Joanna DeJong VanHof
JOANNA DEJONG VANHOF is a researcher at Cardus. She is a PhD student in educational leadership and policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, from which she holds a master’s degree in education. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from McMaster University. Her previous experience lies in educational leadership and governance in the independent education sector in Ontario
Bio last updated April 28th, 2023.
Articles by Joanna DeJong VanHof
Denying the Reality of Independent Schools
By Joanna DeJong VanHof
September 23, 2021
Policy confusion inflicted on alternative schooling during COVID shows why Ontario needs urgent discussion of an education system that reflects the province’s diversity, Joanna DeJong VanHof argues.
The vast majority of independent schools in Ontario are small, community-oriented schools that serve specific, sometimes marginalized populations, often of students whose diverse needs are not met within a behemoth public system weighed down by bureaucracy and sheer size When can we have the conversation that a province as diverse as Ontario will never have a single public school system that is able to adequately meet the broad needs of all of its families? The prevailing narrative that independent schools are for the rich and elite and serve only to further stratify and divide Ontario’s population, is weak, short-sighted, and ignorant of the truth