a correlation between two factors does not mean that one causes the other. States with lower unemployment are also more likely to be in the southern part of the US, but this does not suggest that being in the north causes unemployment. Writers, editors and readers should guard against the desire to draw simplistic conclusions by the misapplication of statistical correlations.

Sincerely,

• Ruth Baumann
• Gerry Connelly, Co Director Education Sustainability Development Academy, York University
• Kathleen Gallagher, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Avis Glaze, President, Edu-quest International Inc.
• Joan M. Green, Former Director of Education, Founding CEO of EQAO, International Education Consultant
• Bill Hogarth
• Ken Leithwood, Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Ben Levin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Karen Mundy, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Jim Slotta, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Charles Ungerleider, Professor, Sociology of Education, The University of British Columbia