Seventeenth National Congress on Rural Education

March 25 - 27, 2012
TCU Place, Saskatoon SK
(Formerly the Centennial Auditorium)

Celebrating Rural Schools

CONGRESS-AT-A-GLANCE
Pre-Congress Workshop

Sunday, March 25, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m.

featuring Dr. Debbie Pushor, College of Education Faculty,
University of Saskatchewan

THE PRESENTER: Debbie's early career was with Edmonton Public Schools in Alberta where sheworked as a teacher, consultant, principal, and central services administrator. Debbie graduated from the University of Alberta in 2001 with a PhD in elementary education. Presently, Debbie is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. In her current program of research, she is exploring conceptualizations of "parent knowledge" and of a "curriculumfor parents," notionswhich she believes have the potential to change educators' understanding of what it means to work in relationship with parents. Debbie completed research with a team of co-researchers at Princess Alexandra Community School in Saskatoon which explored the school's move from practices of parent involvement to practices of parent engagement and leadership.

THE SESSION: School Councils are intended to play a vital role in the education system, as a forum through which parents and community members can contribute to enhancing student achievement and other educational outcomes. But do they play this vital role? When I search the term "school councils," the first and most frequentwords that come up are words such as "governance," "legislation," "authority," "regulations," and "roles and responsibilities."

When I talk with parents, they speak tome about their hopes and dreams for their children and how they can play a meaningful role in their children's learning – both on and off the school landscape. How far apart these two ways of thinking seemto be !No wonder many parents and community members do not see a place for themselves in School Councils.

How do we ensure School Councils play the vital role they are intended to play? In this interactive
workshop, we will use research on parent engagement to explore howwe can facilitate School Councils which are focused on children, teaching and learning; which are relational and responsive; and which authentically create space for parent knowledge to be used alongside teacher knowledge in educational decision-making.