Challenge and Opportunity: Canada's Community Colleges at the Crossroads

297 Pages·1995·16.751 MB·English

by  John Dennison

Challenge and Opportunity
This page intentionally left blank
Edited by John D. Dennison
Challenge and Opportunity:
Canada's Community Colleges
at the Crossroads
UBCPress /Vancouver
©UBC Press 1995
Reprinted 1996
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written
permission of the publisher.
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper °°
ISBN 0-7748-0516-1
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Challenge and opportunity
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7748-0516-1
1. Community colleges - Canada. 2. Postsecondary education - Canada.
I. DennisonJohnD., 1929- LB2328.C52 1995 378'.052'0971 C95-910106-3
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support to its publishing
program from the Canada Council, the Province of British Columbia Cultural
Services Branch, and the Department of Communications of the Government
of Canada.
Set in Stone by Irma Rodriguez, Artegraphica Design Co.
Printed and bound in Canada by D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd.
Copy-editor: Joanne Richardson
Proofreader: Anne Webb
UBC Press
University of British Columbia
6344 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
Contents
Acknowledgments / vii
Introduction / 3
John D. Dennison
1 Community College Development in Canada since 1985 /13
John D. Dennison
2 The Challenge of Leadership / 105
John Levin
3 Organization and Function in Postsecondary Education / 121
John D. Dennison
4 Organizational Culture and Community Colleges / 141
Starr L. Owen
5 Values in the Canadian Community College:
Conflict and Compromise / 169
John D. Dennison
6 A Matter of Survival: Emerging Entrepreneurship in
Community Colleges in Canada / 184
Janet Knowles
7 Aboriginal Education in Community Colleges / 208
Douglas Baker
vi Contents
8 Accountability: Mission Impossible? / 220
John D. Dennison
9 The DACUM Technique and Competency-Based Education / 243
Charles W. Joyner
10 Promise Fulfilled, Promise Pending / 256
Paul Gallagher
Conclusion / 275
John D. Dennison
Index / 285
Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without the generous assistance of a
number of colleagues who gave freely of their time and expertise to ensure
that the final product would be an important addition to the literature on
community colleges in Canada. First, however, I wish to acknowledge the
support of the Canadian Studies Directorate of the Secretary of State. This
organization supplied the initial impetus for a project designed to docu-
ment the performance of a uniquely Canadian educational enterprise - its
public community colleges.
To report accurately and comprehensively on the wide range of develop-
ments in the community college sector in each province and territory since
1985, it was crucial to draw upon the expertise of a cadre of individuals in
each region of Canada. The following willingly contributed their time and
knowledge:
British Columbia: Kerry Jothen and Shell Harvey, Ministry of Skills, Training
and Labour
Alberta: Bill Workman and Larry Orton, Ministry of Advanced Education
Saskatchewan: John Biss, Ministry of Education; Andrew Mirlin, Northwest
Regional College
Manitoba: Tony Knowles, Red River Community College
Ontario: Ian Calvert, formally at the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts
and Technology of Ontario; Robert (Squee) Gordon, Humber College; Patricia
Groves, George Brown College; Glen Jones, Brock University
Quebec: Andre Le Blanc (who provided the entire section on Quebec),
Champlain Regional College
Nova Scotia: Jack Buckley and Dermot Mulrooney, Nova Scotia Community
College
Prince Edward Island: Chris Bryant and Archie MacFadyen, Holland College
New Brunswick: Jim Cromwell and Jack Syroid, New Brunswick Community
College
viii Acknowledgments
Newfoundland: Doug Fowlow, Westviking College; Andrea Dicks, Depart-
ment of Education
Yukon: Aron Senkpiel, Yukon College
Northwest Territories: Mark Cleveland, Arctic College
As a consequence of reviewing college development region by region, a
number of common and significant issues emerged which seemed destined
to dominate the role of Canada's community colleges during the next dec-
ade. A number of these issues were referred to individuals who had both the
expertise and the experience to deal with them. To those who willingly and
enthusiastically contributed chapters on these issues, I owe a deep debt of
gratitude and wish to acknowledge each one individually.
John Levin, a former college instructor and administrator, is now a profes-
sor of higher education at the University of Arizona. He represents a new
generation of scholars, which is directing its attention to the many issues
facing postsecondary education in Canada and elsewhere.
Starr L. Owen also has extensive experience as a college teacher and is now
pursuing a new career as a scholar in the field of higher education.
Janet Knowles has worked in several provinces developing links between
postsecondary education and the business sector. She is now manager of
contract services at Douglas College. Her chapter on entrepreneurship was
written with the able assistance of Colleen Hawkey.
Douglas Baker has been involved in the college sector in many capacities
in many provinces and was formerly the president of Nicola Valley Techni-
cal Institute, a predominantly First Nations college in British Columbia. He
is now at Northwest Community College.
Charles W. Joyner has extensive experience and expertise in competency-
based education. He is now engaged in international activities with the
Association of Canadian Community Colleges in Ottawa.
Paul Gallagher has dedicated most of his professional life, as an adminis-
trator, scholar, writer, teacher, and critical observer, to the promotion and
advancement of the community college concept in Canada. He is the au-
thor of innumerable articles dealing with many aspects of Canadian educa-
tion and is, above all, a valued friend and colleague.
Finally, although their names appear above, there are three people who
deserve special mention. Paul Gallagher served as a critical reviewer for many
chapters and provided a great deal of helpful comment; Douglas Baker gath-
ered a good deal of the material on several regions and wrote some of the
early drafts; and Andre Le Blanc was, as always, an invaluable resource on
colleges in Quebec.
Introduction
John D. Dennison
Given their creation in the 1960s and 1970s and their attainment of matu-
rity twenty-five years later, Canada's community colleges may be described
as having grown old quickly. Although the idealism of their early years has
been replaced by pressures to maintain relevancy and stability in a difficult
political and fiscal environment, the colleges continue to play an impor-
tant role in the social and economic life of this nation. The 1994 statistical
profile of the college sector is impressive. In all, the approximately 150 in-
stitutions which fall under the rubric of community colleges deliver educa-
tion and training through more than 700 satellite campuses and other cen-
tres. Although variations in instructor classification occur among the
provinces and territories, approximately 25,000 full-time and over 150,000
part-time personnel teach in the college sector. The student population is
even less well defined, but the most recent statistics from the Department
of the Secretary of State (Canada 1991) indicate that about 500,000 stu-
dents are enrolled in credit programs in colleges. However, it is estimated
that an additional 1.5 million students are enrolled in credit-free continu-
ing education. Two-thirds of the credit program enrollees are full-time
students, while the remainder attend on a part-time basis.
In some provinces, colleges offer both pre-university or university-equiva-
lent courses as well as academic upgrading and technical/career prepara-
tion. About one-third of all students, both full- and part-time, are enrolled
in university-related courses. While the majority of full-time students in
the college sector are women (54 per cent), males outnumber females by a
ratio of two to one among full-time instructional staff.
In fiscal terms, the community college sector has grown into an enter-
prise with an annual operating budget of $6 billion, while its capital assets
are valued at $30 billion. The return from investment in Canadian colleges
is partly reflected in an estimate which states that 25 per cent of the na-
tion's workforce holds college credentials (Price Waterhouse 1993). In terms