Educational Administration in Canada

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

Since this book is in its third edition, and since it is written by two well-qualified professors from the University of Calgary, one would think that it has something going for it. And it does. Most of it succeeds in its stated purpose of examining the school and the role of the teacher within the legal and structural setting provided by the neighborhood, municipal, provincial, national, and professional communities.

On the other hand, a thoughtful reader — the sort of person who consults the Canadian Book Review Annual — might have at least five concerns.

The first will be about the maddening and completely unnecessary number of vague references — for example, to the “recent” formation of the Council of Ministers of Education (p.30). Why not give us the exact date (1967)?

Second, while “recent” is one of the authors’ favourite words, it is not one that can be applied to their bibliographies, in spite of their claim in the Preface that “the material in all of the chapters has been updated and reflects the educational scene in 1983.” Except in Chapter 8, “The Teacher and the Law,” most of the references are to works published before 1978, when the second edition of this book appeared. And of the post-1978 references, an unseemly number are to works published by Detselig Enterprises!

Third, the text contains unnecessary factual slips. For example, the Ontario Public School Men’s Teachers’ Federation (OPSMTF, p.204) no longer exists, having recently, as the authors might say, become the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (a fact, to be sure, that they recognize on page 203, although they are incorrect in saying there that membership in the renamed organization is now limited to men).

Fourth, the book occasionally changes tone from one of factual objectivity to undocumented editorializing. In discussing school versus public libraries, for example, the authors genially assume that the best possible library will combine both functions — a nutty idea if ever there was one.

Fifth, and most seriously, students from outside Alberta will be surprised that the book is intended for them, for every detailed analysis uses Alberta examples, from a description of that province’s Department of Education, to the inclusion of the 1983 agreement between the Calgary Board of Education and the Alberta Teachers Federation, to a separate Appendix listing the Alberta Bill of Rights, of all things.

It would not be fair to suggest that the only reason this book is now into its third edition is that its authors have a captive market for it, but it would be fair to say that in their next revision, greater care should be taken to ensure that the text is of uniform quality throughout.