Dr. Helen Raptis
Position
Contact
Credentials
PhD (Education) University of Victoria, MEd (Education) McGill University, BA (French Language/Literature) University of Victoria
- Social and Historical Foundations of Education in British Columbia
- Aboriginal/ Indigenous Education
- Multicultural/ Anti-Racist Education
- Education Policy Studies
- First Nations and Minority Education
- Educational Reform
Dr. Raptis uses historical and sociological research approaches, to study government policy, minority learners and teachers in British Columbia’s schools. Since 2005, she has been examining Canada’s Indigenous education policies and their impacts on children and teachers.
With funding from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Dr. Raptis has explored how Indigenous education policies were implemented in British Columbia (2005-2008 project); how they were experienced by former students in Terrace and Port Essington (2008-2012 project) and in Campbell River and Saanich (2013-2018 project). Through a SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2014-2017), she explored how BC’s teachers and students engaged with government policies to support the nation’s war efforts (1939-1945).
Dr. Raptis’s research illuminates the nature of educational policy-making and reform: from intents and implementation to impacts and implications.
She is co-founder – with the Lower Vancouver Island Retired Teachers – of the Education Heritage Museum.
Balancing the Needs of the State with the Needs of Learners and Communities: Teaching During World War II:
I have just completed a SSHRC-funded project exploring the experiences of teachers who taught in British Columbia during World War II. It turns out that their classrooms were not all sites of patriotism - as historians previously believed by historians.
A Time of Change: Probing Indigenous Students' Journeys from Segregated to Integrated Schooling, 1951-1971:
I have also been studying the schooling experiences of the W’sanec people to determine how government policies of segregation and integration shaped their schooling and transitions to adulthood. This SSHRC-funded project expires in 2018.
Exploring the Integration Experiences of Aboriginal Children and Teachers, 1949-1969
Principal Investigators: Helen Raptis and Anne Marshall
In 1951, the Canadian government modified the Indian Act to end the legal segregation of aboriginal children and enable them to be integrated into provincial public schools. Despite its historical significance, the government’s policy shift from segregation to integration has been the subject of very little empirical research. This SSHRC-funded research addresses the following questions: How did teachers interpret the policy intents and how did they (or did they not) facilitate the integration of aboriginal youngsters into their classrooms? Were teachers provided with supporting regulations and/ or resources to facilitate integration? If so, what was the nature of these supports and which were most useful? How did aboriginal children experience the process of integration? Were the students provided with any particular supports and/ or resources to facilitate their integration? If so, what was the nature of these supports? Which were most useful? Did the teachers’ and children’s experiences depend on the social, economic or political circumstances of each of the communities? If so, what can we discern about the role that contextual and/ or personal factors play in shaping the effects of educational policy?
The Education History Museum
The Education History Museum is a partnership project of the Lower Vancouver Island Retired Teachers (LVIRT) and the Faculty of Education, University of Victoria (UVic). We provide educators, researchers, museum workers, and community members free, open access to digitized education artifacts in order to enhance teaching, research, and community engagement with British Columbia’s educational history.
Support (both financial and in-kind) has been kindly received from: The British Columbia Retired Teachers Association (BC RTA); the EMC Corporation; Greater Victoria School District (#61); The Hudson Bay Company History Foundation; the Lower Vancouver Island Retired Teachers (LVIRT); and the University of Victoria, Faculty of Education.
Articles Published in Refereed International Journals:
Sun, C., Raptis, H. & Weaver, A. (2015) Crowding the Curriculum? Changes to Grade 9 and 10 Science in British Columbia, 1920-2014, Canadian Journal of Education 38,3 (2015): 1-31.
Raptis, H., (2015). Blurring the Boundaries of Policy and Legislation in the Schooling of Indigenous Children in British Columbia, 1901-1951, Historical Studies in Education 27, 2: 65-77.
Forseille, A. & Raptis, H. (2016). Future Teachers Clubs and the Socialization of Pre-Service and Early Career Teachers, 1953-2015, Teaching and Teacher Education 59, 239-246.
Brophey, A. & Raptis, H. (2016). Preparing to Be Allies: Narratives of Non-Indigenous Researchers Working in Indigenous Contexts, Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 62, 3: 237-252.
Dubensky, K. & Raptis, H. (Fall 2017). Denying Indigenous Education: Examples from Wei Wai Kum (Campbell River) and We Wei Kai (Cape Mudge), BC Studies, Issue 195: 13-34.
Refereed Books, Chapters, Monographs, etc.:
Raptis, H. & Members of the Tsimshian First Nation (2016). What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect on Tsimshian Education and the Day Schools. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Raptis, H. (2017) The Canadian Landscape: Provinces, Territories, Nations, and Identities, in The Curriculum History of Canadian Teacher Education, ed. Theodore Michael Christou (New York: Routledge).
Other (non-refereed) Publications:
Raptis, H. Much ado about very little in our schools, Opinion Editorial in Times Colonist, September 10, 2015, p. A11.
Raptis, H. Time to review nature of school boards, Letter to the Editor, Times-Colonist, October 29, 2015, p. A11.
Raptis, H. It’s time to reconsider BC’s school boards, Letter to the Editor, Times Colonist, June 22, 2016
Raptis, H. Doing History: Gradually and Methodically, Dimensions: Journal of the BC Social Studies Teachers’ Association, December 2016, 6-7.
International Papers, Lectures, Addresses:
Raptis, H. Indigenous Education Across Time and Place, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, April 19, 2015.
Forseille, A. & Raptis H. Future Teachers Clubs and the Socialization of Pre-Service and Early Career Teachers, 1953-2015, Poster presented at the Hawaii International Conference in Education, January 3, 2016.
Raptis, H. The State versus Learners and Communities: Schooling in British Columbia, 1939-1945, Roundtable presentation, American Educational Research Association Conference, Washington, DC, April 12, 2016.
Raptis, H. Parallel Plans: Integration Policy Agendas in British Columbia and Canada, 1947-1952, (American) History of Education Society Annual Meeting, Little Rock, Arkansas, November 4, 2017.
National Papers, Lectures, Addresses:
Raptis, H. Serving Two Masters, Community-University of Victoria (CUVIC) Conference 2014. University of Victoria, May 20-22, 2014.
Sun, C., Raptis, H. & Weaver, A. Evidence, Myth and the Overcrowded Science Curriculum, Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria BC, May 25-28, 2014.
Raptis, H. Navigating Bumpy Terrain: Learning to Work Respectfully with Indigenous Communities, Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, St. Catherines, Ontario, May 25-28, 2014.
Raptis, H. Coherence and a Common Vision: The Mission of Education Foundations in
Teacher Education, Panel Introduction, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ottawa, ON, May 31st 2015.
Christou, T & Raptis, H. Case Studies in Educational Foundations: Why History
of Education Matters, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ottawa, ON,June 2nd 2015.
Raptis, H. Working in Tandem: Federal-Provincial Collaboration in Indigenous Education, 1901-1915, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ottawa, ON, June 1st 2015.
Carleton, S., Knickerbocker, M., & Raptis, H. Stories about Schooling: Indigenous Peoples, Settler Colonialism, and Residential Schools in Western Canada, Panel presentation at the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, Calgary, AB, May 2016.
Raptis, H. Philosophy, History and the Environment, Session chair, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Calgary, AB, May 30, 2016.
Raptis, H. Assimilation by Another Name: The Integration of Tsimshian Students into the Public Schools of British Columbia, 1951-1981, Canadian History of Education Association conference, Waterloo Ontario, October 28, 2016.
Raptis, H. What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect on Tsimshian Education and the Day Schools, Canadian History of Education Association conference, Waterloo Ontario, October 29, 2016.
Raptis, H. School/Nation, Segregation or Separation, Session chair, Canadian History of Education Association conference, Waterloo, Ontario, October 28, 2016.
Raptis, H. Integrated Schooling in British Columbia: The Contributions of William T. Straith, 1947-1952. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, May 29, 2017.
Conference Proceedings
Forseille, A. & Raptis H. (2016). Future Teachers Clubs and the Socialization of Pre-Service and Early Career Teachers, 1953-2015, Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Education, January 2-6, 2016.
Professional/ Provincial Presentations and Activities:
Raptis, H. Beyond the Shadow of the Residential School: Understanding the On-Reserve Day School in the History of Indigenous Education (UVic Speakers Bureau) Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, January 14th 2014.
Raptis, H. Beyond the Shadow of the Residential School: Understanding the On-Reserve Day School in the History of Indigenous Education (UVic Speakers Bureau) The Kensington, October 7th 2014.
Raptis, H. Adding Resources to BC’s Public Schools Without Increasing Funding (UVic Speakers Bureau). Royal Oak Neighbourhood Association, March 2, 2016.
Raptis, H. Beyond the Shadow of the Residential School: Understanding the On-Reserve Day School in the History of Indigenous Education (UVic Speakers Bureau). Sidney Rotary Club, April 28, 2016.
Manuel, J., Raptis, H., & Shenher, L. Secrets and Stories from British Columbia, BC Read Local Event at Russell Books, Victoria, BC, November 1, 2016.
Parsons, J., Miller, M. & Raptis, H., Designing Effective and Efficient Assessment, Let’s Talk About Teaching conference, UVic, September 1, 2016.
I am available to speak on the following topics through the UVic Speakers Bureau:
- Ending the Reign of the Fraser Institute School Rankings
- Planning for Effective Schools
- British Columbia’s History of Education
- Beyond the Shadow of the Residential School: Understanding the On-reserve Day
- School in the History of Indigenous Education
If you are interested to have me speak on any of these topics, please visit the UVic Speakers Bureau to make a booking.