Editorial

Patrick Lewis

University of Regina

Another summer is drawing to a close here on the prairie and with it comes the beginning of another season, one always associated with a new school year. At this time, Elementary, Secondary, and Post-Secondary schools (northern hemisphere) have commenced a new year and accompanying that are the hopes, joy, and desire of students of all ages. The excitement of the new school year, as portrayed in the dominant North American middle class narrative, tends to eclipse the multitude of less than joyful notions of school experienced by millions of children and youth. Educational research, curriculum development, government policy, teachers unions, and the politics of public education have striven to improve the educational experience of students for more than a century. There is no doubt that schooling has changed over that period and that much has improved for many. Yet, there remains the fact that many children and youth do not have successful or positive school experiences. Nevertheless, that has not deterred those possessed with a commitment to the vocation of teaching to answer the call of children and youth and to live alongside them in the schools and classrooms of the moment, listening their stories into being.

The field of education is wide and varied, traversing a number of theoretical frameworks populated with folks who work tirelessly to improve the educational project called school. This issue of in education arriving at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn is filled with a sampling of the work educationists pursue today. Readers will find pieces reminding us of the importance of story and storytelling for children and adults, the challenges of change, and the search for a good teacher. All of the works in this issue contribute to and continue the conversation about education, suggesting that the way things are does not have to remain the same.