Dr. Paul Tarc, PhD
Professor - Critical Policy, Equity and Leadership Studies
B.Sc. (University of Waterloo), B.Ed. (Queens University), M.Ed. (Queens University), Ph.D (York University)
Dr. Paul Tarc, PhD
Professor - Critical Policy, Equity and Leadership Studies
B.Sc. (University of Waterloo), B.Ed. (Queens University), M.Ed. (Queens University), Ph.D (York University)
My main research interests in progressive and critical modes of education are articulated through 'post'-informed theories of representation, ethics, subjectivity and pedagogy. I have taught for nine years in K-12 schools in South America, South-East Asia and Ontario.
My first book, Global dreams, enduring tensions: International Baccalaureate (IB) in a changing world, uses the IB as the focal point to historicize the 'international' of international education under globalization. My recently published book, International education in global times: Engaging the pedagogic, focuses on the complex processes of learning and subject formation in and from one’s international experience.
My particular domains of inquiry include: globalization and education, international education (including international school teachers and the International Baccalaureate), theories of knowing, politics of schooling, progressive pedagogies, critical literacies, teacher education, reflective practice, teachers' work and learning, and interpretive research methods in Education.
Research
· Translating and Mobilizing 'A New Social Contract for Education:' Illuminating and supporting teachers' worldly and critical pedagogies [with Nicholas Ng-A-Fook and Aparna Mishra Tarc]
Click here to read the summary
· Thinking education in times of global crises: Turning to the elemental qualities of education
In The News
Recent Publications
Books
Tarc, P. (2013). International education in global times: Engaging the pedagogic. New York: Peter Lang.
Tarc, P. (2009). Global dreams, enduring tensions: International Baccalaureate in a changing world. New York: Peter Lang.
Papers in refereed journals:
Tarc, P., Ng-A-Fook, N., Ausman, T., & James, C. (2025). Illuminating two secondary schoolteachers’ praxes on a ‘terrain of freedom:’ Lessons for teacher education. Northwest Journal of Teacher Education, 20(1), article 2. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1404&context=nwjte
Tang, H., Tarc, P., Budrow, J., & Sankar-Persad P. (2024). What makes a “distinguished global scholar” in global education? (Trans)formative experiences toward global mindedness. Canadian and International Education Journal 53(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cie-eci.v53i1.15076
Tarc, P., Mishra Tarc, A., & DiPaolantonio, M. (2023). Upholding ‘the educational’ in education: Schooling beyond learning and the market. Prospects (UNESCO International Bureau of Education). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-023-09661-w
Gardner-McTaggart, A., Bunnell, T., Resnik, J., Tarc, P., & Wright, E. (2023). Can the International Baccalaureate (IB) make a better and more peaceful world? Illuminating limits and possibilities of the International Baccalaureate movement/programs in a time of global crises, Globalisation, Societies and Education. DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2023.2252435
Bell, N., Tarc, P., Schecter, S., Rocco, A., & Tang, H. (2023). Hosting early study abroad students in Ontario: Internationalization of education dynamics in Secondary schooling. Canadian Journal of Educational Policy and Administration, 202, 112-127. https://doi.org/10.7202/1099986ar
Lyons, J., & Tarc, P. (2022). How might IB classroom pedagogy ‘make a better world?’ (Toward) illuminating a promising IBDP teacher praxis. Globalization, Societies and Education. DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2022.2142764
Koh, A., Pashby, K., Tarc, P., & Yemini, M. (2022). Internationalisation in teacher education: discourses, policies, practices. Teachers and Teaching, 1-14. DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2119381
Tarc, P., & Budrow, J. (2022). Seeking the cosmopolitan teacher: Internationalising curricula in a Canadian preservice teacher education program. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2062744
Wu, X., & Tarc, P. (2022). Chinese international secondary school students as flexible citizens: Toward cosmopolitan learning. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 43(4), 645-658. DOI: 10.1080/01596306.2021.1904382
Tarc, P. (2021). Transnational governing for the pedagogical ideals of K-12 international education: Contrasting PISA and IB. Educational Review 74(1), 93-113. DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2021.1965095
Wu, X., & Tarc, P. (2021). Challenges and possibilities in English language learning of rural lower-class Chinese college students: The Effect of capital, habitus, and fields. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2021.1931249
Wu, X., & Tarc, P. (2021). Chinese international students in a Canadian private secondary school: Becoming flexible citizens? Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 51(6), 901-919.Routledge.
Chapters in Books:
Tarc, P. (in press). Elusive criticality, radical equality and pedagogy as provocation for thinking: Encountering Professor Lynn Mario de Souza. In J. Martinez, & K. Silva (Eds.), Amid dialogues, sensitivities, and learning: Lynn Mario Menezes de Souza's multiple hats.
Tarc, P. (2023). Encyclopedia entry – K-12 global/international education: dancing with “diversity, democracy, and social justice” (Volume: Diversity, democracy, and social justice in education). In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, K. Ercikan, & G. Smith. International Encyclopaedia of Education (4th Edition) (pp. 139-150). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Tarc, P. (2023). The capture of international education by progressive neoliberalism: Illuminations, qualifications and educating beyond. In A. Sharma, M. Schmeichel, & E. Wurzburg (Eds.), Progressive Neoliberalism in Education: Critical perspectives on manifestations and resistance (pp. 153-168). New York: Routledge.
Tarc, P. (2023). Encyclopedia entry - International Baccalaureate: Meanings and uses in a globalizing world (Volume: Globalization and the geopolitics of education). In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, K. Ercikan, & G. Smith. International Encyclopaedia of Education (4th Edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Tarc, P. (2022). Final reflections on nurturing mobilities. In. C. Maxwell, M. Yemini, & K. Bach, Nurturing Mobilities: Family Travel in the 21st Century (pp. 117-120). New York: Routledge
Teaching and Supervision
Recent Teaching
Graduate
Globalization and Education
Teacher Education
International Education in a Globalizing World: Toward Cosmopolitan Learning
Framing International Education in a Globalizing World
Doctoral Supervision Completed
2024, Shamiga Arumuhathas, Is there Adversity in Diversity? Racialized International Students’ Experiences at Southwestern Ontario Universities
2023, Haoming Tang, Global mindedness and its Development across Space and Time: Illuminations of Lived Experiences from Study Abroad Students and Global Educational Scholars
2022, Georges Wakim, Syrian Refugee Education in Lebanese Secondary Schooling: A Vertical Case Study
2021, Vanessa Sperduti, Seeking the Perspectives of a Host Community in a US-based Service Learning Program: A Case Study [co-supervised with Marianne Larsen]
2020, James Budrow, Becoming a Cosmopolitan Teacher: Empirical and Theoretical Inquiries
2019, Abbey Duggal, Teaching for Equity: A Case Study of Teachers,’ Vice Principals,’ and Principals’ Perspectives in Three High-Poverty Elementary Schools in Ontario, Canada [co-supervised with Pam Bishop]
2019, Qinghua Zhao, Routes to a Western Undergraduate Degree: Chinese Families’ Mobilization of Capital and Flexible Citizenship [co-supervised with Melody Viczko]
2019, Eva Jaberi, Seeking the Global Generation: A Comparative Case Study of Youth from Canada, Georgia and Saudi Arabia [co-supervised with Marianne Larsen]
2018, Farrukh Chishtie, The ‘Meaning’ and ‘Enactments’ of Natural Sciences: ANT-Mobilities [co-supervised with Allan Pitman]
2018, Xi Wu, Examining Chinese International Secondary School Students in Transnational Spaces: Becoming Flexible Citizens?
2017, Desire Yamutaule, The Doubleness of International Double Degree Programs at Ontario Universities: Challenges and Prospects for Global Citizenship Education
2017, Clara Tascon de Arcila, Knowledge production in international research collaboration: A comparative study of Canadian and Colombian Research Networks [co-supervised with Marianne Larsen]
2012, Elida Sanchez Cruz, Women in Science and Engineering: The Impact of Gender Equity Policy in Mexican Higher Education
Doctoral supervision in progress
Noordin Abdulaziz Omar, Critical and comparative analysis of Ontario’s school-parent policy context
Hasan Bayraktar, Agentic mobilities: Conceptual and empirical inquiries of Turkish migration in higher education
Jiayue Jiang, Progressive pedagogy as (re)form: Conceptual, comparative and empirical inquiries
