Parent Involvement Through School Fund-Raising: Undermining Critical Democratic Education in Toronto Schools

• In Event: 28.019 - Understanding Engagement From the Perspective of Parents, Families, and Communities

Abstract

This paper reports findings from an investigation of the policy layers that organize the work of fundraising parents in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). The study was grounded in institutional ethnography (IE) and critical democratic theory. Data sources for the study include 8 interviews and texts related to fundraising produced by the TDSB and Ontario’s government. Indexing and mapping were used to analyze the data. The findings show that provincial and TDSB parent engagement, school council, fundraising, and funding policies play key roles in organizing fundraising parents’ work. They also show that Ontario and TDSB parent involvement and fundraising policies implicate some parents in the production of inequality.

Author

• Sue Winton, York University