Sue Winton

Professor

Ph.D. - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; M.Ed. - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; B.Ed. - Queen's University; B.A.H. - Queen's University

Location(s) / Contact Info:

203, Winters College - WC
Keele Campus

Email: swinton@edu.yorku.ca

Scholarly Interests

Dr. Winton's critical policy research examines how education policies and policy processes support and/or undermine critical democratic commitments to equity, diversity, social justice, and public participation in policymaking.

Courses Taught

  • Policy and Practice (ED/EDST 4300)
  • Urban Education (ED/EDUC 3300)

Selected Publications

Research Projects

Critical Transitions: Identifying Key Factors Shaping Students’ Elementary, Secondary, and Post-secondary Pathways

Role: Co-Investigator

Year Funded: 2020

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Taking Learning Online: Teachers’ Policy Enactment in Times of Crisis and its Aftermath

Role: Co-Investigator

Year Funded: 2020

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

This study examines how teachers enacted online learning policies introduced by governments and school boards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and implications for social inequality.

Initiating and Sustaining Equity Innovations for System Reform.

Role: Collaborator

Year Funded: 2019

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Advocacy and Arguments: Shifting Meanings of Public Funding of Private Schools

Role: Principal Investigator

Year Funded: 2019

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

This study examines the history of struggles over the meaning of public funding of private schools in BC, Manitoba, and Ontario in order to generate new theory that explains how policy actors and their arguments shift in response to changing cultural, economic and political contexts at multiple scales. It will also explain how dominant policy meanings retain their dominance over time despite changing policy environments.

International Students are “Ideal” Immigrants: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Study-Migration Pathways in Canada, Australia and Germany

Role: Co-Investigator

Year Funded: 2018

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

This study examines the emergence and implications of the "international students are ideal immigrants" policy discourse in 3 countries that "actively cultivate international students for skilled migration" (Hawthorne, 2008, 3).

Policy Layer Enactment: New Terrains of Understanding

Role: Co-Investigator

Year Funded: 2015

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

The purpose of this research is to understand the complexities of policy layer enactment in Ontario secondary schools. Findings will shed new light on how policy is interpreted, prioritized and “done” in real-world contexts.

Mobilizing Rhetoric for Policy Change: How Context Influences an Advocacy Group’s Success

Role: Principal Investigator

Year Funded: 2014

Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

The study examines how an education advocacy group in Ontario, Canada, attempts to influence policy by defining and mobilizing the meanings of education policies. It uses rhetorical analysis to identify strategies used by the group and examines how the success of these strategies is affected by a policy’s historical, economic, cultural, and political contexts.

Awards

  • Civic Engagement and Public Policy Research Fellowship, University at Buffalo, State University of New York - 2010-2011