John P. Portelli

Ph. D. (McGill University)
Professor and Academic Director, Graduate Education
Fellow of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto
Co-director, Centre for Leadership and Diversity, OISE

E-mail: john.portelli@utoronto.ca
Tel: 416-978-1277
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/tps/jportelli

Professional Background:

John P. Portelli was born in Malta where after completing a B.A. (Philosophy & Maltese, 1975) he taught history and modern languages at a secondary school and philosophy at a junior college. In 1977 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and commenced his studies at McGill University from where he obtained an M.A. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1984) in philosophy. He taught in several universities: The University of Malta (1980), McGill University (1982-1985), Dalhousie University (Killam Post-Doctoral Fellow, 1985-1986), Mount Saint Vincent University (1986 - 1999), and OISE (1999 - present) where he teaches in the Educational Administration Program, the Philosophy of Education Program, and the Initial Teacher Education Program. He is a fellow of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. He was a visiting professor at The University of Malta (1992), Acadia University (1997), University of British Columbia (1998), and University of Verona (2010 and 2011). Since 1982 he has worked closely with teachers and school administrators in Canada and internationally. He is frequently invited to give keynote addresses and do workshops both nationally and internationally, and has been actively involved in policy work at the higher education level in Europe. Beyond his academic work, he has published two collections of poetry.

Teaching and Research Interests:

His main research and teaching interests are in philosophy of education and educational leadership and policy. More specifically his interests include:

Issues of equity in educational leadership and policy
Student engagement and student success
Critical-democratic education
Students at risk and the critique of the deficit mentality
Critical-democratic leadership
The curriculum of life and teaching controversial issues
Ethical Issues in Leadership

Since 1982 he has worked with educators in schools in several provinces. He has conducted workshops and professional development seminars on:

Critical thinking and reflective teaching
controversial issues in teaching;
student engagement;
ethical and social diversity issues in educational leadership: a case study approach;
curriculum of life;
'students at risk': beyond deficit mentality.

His research involves both philosophical and empirical work (mostly qualitative).

Recent research projects:

Investing in Equity. Supported by the Council of Directors of Education

Educational equity and inclusion in neoliberal times: Policy webs and school practice. Supported by SSHRC

Pedagogies at Risk: Social Justice Teaching and Accountability Discourses. Supported by SSHRC

Stakeholders’ Perspectives on induction for New Teachers: Critical Analysis of Teacher Testing and Mentorship. Supported by SSHRC.

Toward an Equitable Education: Diversity, Poverty, and Students at Risk. Supported by SSHRC.

Student Engagement in Learning and School Life. Supported by the J.W.McConnell Foundation with support from the Vancouver Foundation.

Recent Publications:

Books

Student Engagement in Urban Schools: Beyond Neoliberal Discourses (with Brenda McMahon), North Carolina: Information Age Publishers (forthcoming February, 2012)

Leading for Equity: The investing in Diversity Approach (with Rosemary Campbell-Stephens) Toronto,ON: Edphil Books, 2009.

Taħt iċ-Ċirasa/Under the Cherry Tree. Collection of 37 poems and 100 haiku in Maltese with English translations. Malta: PEG Publishers, 2008.

Toward an Equitable Education: Poverty and Students 'at risk' (with Carolyn Shields and Ann Vibert). Toronto, ON: OISE, August, 2007.

Critical Democracy and Educational Leadership Issues: Philosophical Responses to the Neoliberal Agenda (Editor), special issue of Journal of Thought 42,1, 2007.

Key Questions in Education (with William Hare). San Francisco,CA: Caddo Gap Press and Edphil Books, Toronto, 2007.

Bejn Zewg Dinjiet: Malta u l-Kanada/In Between: Malta and Canada (Collection of poems in Maltese and the English translation. Toronto: Melita Books, 2003.

What To Do? Case Studies for Educators (with William Hare). Halifax: Edphil Books, 3rd. revised edition, (June 2003).

The Erosion of the Democratic Tradition in Education: From Critique to Possibility (with Patrick Solomon) Calgary: Detselig Ent. Ltd., 2001

Philosophy of Education: Introductory Readings (with William Hare). Calgary: Detselig Ent. Ltd., 3nd. revised edition, 2001.

Articles and Chapters in Books

“Charismatic, Competent or Transformative? Ontario School Administrators’ Perceptions of Good Teachers" (with Pinto, L., Rottman, C., Pashby, K., Barrett, S.E. & Mujawamariya, D.), Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2011.

“Inclusive Education and Democratic Values,” in C. Rolheiser, M. Evans & M. Gambhir (Eds.), Inquiry into Practice: Reaching Every Student through Inclusive Curriculum. Toronto, On: OISE, 2011: 8-9.

“The Deficit Thinking Mentality and the Ethics of Subversion,” in C. Borg (Ed.) Lorenzo Milani: Between Yesterday and Today, Malta: Horizons, 2010: 313-321.

“Individual and Community Aims in Education" (with Francine Menashy) in R. Barrow et al (Eds.) Sage Handbook of Philosophy of Education, London: Sage Publ., 2010: 415-433.

“Leadership for Equity in Education: Deficit mentality is a major challenge” in Fedcan Blog, January 2010

“The Role and Impact of Critical Thinking in Democratic Education: Challenges and Possibilities” (with Laura Pinto), in J. Sobocan & L. Groake (Eds.) Critical Thinking in an Era of Accountability:Can Higher order Thinking Be Tested?. London: Althouse Press, 2009: 299-318.

“The Hidden Curriculum of a Teacher Induction Program” (with Patrick Solomon, Sarah Barrett, Jordan Singer, and Donatille Mujuwamariya), Canadian Journal of Education, 32, 4, 2009.

“Isn’t it a problem if I bring in Politics into the Classroom?” in Educational Activism: Resources for Change (OISE/OSSTF/UNICEF Partnership), 2009.

“Mentorship and Induction:Negotiating a Collaborative Enterprise or Apprenticing for Status Quo Maintenance?" (with Christine L. Cho, Sarah Elizabeth Barrett, Patrick Solomon, and Donatille Mujawamariya), Brock Education, 18, No. 2, Spring 2009, 114-130.

"Talking about Social Justice and Leadership in a Context of Accountability," Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations, 18, 1&2, 2008: 24-51. (Co-authored with Jim Ryan, Reva Joshee , Michael De Angelis, Darrin Griffiths, and Lindy Zaretsky).

Recent Keynote Addresses and Workshops

The Immorality of Deficit Thinking in Education, School of Education, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, October 2011.
Curriculum of Life, Educate Together, Dublin, Ireland, October 2011 (workshop)
Paulo Freire’s Ethics and Epistemology: Implications for Education and Leadership, Faculty of Education, University of Verona, Verona, Italy, July, 2011.
No One Left Behind? Public Education in the Age of Neoliberalism, Faculty of Education, University of Graz, Austria, June 2011.
Student Engagement and Democratic Values: Challenges and Possibilities, Imagining Education Conference, Educate Together, University of Limerick, Limerick, May 2011.
Leading for Equity In Education: Challenges and Possibilities, Canadian International Conference on Education, Hart House, University of Toronto, April 2011.
The Challenges of Intercultural Dialogue, International Conference on Peace and Intercultural Dialogue, Al Babtain Foundation, Corinthia Marina Hotel, Malta, March 2011.
The Challenges and Possibilities of Diversity and Equity in Education: Toward a Curriculum of Life, International Conference and Exhibition of Knowledge-Based Business, Industry and Education, University College of Bahrain, January 2011.
Reconstructing Student Engagement, Hecettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, November 2010.
The Challenges of Equity Work in Education, Teacher Education Equity Conference, OISE, October 2010.
Myths and Challenges of Democratic Education, Civics Education Network Conference, University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus, September 2010.
Leading for Social Justice in Neoliberal Times, London International Conference of Education, London Heathrow Thistle Hotel, London, September 2010.
The Challenge of Neoliberal Myths in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, June, 2010.
Critical Thinking and Parent Engagement, Equity Conference for NW area of Toronto District School Board, Toronto, ON, May 2010 (workshop)
Student Engagement and Students at Risk, Waterloo District Teachers Association, Waterloo, ON, May 2010 (workshop)
The Challenges and Possibilities of Equity in Educational Leadership, Leeds Education Local Authority, Leeds, UK, March 2010 (workshop)
From Theory to Practice: Infusing Equity and Leadership into the Curriculum, Elementary Teacher Federation of Ontario, October 2009 (workshop)
Equity issues and Global Citizenship Education, Centennial College, Toronto, ON, September 2009.
Engaging Students at Risk: Toward a Curriculum of Life Approach, The First Malta International Forum on Learning, June 2009..
Reconstructing Student Engagement and Student at Risk: Toward a Curriculum of Life, International Leadership Symposium on Equity and Diversity: Building Community, London Centre for Leadership in Learning, Institute of Education, University of London, June 2009.
Policy and Politics of Education: Current Questions and Pressing Issues, Policy and Politics of Education Post-Conference Symposium, The Congress, Carleton University, Ottawa, May 2009.

Title of theses successfully supervised in recent years:

Doctoral

Reclaiming Democracy for the Longschoolhouse

Small Steps and Quiet Processes: Student Transformations from Academic Risk to Academic Achievement

Participatory Governance: The Role of Student Trustees on Ontario School Boards

The Ethical Teacher: A Case for Dialogical Resistance

Curriculum Reform during Ontario’s ‘common Sense revolution’: A Critical Democratic Explanation of Policy Formulation

School Influence on Student Attendance and Engagement in Learning

Leadership for Social Justice: From Elusive Conceptions to Arrested Developments

Education as a Private or a Global Public Good: Competing Conceptual Frameworks and their Power at the World Bank

The Deep Slumber of Decided Opinion: How Teachers and School Administrators Understand Controversial Issue Policy

Masters

Democratic Education and Experiential Education: Foundations of Outdoor Education

Challenges and Possibilities on Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Teach Peace in Postwar Lebanon

Imaginative inquiry into an Idea: Dewey’s educative experience

Inquiry-Based learning and Adaptive Complexity theory: An Ethnographic Inquiry

Conceptions of Leadership and Critical Spirituality in Ismailism

Student Leadership for Social Justice in Secondary Schools: A Canadian Perspective

Possibilities for New Beginnings: Oppression, Social Agency, and Education

Deficit Thinking in Education: Philosophical Issues

“Rethinking Education: A Paradigm for Sustainable Education

Weight-based Stigma and Deficit Thinking: How Neoliberal Conceptions of Obesity Are Contributing to Weight-Based Stigma

Awards:

In 2005 he received the Canadian Society for the Study of Education Mentorship Award.

Three of his books won the American Educational Studies Association Critic Award (1997, 2001, 2008), and another of his books won the Canadian Association for the Foundations of Education Book Award. (1998)

Noted Scholar, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (1998)

Invited Lansdowne Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria in February 2012.