Education 210 is a three-credit, junior-level introduction to the Canadian labour-market training system. Labour-market training comprises policies, programs, and activities intended to result in an adequate number of appropriately trained workers. In Canada, the labour-market training system has four main components: postsecondary education, government labour-market policy, employer workplace training, and community education.
This course is designed to introduce you to an analysis of the development of Canadian education that takes account of historical, social, cultural, and philosophical influences. The course will help you develop an understanding of the origins of the Canadian public education system and demonstrate the historical roots of many contemporary education debates.
This course begins with an examination of the contending views and interests in contemporary public education. It explores the alternatives to mainstream public schooling and considers the problems of teaching in a pluralist society, particularly one based on concepts of multiculturalism and equality.
The overall intent of this course is to spur deep critical reflection on two broad concepts: culture, and the complexities and ramifications of schooling's socialization/enculturation function in contemporary Canada's multicultural society-specifically, the feasibility of schooling's libratory ideals.
Education 309: The Purposes of Adult Education is designed to introduce the purposes and foundations of adult education. The course provides an overview of adult education theory and practice, but it is not intended as a comprehensive examination of all areas of adult education. It will, however, give you tools for examining other areas of adult education and related fields of study.