About
Introducing the Public Education Exchange
The Public Education Exchange (PEX) enables researchers, educators, advocates, and members of the public to share and create knowledge.
What is the Public Education Exchange?
The Public Education Exchange (PEX) advocates for public schools that are equitable, accessible, publicly funded, democratically governed, and in pursuit of the common good.
The PEX uses 3 strategies to generate and mobilize knowledge about education privatization in Canada. The PEX Network connects researchers and public education advocates so they can share their expertise and experiences. The PEX engages the public in policy dialogues about education privatization in their communities. Through research, the PEX examines the trajectory of education privatization and its impacts on social inequality and the public good.
Build a Network
Build a network of researchers and public education advocates to exchange knowledge about education privatization in Canada.
Engage the Public
Engage the Canadian public in policy dialogues about education privatization.
Create Knowledge
Create knowledge about how crises impact education privatization.
Our Team
Declan Amaral
Declan Amaral
Declan Amaral (he/him/his) is a York University Bachelor of Fine Arts Music student with a focus on classical performance and music education. As a former student trustee at the Durham Catholic District School Board from 2020 to 2022, and currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association (OSTA-AECO), Declan champions student voices in education policy. Passionate about music, Declan actively performs and teaches, all while working towards a more inclusive education system.
Dr. Andrée Gacoin
Dr. Andrée Gacoin
Dr. Andrée Gacoin’s research focuses on developing a unique, in-depth and contextualized exploration of education in BC from the perspective of teachers. Andrée is particularly interested in using research as advocacy to uphold and strengthen an inclusive public education system.
Dr. Beyhan Farhadi
Dr. Beyhan Farhadi
Dr. Beyhan Farhadi is an Assistant Professor in Educational Policy and Equity researching online education and resistance to neoliberal restructuring. Dr. Farhadi draws from extensive experience teaching in secondary schools and public education advocacy to bridge research and practice. Her multidisciplinary research engages critical policy sociology, social and cultural geography, as well as surveillance studies, to understand the contexts within which inequity and injustice persist in schools. Find more information at beyhanfarhadi.com
Dr. Ee-Seul Yoon
Dr. Ee-Seul Yoon
Dr. Ee-Seul Yoon is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration, Leadership, and Policy at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Dr. Yoon’s scholarship is interdisciplinary, drawing from sociology, geography, and critical policy/leadership studies. Her research aims to understand critically how the marketization and privatization of education impact equity, diversity, decolonization, Indigenization, and inclusion in Canadian education systems. She is a 2021 recipient of the Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Award. Dr. Yoon is co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Education, and chair of the World Education Research Association’s International Research Network on School Segregation and Education Marketization.
Dr. Lana Parker
Dr. Lana Parker
Dr. Lana Parker is an Associate Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor. She employs philosophical methods and critical discourse tools to analyze neoliberal trends in education, including influences on policy and curriculum. Her work interrogates these trends in contrast with the possibilities of ethical, responsible, and responsive pedagogy. In addition to the Public Exchange Project, Lana’s current nationally funded research includes a phenomenological analysis of how capitalism and social media shape how youth engage with information, including mis- and disinformation.
Dr. Sue Winton
Dr. Sue Winton
Dr. Sue Winton is the York Research Chair in Policy Analysis for Democracy, a Professor in York University’s Faculty of Education, and author of Unequal Benefits: Privatization and Public Education in Canada (University of Toronto Press). Her research critically examines policy advocacy, influences, and enactment.
Ellen Bees
Ellen Bees
Ellen Bees is a PEX research assistant and middle years teacher in Manitoba. She is a member of People for Public Education Manitoba and advocates for a strong, equitable and inclusive public education system. Her research interests include equity, education reforms and neoliberalism in the school system.
Erika Shaker
Erika Shaker
Erika is the National Office Director of the CCPA, Director of the CCPA’s Education Project, and editor of Our Schools/ Our Selves. Since the mid 1990s she has researched, written and spoken on the corporatization and privatization of public education, standardized testing, education restructuring, and social justice and equity in the classroom.
Sonia Martin
Sonia Martin
Sonia Martin is an English language teacher and PhD student in the Faculty of Education at York University. Sonia’s transdisciplinary research connects water-based learning and anti-oppressive language practices in international education.
Warda Mashhood
Warda Mashhood
Warda Mashhood (She/Her) is a PhD student in Educational Leadership and Policy with a specialization in Comparative International Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Warda’s research investigates global education governance policy, global governance structures, education partnerships, and understanding of power hierarchies particularly embedded in colonial legacies. Warda has a vast experience of serving as a Civil Servant in the Federal Government of Pakistan as well as worked as a Policy Analyst in the Ontario Ministry of Education.
Our Partners
Participate in the Public Education Exchange!
Check our website often for new resources and join the PEX network to participate in events, receive updates on our research, and share your knowledge with other members.
