Michael Zwaagstra is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre and public high school teacher. He received his Bachelor of Education and Master of Education from the University of Manitoba and Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Liberty University in Virginia. He is the author of A Sage on the Stage: Common Sense Reflections on Teaching and Learning, and co-author of What’s Wrong with Our Schools and How We Can Fix Them. He is a frequent author of education policy research and newspaper columns across Canada. His research mainly focuses on curricula, teaching instruction and public education. Michael’s research and commentary have been featured in radio, television and newspapers across the country. Michael lives with his wife and children in Steinbach, Manitoba.
Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario is home to approximately 2,000 students. It’s been in the news a lot lately, but not in a good way. A recent CBC story quoted an anonymous teacher who described Saunders as a “tinderbox of violence” where students regularly...
When parents send their children to school, they place a lot of trust in teachers. It’s important that teachers not undermine that trust. Unfortunately, some teachers haven’t learned this lesson. For example, last year a school posted a message on its outdoor sign...
Technology has had a huge impact on public education. Classrooms of today look quite different from those of a generation ago. It shows just how quickly technology changes and the extent to which it dominates our children’s lives. However, while it makes sense to...
Prospective teachers learn a lot about individualized instruction in faculties of education. That’s because teachers are encouraged to personalize learning, for each student, as much as possible. To a certain degree, this makes good sense. An inflexible cookie-cutter...
It’s a well-known pattern in public policy – profligate politicians damaging their economies with out-of-control spending, massive borrowing and higher taxes – inevitably leading to fiscal crisis, sharp declines in growth and ultimately rapidly falling currency value...
Mass hysteria is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behaviour by many people. There are numerous historical examples: Middle Age nuns at a convent in France spontaneously began to meow like cats; at another convent, nuns began biting one another. In...
Finally, after enduring years of fuzzy math, Saskatchewan parents may finally have cause for hope. Not only did the provincial government’s latest throne speech acknowledge that Saskatchewan students have the worst math skills in the country, the speech pledged to...
Every year thousands of Alberta students take driver education classes in hopes of passing the all-important written and practical driving test. These classes are taught through a traditional, teacher-centred approach in which driving instructors teach students the...
There is a longstanding debate among educators about the importance of specific content knowledge in the curriculum. Generally speaking, progressive educators favour a non-content specific learning process while traditional educators say there is a defined body of...
Today the Frontier Centre for Public Policy released a new report by Michael Zwaagstra, a well-known teacher, author, and Frontier Centre Senior Fellow. Content Knowledge is the Key to Learning critiques the fad of 21st Century Learning and makes the case for...
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/314979585" params="color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" width="100%" height="20" iframe="true" /] Content Knowledge: The Key to 21st Century Learning Presenter: Michael Zwaagstra, BEd,...
Never let a good budget crisis go to waste. That must be why various labour groups have banded together to demand the end of private school funding. Facing a record-high deficit, Alberta’s NDP government is under considerable pressure to reduce costs without...
Michael Zwaagstra, January 13, 2017 Never underestimate the staying power of a bad idea. Nowhere is this truer than in the field of education policy. Education gurus come up with new ideas, temporarily retreat from them when they prove to be a flop, and then rename...
Michael Zwaagstra, December 19, 2016 Once again, Manitoba students have ranked near the bottom in Canada in the areas of science, math and reading. The Program for International Student Assessment, an international assessment of 15-year-olds conducted every three...
Michael Zwaagstra, Research Fellow, FCPP Research strongly supports the use of traditional methods including structured classrooms, direct instructions, guided practice and even rote memorization.