(EDU1c) Sociology of Education in K-12 Part 3

This session features papers that draw on empirical, theoretical, or methodological issues in the realm of K-12 education. Cross-listed with the Canadian Association of Sociology of Education (CASE). Tags: Children And Youth, Education

Organizers: Cathlene Hillier, Crandall University, Maria Brisbane, University of Waterloo; Chair: Alexandra Pulchny, McMaster University

Presentations

Samantha Mullin, MacEwan University; Camila Balboa, MacEwan University; Erica Thomson, McMaster University; Emily Milne, MacEwan University

Creating School Community Cohesion and Resilience Post-COVID-19

Educational inequalities experienced by Canadian Kindergarten-Grade 12 students were amplified by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Using data from four waves of mixed-methods surveys conducted from 2020 to 2022 with parents and caregivers of students enrolled in Alberta’s education system, we explore how education can be built back to create more equitable, inclusive, and accessible post-pandemic educational opportunities. This paper is exploratory in nature and seeks to fill a gap in understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on education, allowing us to better understand of how educational systems can foster resilience and social cohesion in Alberta’s school communities moving forward.

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Non-presenting author: Karen Robson, McMaster University

Rashmee Karnad-Jani, Public Scholar

Non-SNAF Families, Mothering Work and Schooling in Ontario: Two Decades of Keeping the Institution in View

Although parental engagement is largely held up as a gender neutral one, scholars in the field argue that the relationship between schools and families is actually one between schools and women. This paper explicates how gendered labour done in families is the invisibilized work of women that Griffith and Smith (2005) called Mothering Work. This paper also examines the experiences of mothers whose embodied labour lies outside the Standard North American Family (SNAF) explicated by Smith (1987, 1993) and the ways in which educational experiences are different from those promised in institutional texts for some families. The paper takes up Smith’s framework of The Small Hero into whose life the ruling relations of Ontario’s K-8 educational system enter and invites active participation from researchers and K-8 educators to engage with the Blended Standpoint by examining how non-SNAF families experience schooling alongside their children.

Alexandra Pulchny, McMaster University

The Role of Support Systems and Belongingness in Shaping High School Students' Post-Secondary Intentions

While many factors influence high-school students’ PSE decisions, the role of support systems like family, peers, and teachers on students’ sense of belonging and intentions to pursue PSE is often overlooked. To investigate this interaction, we conducted a quantitative analysis of the Toronto District School Board 2016/17 Student Census and considered race, gender, and birthplace as indicators of students’ likelihood of developing a positive sense of belonging. Specifically, we investigated whether support systems foster a greater sense of belonging and thus a greater likelihood of intending to pursue PSE or if estrangement negatively impacts students’ PSE intentions.

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Non-presenting author: Karen Robson, McMaster University