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.
One thing we’ve learned this year is that global pandemics have a big impact on teaching and learning. Since mid-March, regular K-12 classes have been suspended and instruction has moved online. While schools will partially reopen in June, this does not mean things...
These days, grocery shopping looks a little different than usual. People wait patiently outside the store in long, spaced-out, lineups. Direction arrows show customers where to move next. Customers stand at least 6 feet apart in the checkout lines. Cashiers carefully...
School is out across Manitoba. Earlier this week, the Minister of Education announced that classes won’t resume until the Chief Provincial Public Health Officer says it is safe to do so. This means that teachers must become distance learning educators. School...
When teachers look at the students in their classrooms can they assume that they all come from similar backgrounds and all had the same opportunities while growing up? Anyone who has ever been in a public school classroom knows that the answer to that question is a...
Earlier this year, a group called Equity Matters asked the province to establish an education equity secretariat. They want this office to oversee equity officers working in Manitoba schools. Equity Matters wants to ensure that all Manitoba students are reflected in...
Frances Widdowson probably isn't someone most Canadians recognize. I'm here to tell you why they should. In terms of Canada's intellectual culture, Frances Widdowson matters because she is a classic and prolific academic. In a time when demagoguery easily flourishes,...
Common Sense Education gives parents, teachers and students a direct window into the foolish fads that afflict our public education system. This first of ten episodes begins with a hard-hitting exposé of the anti-knowledge curriculum approach that dominates our public...
Education reformers, particularly in the United States, say increasing the time students spend in school is necessary to prepare them for success. Proposed reforms are implemented too often without the sufficient evidence that they will be effective, and they can cost significant amounts of money.
The current dispute between the Ontario government and the province’s teachers’ unions is harmful to students. A massive $15 million deficit made the government realize the need to reign in its spending, after generously meeting the unions’ demands for nine years. The government is not without fault, as it backtracked on previously negotiated pay increases instead of following the recommendations of a commissioned economist to cancel costly initiatives such as full day kindergarten and class size restrictions.
Schools in Western Canada have been designed by an architecture firm specializing in open concept schools, which go hand-in-hand with the constructivism approach. The constructive approach holds that teachers should help students construct their own understanding of the world around them.
Michael Zwaagstra argues that policies that no-zero policies in K-12 education have little empirical support, are unpopular with parents and teachers, and create perverse incentives in the learning process.
Michael Zwaagstra shows that there is little empirical support in favour of no-zero policies in K-12 education and that such policies are unpopular with parents and teachers.
Saskatchewan’s education minister missed an opportunity when she opted to make no changes to a defective math curriculum.
Albertans concerned about education policy face a stark choice in the next election. Given the positions of the two leading parties, the status quo doesn’t seem to be an option. One party wants to reduce standardized testing, and seems unwilling to expand successful school choice programs. The other wants to introduce a new model of standardized testing, while expanding school choice.
A new book by Mike Schmoker effectively makes the case for schools focus on the basics of teaching and learning.