The evolution of professionalism - Centre for Policy Studies in ...

Chapter 12
Conclusion
Adrienne S. Chan, Donald Fisher, and Kjell Rubenson
The history of educational reform since the Second World War illustrates
the tendency of governments, in Canada and in other western industrialized
societies, to use education to legitimate current social structures or to ameliorate
critical responses to underlying societal issues. The most signifi cant change in the
formation of the state over the last fi ve decades is that education has become its
most important legitimating agency.
Educational policy holds out the promise of both economic and social
development. High unemployment rates and public perceptions of illiteracy have
invariably been answered by governments (of all ideological stripes) with increased
emphasis on curriculum accountability. Just as the emphasis on accountability
(testing and standards) has historically gone in cycles, so too has the focus on what
has been variously labelled core curriculum, essential learning and back to basics.
The most recent incarnation of curriculum accountability occurred in the 1990s,
although similar trends were observable across Canada in the 1950s and the 1970s.
In this text, we have provided a detailed account of educational policy in
each province and the territories. In this fi nal chapter, we refl ect on pan-Canadian
themes, the impact of those themes in the broad context of educational policy, and
provide some fi nal remarks on the policy making process.
Policy Research and the Pan-Canadian Themes
Fiscal Policies and Funding
The ideological forces that drove the Klein Revolution in Alberta and the
changes in Manitoba, Ontario, and BC had, as central tenets, the reduction of public
expenditures and government bureaucracy and more centralized control of funding.
The 1990s saw drastic changes in fi scal policies for the fi rst three provinces, followed
Chapter 12: Conclusion 219