In our ninth episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Bárbara Silva.

Bárbara Silva is a public education advocate, organizer and activist, with degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Education. She is most passionate about building support for an equitable and accessible public education system and creating awareness about the proliferation of privatization across Canada. In 2015, Bárbara co-founded the citizen-run public education advocacy organization Support Our Students Alberta, which led several campaigns and rallies in defense of public education across the province. She now lives in BC, where she is a fellow with the Institute of Public Education.

In this episode, we speak to Bárbara Silva about her public education advocacy in Alberta and British Columbia. In particular, we speak to Bárbara about the tactics and reforms utilized in each province to advance privatization and undermine public education. One such tactic is the employment of choice rhetoric. Barbara shares some key insights from her recently published article, "In education, does more choice actually equal more freedom." Through this article, and in our conversation, Barbara challenges the perception that choice translates to freedom--it is accessibility that truly equals freedom. She also speaks to the way that choice undermines communities. The episode ends with an overview of Barbara's important work with SOS Alberta, and now with IPEBC.
https://monitormag.ca/articles/education-whats-missing-from-the-choice-freedom-equation/
https://instituteforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Occassional-Paper-8-November-8-2022.pdf

In our eighth episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Wing Li.

Dr. Wing Li (pronouns she/her) is the Communications Director at Support Our Students, or SOS Alberta. SOS Alberta is a non-partisan public education advocacy group fighting for the rights of all children to an equitable and accessible public education system. SOS Alberta is a political action-oriented collective that mobilizes policy research and media discourse into tangible social change. Dr. Li holds a Master of Science and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Lethbridge. She also currently works with elementary reading intervention at her community public school, has taught at the post-secondary level, and has worked with science education and knowledge translation initiatives. Along with the dedicated team at SOS Alberta, she is working to organize a movement for a truly universally accessible public education system for all students from a structural societal justice lens.

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Li about the education landscape in Alberta. Dr. Li offers a comprehensive outline of the varied forms of schooling in the province, namely public schools, charter schools, catholic schools, francophone schools, private schools, and homeschooling. She also raises some important questions about how these varied forms of schooling undermine the tenets of public education, such as universal access and governance. This is an incredibly rich interview filled with important discussions about: the use of rhetoric (choice and rights); the legitimation of private funding and influence; and, the insidiousness of privatization. Dr. Li also introduces listeners to SOS Alberta, an advocacy group that is challenging privatization and fighting for an equitable and accessible public education system: https://www.supportourstudents.ca/.

In our seventh episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Jon Young.

Dr. Jon Young is currently the Acting Department Head of the Department of Educational Administration, Foundations & Psychology in the Faculty of Education, at the University of Manitoba. His research interests include: school boards in Canada, internationalization of education, education funding, and fundraising. His areas of specialization are: Educational Administration, Public Governance & Education Policy.

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Young about the core values of public schooling. We also ask Dr. Young how broader public understandings of public education as a public good have changed over time. The episode offers specifics example from the Manitoba context—one that we think will give our listeners some hope about public action against government reforms. Anyone who had a “Kill Bill 64” sign on their lawn will want to listen to this episode—and so will anyone who does not know that means!

In our sixth episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Sue Winton.

Dr. Sue Winton (@Swintoncpa) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University. Dr. Winton’s critical policy research examines how education policies and policy processes support and/or undermine critical democratic commitments to equity, diversity, social justice, and public participation in policymaking. She has just published a new book, Unequal Benefits: Privatization and Public Education in Canada. https://utorontopress.com/9781487508586/unequal-benefits/

In this episode, we ask Dr. Winton what compelled her to write Unequal Benefits and what she finds fruitful about examining policy. Dr. Winton speaks about policies that encourage privatization in/of education. In particular, we speak about the impact of boutique programs, school fees, and fundrasing. The episode invites some important questions about the impact of individual choices, and the simultaneous risk of individualizing systemic issues. Like Dr. Winton's book, the episode ends with some ideas for advocacy.

In our fifth episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Henry Giroux.

Dr. Henry A. Giroux (@HenryGiroux) currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. He has published more than 65 books on critical pedagogy, cultural criticism and educational theory. His two most recent books are: Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy & Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance. For a full outline of his work: https://www.henryagiroux.com

In this episode, we ask Dr. Giroux about his use of the terms neoliberal fascism and gangster capitalism, and the impact each has had on the public imagination and notions of the public good. Through this interview, Dr. Giroux shares his thoughts on “patriotic education”, attacks on teachers and teacher unions, and the current war on youth. This is a riveting interview that offers incredible insights about trends and patterns in the broader educational landscape. The interview importantly ends with hope-- “without hope, there is no political agency”.

In our fourth episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Joel Westheimer.

Dr. Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. He publishes widely in newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals, and is the co-author of the widely read book, What Kind of Citizen: Educating Our Children for the Common Good. Dr. Westheimer’s voice may sound familiar, as he is the education columnist for CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning.

In this episode, we consider the role of belief in the current context, particularly how it has impacted understanding of the “common good”. We also ask Dr. Westheimer how his views on citizenship have changed since writing What Kind of Citizen. In addition, we look at how the standards and accountability movement impacts students, teachers, learning, and the broader purpose of education.

In our third episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by Dr. Wendy Hughes.

Dr. Wendy Hughes recently completed her EdD at OISE, U of T. Prior to this, Wendy was a school principal. In November, Hughes published an article in Conversation Canada, 'Why attending publicly funded schools may help students become more culturally sensitive'.

In this episode, Dr. Hughes shares the findings of recently completed research about the role of public schools in nurturing intercultural citizenship. Drawing on this research, we explore the ways that publicly-funded schools with diverse populations can create the conditions for developing intercultural citizens.

In our second episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by two guests, Dr. Gerald Fallon and Dr. Wendy Poole.

Gerald and Wendy are co-authors of many articles about the impacts of neoliberalism on K-12 education, specifically as it relates to education funding in BC. In 2021 they released their co-authored book, Neoliberalism and Public Education Finance Policy in Canada and Its Impacts in/on Public Education. Dr. Poole and Dr. Fallon are also both professors in the Department of Educational Studies in the Faculty of Education at UBC (@edstubc).

In this episode, we explore neoliberalism, and how neoliberal thinking motivated market oriented education financing in BC. Wendy and Gerald explain how an amendment to the school act in 2002 led to the creation of ‘school district business companies’. As the responsibility to fund education has landed on school district’s doors, issues of equity have emerged.

In our very first episode of Public Good, Shannon and Stephen are joined by education historian, Dr. Jack Schneider.

Jack is co-author of Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School. He and his co-author, Jennifer Berkshire, are the creators and hosts of the extremely popular education podcast, Have You Heard.

In this episode, we explore the idea of public education as a public good, some of the acts of "dismantling" occurring in the US and the importance of public scholarship in the fight for a strong vision of public education.

Follow Jack Schneider on Twitter at @Edu_Historian and on Mastadon at @[email protected]