"Memorial Presents" lecture

This public lecture is presented in partnership with the Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development at Memorial University. It is part of the Harris Centre's series of "Memorial Presents" lectures on important issues in public policy.

Presenter: Dr. Robert Crocker

Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Education, Memorial University

Teacher Education in Canada

This presentation will add to the body of knowledge on Canadian teacher preparation programs and provide insight into how we should be preparing teachers. It will focus on the state of teacher education programs in Canada at this time and the perceptions of new teachers, principals and faculty on the knowledge base and skills acquired in teacher education programs.

Robert Crocker is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University and is President of Atlantic Evaluation and Research Consultants, a firm which specializes in education policy research, educational measurement and program evaluation. He has held a number of senior positions in education in Newfoundland and Labrador, including Director of the Institute for Educational Research and Development, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University and Associate Deputy Minister of Education. He has also directed or been associated with several commissions and review panels on education in Newfoundland and Labrador and other jurisdictions.

Dr. Crocker has also been a consultant to the Department of Education in Queensland, Australia and a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Michigan State University and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He has been a member of a number of national bodies including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Expert Panel on Human Capital and Workplace Studies of HRDC and various committees and working groups of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. He has been President of the Canadian Educational Research Association and has received the CEA/Whitworth award for career contributions to educational research.

Discussant: Dr. Clare Kosnik

Associate Professor and Head of the Centre for Teacher Education and Development, OISE, University of Toronto

Clare Kosnik is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and Head of the Centre for Teacher Education and Development. She was recently the Executive Director of the Teachers for a New Era project at Stanford University. She has co-authored the texts, Priorities in teacher education: The 7 key elements of preservice preparation for Routledge and Innovations in preservice teacher education: A social constructivist approach for SUNY Press. She co-edited the Springer texts, Making a difference in teacher education through self-study: Studies of personal, professional, and program renewal and Learning communities in practice. The text, Self-study research methodologies for teacher educators that she co-edited is forthcoming from Sense Publishers. Professor Kosnik recently completed a term as Chair of the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Special Interest Group of the American Education Research Association. She continues to use her research to inform her practice as a teacher educator.

Discussant: Dr. Bruce Sheppard

Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Dr. Bruce Sheppard is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Previously, he has served as Chief Executive Officer/Director of Education for Eastern School District and Avalon West School District, Associate Dean of Graduate Programmes and Research at the Faculty of Education at Memorial University, assistant superintendent of Education for Western Integrated School Board, and principal of Ascension Collegiate, Bay Roberts, Newfoundland and Labrador. His research interests include educational leadership at the school and school district level, governance in education, educational change, organizational learning and the development of professional learning in educational settings, the facilitation of authentic student learning, program implementation, and e-learning.

Bruce has presented papers at various national and international conferences and has published widely in academic and professional journals. In 2002, Bruce was awarded the Canadian Education Association CEA-Whitworth Award for his contribution to research and scholarship in Canada. In 2003, he was awarded the Educator’s Award of Excellence by the Newfoundland and Labrador School Boards Association and in 2007 he and two of his colleagues were presented with the Best Research Paper Award for their paper presented at the European Distance Education Network (EDEN) Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. His most recent work includes a forthcoming book entitled School District Leadership Matters that he has written with two of his colleagues in the Faculty of Education at Memorial.

Bruce is committed to the development of a student focused k-12 education system. He ascribes to a philosophy of leadership that is rooted in respect for people and operates from the principle that educational leadership must be collaborative and very much dependent upon the collective wisdom and inherent dignity of students, school and district staff, trustees, schools councils and other educational stakeholders.

Aside from his professional life, Bruce is an avid outdoorsman and a committed family person who values and appreciates his family, his friends, and his rural Newfoundland roots.