Date of Award
2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Education
Program
Education
Supervisor
Dr. Derek J. Allison
Second Advisor
Dr. Robert Macmillan
Abstract
This thesis inquired into how and why selected member schools from the Conference of Independent Schools (CIS) were founded. An initial framework for the inquiry was developed from an interpretive review of the literature addressing independent schools in Ontario and the educational policy environment of the province since 1960. This initial appreciation was extended through an analysis of student enrolment patterns in Ontario’s public, separate, and independent school sectors and through structured interviews with individuals highly knowledgeable about the founding of six CIS schools. Five critical junctures in Ontario’s educational policy environment were identified as having had a plausible influence upon the growth and development of Ontario’s independent school sector since 1960. These junctures are the Robarts’ Plan, the Hall- Dennis Report, Bill 30, the Radwanski Report, and the Harris Government reforms. In terms of extending insight into how an independent school is formed, this thesis provides a detailed accounting of the founding of six CIS schools by grouping the specific considerations managed during the establishment of these institutions into three broad categories of development, namely the visionary phase, the practical phase, and the launch phase. The significance of this research is grounded in the libertarian tenets of the school choice movement and the suggested need to better comprehend the potential interrelationships between actors, agencies, and interests in a society that embodies a variety of educational sectors.
Recommended Citation
Neibert, Robert W., "HOW AND WHY SELECTED CIS SCHOOLS WERE FOUNDED: 1960 TO PRESENT" (2006). Digitized Theses. 4974.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4974