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Adjunct Professor of Education, Saint Mary’s University

Paul W. Bennett, Ed.D. (OISE/Toronto) is Founding Director of Schoolhouse Institute and Adjunct Professor of Education at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a wide-ranging professional career, he is now a leading education commentator, policy researcher, and columnist as well as National Coordinator for researchED in Canada. He is the author or co-author of ten books in the fields of history and education, including The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada's Schools (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020). His regular column, Education Beat, appears in all Brunswick News papers in New Brunswick, and he is a regular radio commentator for Global News Radio in Ontario. His expertise is frequently sought out by the national and regional media, including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, CBC-TV and Radio News, CTV Atlantic, as well as newspapers across Atlantic Canada. His blog, Educhatter, ranked first in 2018 among the Top 30 Education Blogs in Canada.

Much of Dr. Bennett's academic and policy research can be found listed on Research Gate and it is wide-ranging in education reform and history/social studies education. Among his more recent academic studies are the chapter on Canada in the Handbook on Digital Learning for K-12 Schools (Springer, 2017) and on Nova Scotia Teacher Education in Theodore Christou, ed., The Curriculum History of Canadian Teacher Education (New York: Routledge, 2017). His recent history book, Turning Points: Fifteen Pivotal Moments in Nova Scotia History (2019), was one of the most popular non-fiction titles in Nova Scotia that year. Since the September 2020 release of The State of the System, Paul has given over a dozen presentations on the book to public policy institutes, education organizations, and universities across Canada.

Experience

  • 2011–present
    Adjunct professor, Saint Mary's University
  • 2009–present
    Founding Director, Schoolhouse Institute, Halifax, NS
  • 2010–2019
    Education Policy Analyst, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
  • 2014–2017
    Senior Education Research Fellow, Northern Policy Institute

Education

  • 1991 
    Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto , EdD
  • 1974 
    Faculty of Education, University of Toronto, B.Ed.
  • 1973 
    York University, Faculty of Graduate Studies, MA (History)
  • 1972 
    York University, Faculty of Arts/ History and Political Science, Hons. B.A.

Publications

  • 2020
    The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada's Schools , Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press
  • 2019
    Turning Points: 15 Pivotal Moments in Nova Scotia's History, Lunenburg: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing
  • 2018
    The Curriculum History of Canadian Teacher Education/ Chapter 6, Nova Scotia, New York: Routledge
  • 2017
    Handbook on Digital Learning for K-12 Schools/ Chapter 17, Canada, New York: Springer
  • 2013
    The Last Stand:Schools. Communities and the Future of Rural Nova Scotia, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing
  • 2011
    Vanishing Schools, Threatened Communities: The Contested Schoolhouse in Maritime Canada, 1850-2010, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing

Professional Memberships

  • Education Commentator, CANed Network, Canadian Education Association
  • Education Consultant, CAIS Services
  • Canadian History of Education Association
  • Canadian Society for the Study of Education/ CAFE and CASEA