Laura Elizabeth Pinto

Pushing the entrepreneurial prodigy: Canadian Aboriginal entrepreneurship education initiatives

Globally, neoliberal education policy touts youth entrepreneurship education as a solution for staggering youth unemployment, a means to bolster economically depressed regions, and solution to the ill-defined changing marketplace. Many jurisdictions have emphasized a need for K-12 entrepreneurial education for the general population, and targeted to youth labeled ‘at risk’. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative’s Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program (AYEP) has been enacted across Canada. This paper applies critical discourse analysis to a corpus of texts, exposing how colonial practices, deficit discourse, and discursive neoliberalism are embedded and perpetuated though entrepreneurial education targeted at Aboriginal students via AYEP.

Tensions and fissures: the politics of standardised testing and accountability in Ontario, 1995–2015

ABSTRACT While Ontario has received international accolades for its enactment of province-wide standardised testing upon the formation of the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), a closer look at provincial assessments over a 20-year span reveals successes as well as systemic tensions and fissures. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it offers a socio-historical account of EQAO policy and programme enactment. Second, it offers insight into the less-publicised politics of enactment within systems with respect to principles and methods of accountability and their link to instructional systems. Data and findings from various sources shed light on the realities of struggles, tensions in macro-political consensus and dissensus among various stakeholders, and the micro-politics at the school and district levels.

Aboriginal entrepreneurship financing in Canada: Walking the fine line between self-determination and colonization

Purpose This paper aims to explore Canadian in/exclusion of Aboriginal groups to/from access to mainstream business resources and opportunities. The focus is one prominent non-governmental program, the Canadian Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship (CAPE) Fund, designed to provide equity to Aboriginal businesses. Do programs such as CAPE Fund promote Aboriginal entrepreneurship that liberates “others” on their own terms? or are they “civilizing missions” that attempt to impose Euro-centric practices and values? Design/methodology/approach The authors critically analyze the “promises” of entrepreneurship through CAPE Fund using TribalCrit, a framework rooted in critical race theory (CRT) and postcolonialism. The authors used a CRT research method highlighting two organizational narratives, describing CAPE Fund financing in two separate ventures. The research allowed to test the theory’s use in practical situations. Findings This paper develops a postcolonial conception of entrepreneurship to address the realities and needs of Aboriginal communities. Analysis of Canada’s CAPE Fund within two organizational narratives identified aspects of promise (active Aboriginal business ownership) and shortcomings (practices that attempted to erase inequity in ways that led to neocolonial subjugation). Research limitations/implications This paper attempts to build theory while engaging in CRT research that relies on organizational narratives. Narrative approaches offer depth of understanding but are not generalizable because of the limited scope of organizations studied. Practical implications The research methods used and framework developed offer researchers new approaches to better understand Indigenous and Aboriginal entrepreneurship outcomes. The findings point to specific Aboriginal funding issues that can be addressed by other funding agencies who wish to create more inclusive structures. Social implications Financial programs that might improve the possibility of self-determination of Aboriginal peoples within the postcolonial ideal must “hold both economic and non-economic objectives in tension” (Overall et al., 2010 p. 157) in ways that typically disadvantage Aboriginal entrepreneurs. Originality/value This is the first, fully articulated framework for postcolonial entrepreneurship, grounded in CRT and applied to analyze Canada’s CAPE Fund.

Learning through Civic Participation: Policy Actors' Perspectives on Curriculum Reform Involvement in Ontario.

When citizens participate in policy production, the advantages go beyond policy outcomes — though the presumption is that participation leads to better public policy. Robust democracy characterized by agonistic exchanges among policy actors ought to encourage learning, dialogue, empowerment, equity, and a shared spirit of inquiry. This article describes and analyses citizen participation in curriculum policy production during the late 1990s based on archival documents and interviews with 16 policy actors (including writers, bureaucrats, and consultation participants). Their reflections on the process reveal unintended learning about politics, government, and the cultivation of civic skills arising out of interaction with others in different roles and on different ends of the political spectrum. While the analysis reveals how some describe the process as ‘radicalizing’ enlightenment, the findings point to a number of areas for improving opportunities for learning in formal policy production processes, as well as areas for further empirical investigation.

Politics and Argumentation in Financial Literacy Education Policy

This chapter applies argumentation theory to reveal conclusion-premise-inference structures for Canadian financial education arguments in the public sphere. Consistent with prior research on policy argumentation, pathos and ethos are utilized over logos to advocate the inclusion and development of financial education. The chapter traces how Canadian financial education policy was shaped not by evidence, but by the values of political actors. By calling attention to the structure and substantive nature of political arguments, this chapter raises issues of importance to those producing and enacting policy. Only through awareness of the nuances of policy arguments can policy be challenged, and calls for evidence-based policy can be addressed.

Inclusivity, Educators, and Non-Conformists.

This case calls attention to some of the biases that teachers and leaders in school settings may carry when working with students whose appearance goes against the norm. It presents the experience of Lee-Ann, a vice principal, as she negotiates a conflict between a student and teacher, and is confronted by Marc, a guidance counselor, who recognizes what he views as unjust treatment of a student. Lee-Ann’s position contains contradictions between her self-perception as a “caring, open-minded” educator, and her interactions with and perceptions of a non-conforming student.

A review of No School for Suckers, by J. R. Tompkins

I recall days relegated to archiving files when I worked at the Ontario Public Service. We would load entire file drawers into boxes, and they were taken away. I never gave much thought to how they...