Associate Professor;
Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Development
604–822–5822
Office:
Ponderosa Commons 3065
About
Research Interests
Research Supervision Interests
Policy and Indigenous Education
Legal Issues in Education
Education Finance
Inclusive Education and Educational Administration and Leadership
School Improvement and Notions and Processes of Change
Individual research Interests
Bio
Dr. Gerald Fallon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies (Faculty of Education) at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on issues of school and educational system management and cultural diversity, with specific threads related to education law, educational policy, sustainability, educational leadership, community development and intercultural relations. He has co-authored two books in 2010 and 2015 in addition to 20 peer-reviewed articles and four chapters in English, French, and Spanish. The first book in 2010 is a critical analysis of policy directions affecting First Nations education since 1986. The second book in 2015 is a critical analysis of policy issues regarding access, quality and governance of education in Haiti. Dr. Fallon is also Co-Director of the research group Educación y Diversidad Internacional (EDI) based at the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia. This research group works in the field of community-based development and cultural diversity in rural areas of South America, especially in Colombia. He is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Sustainability and Education Policy Network (SEPN). This research group focuses on the analysis and development of sustainability policy and practice in education to support the transition to more environmentally sustainable societies. Prior to his appointment to UBC, Dr. Fallon has occupied various school- and district-based leadership positions over the last 22 years. During those years, he has been in the development and teaching of courses in educational management and leadership and curriculum design and implementation at the University of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
Research and Education
Education
Research Projects
Research Project: Sustainability and Education Policy Network: Learning through Multi-Sector Leadership – This study started in July 2012 under the direction of Dr. Marcia McKenzie of the University of Saskatchewan and is fully funded by SHRRC. This study involves 30 researchers from different countries and research disciplines. The overall goal of the project is to examine and significantly enable the evolution of educational policy and practice in Canada at the K-12 and post-secondary levels relation to Canadian environmental issues. SEPN will analyze existing policy and practice and engage educational institutions and communities across the country in developing and mobilizing national models of exemplary sustainability policy and practice.
Research Project: Impacts of Market-Driven Funding Mechanisms in B.C. Public Education (SSHRC funded). This Study is being done in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Poole (University of British Columbia) and Dr. Jerald Paquette (University of Western Ontario). In this research project we intend to explore how and why these policy directions promoting market-driven financing mechanisms of public education came to be part of the policy landscape in British Columbia and how they have impacted the institutional behavior of school-districts. While much conceptual policy work has been done about the international trend toward treating education as a marketable commodity and parents and students as consumers, little empirical policy research is available on the phenomenon of a public school district geared towards marketing its services and programs as part of its funding mechanism. In the absence of such empirical policy studies, we know little about the impacts of market-driven funding, including the impacts on the nature and scope of educational program offerings and equity of funding between school districts. The purpose of this study is to identify: (1) how this trend of moving away from full public financing and towards entrepreneurial financing mechanisms has become central in recent public education policies, (2) how entrepreneurial financing mechanisms are perceived and actualized in BC school districts, and (3) how entrepreneurial financing mechanisms impact the educational programs and equity of funding between BC school districts. This policy study will extend understanding of both the effects of entrepreneurial financing mechanism policies on school districts and of the decision-making processes that drive public school-districts’ pursuit of revenue generation for public education programs through private means. This study will provide an evidentiary trail that explicates the underlying values and competing understandings of how public education should be funded.
Literacy is a complex and highly contested concept. Street (1984, 1995) identified two competing models of literacy: autonomous and ideological. The autonomous model “views reading and writing as neutral processes” and “assumes a universal set of reading and writing skills for decoding and encoding printed text.” (Alvermann, 2009, p. 15-16.) The ideological model of literacy, on the other hand, acknowledges the complexity of the social context, including power relationships, as well as political, economic and cultural influences. In this research project we explore how the tension between these dominant models of literacy has largely been ignored in the policy making processes. We wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of how and why literacy issues came to be part of provincial educational reforms in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and how they reflected the wider agenda to hold public school accountable to performance. This research addresses the gap in understanding of the following: (1) how did literacy issues become central in recent educational policies? (2) how is the recent focus on literacy and literacy issues being perceived and actualized in the field?; and how do literacy issues relate to accountability policies, and means of assessment? The anticipated result of this policy study is to: (1) explore multiple perspectives to extend understanding of the effect of provincial accountability policies on literacy in school-divisions; and (2) integrate analyses and disseminate findings on current and possible policy alternatives while developing key models of exemplary literacy policy and practice reflecting alternative ways to understand the cultural, political, and socio-economic purposes of public education.
Research Project: Governance and Quality Issues in the Public System of Haiti: A Critical Analysis of Past and Current Educational Initiatives Undertaken by Government and Non-Government Organizations between 1980 and 2012. This research project aims at building a comprehensive picture and carry a critical analysis of all the pedagogical and educational policy documents related to the K-12 education system that have been produced in the last 30 (thirty) years in Haiti by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. This study is being done in collaboration with Dr. André Mazawi (University of British Columbia) and Thibaut Lauwerier (Research Assistant – Université de Genève) and is funded by the International Canadian Development Agency (CIDA).
Selected Publications
Presentations (Abstract refereed)
International
Poole, W. Sen, V. & Fallon, G. (January 4, 2018). Subjectivated school district administrators’ political agency in the context of market-oriented education finance policy. Paper presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii, US.
Fallon, G., Poole, W. & Sen, V. (January 5, 2018). The Issue of funding adequacy in BC public education: perceptions of senior school district administrators. Paper presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii, US.
Sen, V., Fallon, G., & Poole, W. (January 7, 2018). Education policy change and the making of “responsibilized” school district administrators in BC public education. Paper presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii, US.
Fallon, G. & Gallegos, F. (November 2018). Practicing community engagement and learning-based change for sustainable community-based small-scale mining development. The National Geological Institute – INIGEMM. Quito, Ecuado
Fallon, G., Gallegos, F., & Velásquez-López, P.C., (November 2018). Community participation for sustainable small-scale mining and social learning: Concepts and lessons from the case TRANSMAPE in Ecuador. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
Fallon, G. (March 10th, 2016). Co-Creating a Community-University Engagement Project for the sustainability of Diverse Rural Communities in Colombia. Paper presented at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Fallon, G. & Poole, W. (April 23rd, 2016). Creeping Privatization of Public School Systems and its Implications for Leadership. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of uLead 2016- The Summit of Educational Leadership: Building New Narratives for Education, Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Sierra, Z. & Fallon, G. (2015). Dialogo universidades y comunidades: hacia la co-creación e conocimiento par el diseño de programas de educación superior pertinentes y adecuados a las necesidades y expectativas de poblaciones rurales. Paper presented
at the ALAS Congreso 2015: Pueblos en movimiento: un Nuevo dialogo en las ciencias sociales, Universidad de Costa Rica.
Sierra, Z. & Fallon, G. (2014). Entretejiendo comunidades y universidades: defasios epsitemologicos actuales. Paper presented to the Annual International Conference of Congreso Internacional de Educacion Superior, Palacio de Convensiones de La Habana, Cuba.
Poole, W. & Fallon, G. (2013, March 14-16). The emerging three-tier system in K-12 education finance in B.C.: A policy study. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), New Orleans, USA.
Sierra, Z. & Fallon, G. (2013, May). Interweaving communities and universities: Epistemological dilemmas and methodological challenges. Ninth Annual Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Poole, W. & Fallon, G. (2012, July). Public schools as charitable organizations in British Columbia. Paper presented at the 8Th International Conference on Education (ECI), Samos, Greece.
Fallon, G. & Poole, W. (2012, July). The emergence of market-driven funding mechanisms in B.C. public schools. Paper presented at the 8Th International Conference on Education (ECI), Samos, Greece.
Fallon, G. (2011, November). Mesa redonda: Traditional governance structure and decolonisation strategies in indigenous education. Paper presented at the VVII Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Argentina de Estudios Canadienses – Pueblos indígenas: conflicto y poder en la educación y la cultura. Compartiendo experiencias y saberes, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina [Presenter].
Fallon, G. (2011, November). Significado del control aborigen de la educación y modos de autogobierno en Canadá. Paper presented at the VVII Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Argentina de Estudios Canadienses – Pueblos indígenas: conflicto y poder en la educación y la cultura. Compartiendo experiencias y saberes, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina [Presenter].
Paquette, J. & Fallon, G. (2010, August). Framing First-Nations education policy: Towards constructing a coherent “place to stand”. Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Cambridge University, United Kingdom [Co-presenter].
National
Fallon, G. (October 2018). Competing conceptions of sustainability: Mapping a disputed terrain. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication (EECOM), Cranbrook, British Columbia [Presenter].
Fallon, G. (May 2018). A Tale of organizational transformation of an elementary school into a collegial setting. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan [Presenter].
Fallon, G. (May 2018). Conceptions of sustainability within the new K-12 British Columbia Educational Plan. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan [Presenter].
Fallon, G., Poole, W. & Sen, V.(May 31st, 2017). Reproducing and Resisting Market-Oriented funding of Public Education: Voices of School Districts Administrators in B.C. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario.
Fallon, G. & VanWynsberghe, R. (June 2016). Conceptions of Sustainability in the K-12 Education System in BC: Mapping s Disputed Terrain. Paper presented at the Sustainability Education Research Institute Annual Conference – Connecting Education and Environment – Mobilizing Sustainability in Education Policy, Practice, and Research, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Fallon, G. (2015, June). Au-delà d’une école à deux vitesses: pour une école fondamentale juste et équitable en Haïti. Paper presented in a book launch session at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario.
Cover, D. Fallon, G., Poole, W. & Sen, V. (2015, June). The discursive framing of market-driven international education programs in B.C. K-12 education. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario.
Sen, V., Poole. W., Fallon. G. & Cover, D. (2015, June). Venture philanthropy and social finance: Shifting governance and discourse in public education in Canada. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario.
Poole, W. & Fallon, G. (2014). Centralized market‐driven funding policy in British Columbia: Implications for equity, social justice and local decision making. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM/CASEA), University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. (June, 2013). The Neoliberal trend in educational policy making In BC. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Victoria, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada [Presenter].
Fallon, G. & Paquette, J. (June, 2013). Rethinking conceptions of educational leadership within a First Nations setting in Canada. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASEA), University of Victoria, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada [Co-presenter].
Paquette, J. & Fallon, G. (June, 2013). Postsecondary education and Aboriginal students in Canada with particular attention to First-Nations students. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/CASIE), University of Victoria, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. & Poole, W. (2012, May). The emergence of market-driven funding mechanisms in B.C. public schools. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Wilfred Laurier and Waterloo University, Waterloo, Ontario [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. (2011, June). Framing competing Notions of interculturality within socio-cultural and educational paradigms. Paper presented at the XIIIème congress de l’Association Internationale pour la Recherche Interculturelle, Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke, Canada [Presenter].
Fallon, G. Paquette, J. & Stelmach, B. (2010, May). Policy deliberation and the management of contracting school districts: preliminary findings from a case study of an urban school district in British Columbia. Paper presented at the XXXVIII Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.
Paquette, J. & Fallon, G. (2010, May) Ethical governance and leadership to further viable and plausible vision and purpose of First Nations education. Paper presented at the XXXVIII Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. (2009, November). When is a learning community just a pseudo community? Human agency in community learning and functioning. Paper presented at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI). Vancouver, British Columbia [Presenter].
Fallon, G. & Paquette, J. (2009, June). The meaning of Aboriginal control of education under current self-government agreements: A critical policy analysis of federal-local agreements with Aboriginal communities in Canada. Paper presented at the XXXVII Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. & Rublik, N. (2009, June). Second language education policy in Québec: Educators’ perceptions of the policy of English as a compulsory subject at the early primary level in Québec. Paper presented at the XXXVII Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Ottawa, Ontario [Co-presenter].
Paquette, J. & Fallon, G. (2009, February). Canadian Aboriginal education: A Way forward? Paper presented at the Aboriginal Policy research Conference. Ottawa, Ontario [Co-presenter].
Paquette. J. & Fallon, G. (2008, May). First-Nations control of education: Legal issues and challenges. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Practical Study of Law in Education. Halifax, Nova Scotia [Co-presenter].
Paquette J. & Fallon, G. (2008, April). Purposes, values, and ethical governance and leadership in First Nations education in Canada. Paper presented at the Thirteenth Annual Values and Leadership Conference. Victoria, British Columbia [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G. & Barnett, J. (2007, May). Community or pseudo community: Human agency and community learning and functioning. Paper presented at the XXXV Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2007, May). Introducing a market element into the funding mechanism of public education in British Columbia: A Policy Study of the Implementation and Impact of Section 6.1 of Bill 34 in Two School Districts. Paper presented at the XXXV Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan [Co-presenter].
Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2006, May). Conflicting views of school community: The Dichotomy between administrators and teachers. Paper presented at the XXXIV Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Toronto, Ontario [Co-presenter].
Referred Publications
Journals
Poole, W. & Fallon, G., (2015). The emerging fourth tier in K-12 education finance in British Columbia, Canada: increasing privatisation and implications for social justice, Globalisation, Societies and Education, [Online] http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2014.996857
Sierra, Z & Fallon, G. (2014). Relación entre comunidades rurales y universidades: desafíos epistemológicos actuales, Revista Congreso Universidad, (3)1 [Online] http://www.congresouniversidad.cu/revista/index.php/congresouniversidad
Paquette, J. & Fallon, G. (2014). In Quest of Indigeneity, Quality, and Credibility in Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Problematic, Contexts, and Potential Ways Forward. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 165. [Online] http://umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/pdf_files/paquette_fallon.pdf
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J., (2014). Rethinking conceptions of educational leadership within a First Nation educational setting in Canada: Mapping a disputed terrain, Journal of Educational Administration, 52(2), pp.193 – 209.
Fallon, G., & Poole, W. (2013). The emergence of market-driven funding mechanisms in B.C. public schools. Journal of Education Policy, 29(3), 302−322.
Sierra, Z., & Fallon, G. (2013). Entretejiendo comunidades y universidades: desafíos epistemológicos actuales. Ra Ximhai Revista : Publicación Semestral de Paz, Interculturalidad y Democracia, 9(2), 235−260.
Fallon, G., & Rublik, N. (2012). Second language education policy in Quebec: ESL Teachers’ perceptions of impacts of policy of English as a compulsory subject at the early primary level in Quebec. TESL Canada Journal, 29(2), 58−73.
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2012). A Critical analysis of self-governance agreements addressing First-Nations control of education in Canada. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy,132, [Online] http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/pdf_files/fallon_paquette2.pdf
Fallon, G., & Rublik, N. (2011). Second language education policy in Quebec: A critical analysis of the policy of English as a compulsory subject in the early primary level”. TESL Canada Journal, 28(2), 90–104.
Paquette, J., & Fallon, G. (2011). Framing First-Nations education policy: Toward constructing a coherent conceptual “place to stand”. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(9), 331−374.
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2010). Significado del control aborigen de la educación bajo los actuales acuerdos de autogobierno en Canadá, Revista Educación y Pedagogía, Medellín, Universidad de Antioquia, Facultad de Educación, 22(58), 193–212.
Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2009). Shifting boundaries of professional isolation: Impacts of school organizational restructuring and the emergence of uncontrived collegiality, International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 4(9) 1–14. [Online] http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/159.
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2009). Introducing a market element into the funding of public education in British Columbia: A critical policy analysis of section 6.1 of the School Amendment Act, 2002. McGill Journal of Education. 44(2), 143–162.
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2008). Devolution, choice, and accountability in the provision of public education in British Columbia: A critical analysis of the School Amendment Act of 2002 (Bill 34). Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 75, 1–16. [Online] http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/articles/fallonpaquette.html.
Paquette, J., & Fallon, G. (2008). First-Nations education and the law: Issues and challenges. Education Law Journal, 17, 352-382.
Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2007). Conflicting views of school community: The dichotomy between administrators and teachers. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 2(1), 1–11. [Online] http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/28.
Barnett, J., & Fallon, G. (2007). Understanding a teacher’s knowledge of classroom community. McGill Journal of Education, 42(1), 119–140.
Fallon, G., & Pancucci, S. (2003). Reframing public educational services and programs as tradable commodities – A synthesis and critique of British Columbia’s Bill 34. Brock Education, 13(1), 50–60
Books
Fallon, G. & Mazawi, A. Au-delà d’une école à deux vitesses: Pour une école fondamentale juste et équitable en Haïti. Paris: Edition L’Harmattan.
Paquette, J., & Fallon, G. (2010). First-Nations Educational Policy in Canada: Progress or Gridlock. Toronto, ON: The University of Toronto Press.
Chapters
Fallon, G., & Sierra, Z. (In print). Practicing community engagement for biodiversity conservation in rural Colombia. In E. Jensen (Ed.), From Conservation Education to Public Engagement: Research, Principles And Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: UK, (45 pages).
Fallon, G., & Paquette, J. (2014). Conceptions of educational leadership and ethics in a First Nation educational context. In D. Burgess and P. Newton (Eds.), Theoretical Foundations of Educational Administration. Routledge Research in Educational Leadership Series, New York: NY (63 pages).
Paquette, J., Fallon, G., & Marshall, J. M. (2009). Breaking the gridlock in Aboriginal education. In J.P.White (Ed.), Aboriginal Education: Current crisis and future alternatives (pp. 267−307). Toronto, ON: Thompson Educational Publishing.
Paquette, J., & Fallon, G., (2008). “First-Nations control of education: Legal issues and challenges”. In F. Roderick (Ed.). Educational Leadership today and Tomorrow: The Law as a Friend or Foes (pp. 339–374). Toronto: The Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law in Education.
Non-Refereed Publications
Journals
Fallon, G. (1991). La formation et le perfectionnement du professeur d’immersion française: Quelle direction doit on prendre? Contact – Canadian Review for French Teachers, Simon Fraser University, 4(3), 21–37.
Fallon, G., & Heimeister, E. (1990). The new primary program in British Columbia: The need for a clear articulation of the concept of autonomous learning, Contact – Canadian Review for French Teachers, Simon Fraser University, 9(3), 7–19.
Research Report
Fallon, G. & Mazawi, A. (2014). Accès, qualité et gouvernance dans l’éducation fondamentale en Haïti – Report submitted to the Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale de la Formation Professionnelle (Port-au-Prince, Haïti) et au Programme de Coopération Volontaire (Montréal, PQ, Canada) – 100 pages
EDST Activity
Students Supervised
Courses taught
EDST 532 – Leadership in Educational Organizations
EDST 552 – School Law
EDST 581 – Administration and the Aims of Education
EDST 401(2)/402(1) Education, School and Society
EDST 565 Economics of Education
EDST 602 Doctoral Seminar
Additional
Community Work
Vice-President of Educacentre College