This text examines recent changes to the Canadian educational system and their impact on the role of the school — most significantly how the school must now function as an agent of inclusion for students who are not part of the mainstream school population. Based on the findings of a comprehensive five-year national study sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada — Current Trends in the Evolution of School Personnel in Canadian Elementary and Secondary Schools — the contributors examine the daily work activities, working conditions, and the interactions with students in view of recent changes to the educational system and the evolving role of the school. Educators' Discourses on Student Diversity in Canada: Context, Policy and Practice challenges the status quo and provides a timely, comprehensive, and critical overview of education and diversity in Canada.

Diane Gérin-Lajoie is Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and she is cross-appointed tot the Centre for Franco-Ontarian Studies. She teaches graduate courses in the areas of minority education and qualitative research.

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"[This] book provides a useful contemporary snapshot of how educators think and talk about diversity in Canada. It moves beyond superficial and taken-for-granted views of the meaning of diversity to look critically at the significance of educators' descriptions of the diverse educational context in which they work, and what they do in these settings. I don't know of any other books that provide this broad an overview of the country in the area of education and diversity."— “Jim Ryan, Professor and Co-Director, Centre for Leadership and Diversity, Department of Theory and Policy Studies, OISE/University of Toronto