Schwean named to Education dean position

By Paul Mayne
March 03, 2011

Vicki Schwean

Teacher education programs have the potential to nurture and develop a commitment to social justice in their students and ensure these students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to promote equality. These are the strong feelings of newly appointed Faculty of Education Dean Vicki Schwean, who begins a five-year term at Western July 1.

“Graduates will play leadership roles in changing institutional values, policies and practices and educating the next generation to be socially responsible leaders,” says Schwean, presently Vice-Dean (Finance & Academic Administration) in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, where she also holds the position of Interim Associate Dean in the Office of Graduate Programs.

“Moreover, educational scholarship and research strongly situated within an ethic of social justice can exert important societal influences and point us in the direction of those strategies and actions that will result in equality for all children. Universities, and in particular teacher education programs, are critical to the success of this transformation.”

A registered psychologist, Schwean holds bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Regina in addition to a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan in educational psychology.

She began her academic career in 1988 as an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s Department for the Education of Exceptional Children. Prior to that, she held various positions as a teacher and school psychologist for the Regina Board of Education and Saskatchewan’s Department of Social Services between 1977 and 1988. 

“The University of Western Ontario achieves excellence in indicators such as average entering grade, proportion of students who graduate, student awards, class size, awards per full-time faculty, scholarships and bursaries and so on,” Schwean says. “Within this climate, the Faculty of Education at Western is positioned to set a standard for undergraduate and graduate education to which other universities can aspire.”

In addition to a number of books, book chapters and articles focusing on child assessment and mental health, Schwean has been a strong advocate for systemic reform in service delivery for vulnerable and at-risk children and youth throughout her academic career.

“Professor Schwean brings a strong record of professional experience, academic achievement and administrative leadership that will help guide our faculty through the changing landscape of teacher education, scholarship and service,” says Janice Deakin, Provost & Vice-President (Academic). “Vicki impressed the decanal selection committee with her energy and vision, as well as the potential she sees for Western to set new standards in meeting the future needs of the teaching profession.”

Education is a robust predictor of psychological, social and physical adjustment across the lifespan of a child, Schwean says. But despite this knowledge, millions of Canadian children living in poverty, with disabilities and mental health challenges, or facing a multiplicity of vulnerabilities are denied equitable educational access due to an agenda, which fails to place the individual needs of children and families at their core. 

“I strongly advocated for radical restructuring of our systems of care for children and families to one where schools become the community hub for achieving social justice. Realization of this vision rests on the transformation of societal and institutional values,” she says. “Our future rests on creating schools that provide a positive start in life for every child and respond to the challenges of a changing global economy, a changing society, and rapid technological innovation.”

Schwean’s personal passion and vision for schools – and, in turn, teacher education programs - rests in the adage ‘It takes a village to raise and educate a child.’ But she admits schools can’t do this alone.  Improving outcomes for all children depends on linking students, their families, and other informal and formal supports into a “communities of care.”

Moreover, if pre-service teachers are to be prepared to create classrooms to meet the needs of all children, then they themselves should be placed at the center of their own learning, she adds. 

“This means that constructs such as reflection, inquiry, experience and identity should be central in framing a relevant, meaningful and effective teacher education program. Importantly, within our teacher education programs, we must also attend to the developmental needs of future educators themselves and to the activities that support them if we hope to expand their understanding of themselves and the world around them,” she says. “In so doing, we will not only have the opportunity to educate thinkers and responsibly educated teachers, but also prepare learners and future leaders to address challenges that we, as educators, have never encountered by teaching them in ways that allow them to learn to become reflective, innovative and flexible problem solvers and to encourage their students to do the same.”

Schwean succeeds Carol Beynon, who has served as acting dean since July 1, 2010, following Julia O’Sullivan’s departure and appointment as dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.