Nicholas Ng-A-Fook

Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook is a professor, researcher and social justice activist. He is the director of Teacher Education at the University of Ottawa and is past President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education. Ng-A-Fook is also creator and founder of A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project.
Early life
Born on April 11, 1973 in Glasgow, Scotland to Elizabeth Gray and Robert Ng-A-Fook. Elizabeth, born in 1952 in Glasgow, is of Irish-Scottish heritage and practiced as a psychiatric nurse. In 1996, she also received a diploma in Social Work. Robert Ng-A-Fook, born in 1947, studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and practiced as a general practitioner in Kapuskasing Ontario, Canada. Nicholas is the eldest of two brothers Robert and Neil.
After the introduction of Canada's national multicultural reform policies, Nicholas Ng-A-Fook and his family patiently waited in Georgetown, Guyana for their immigration request to move to Canada to complete. During this time, Ng-A-Fook was baptized at an Anglican church in Georgetown Guyana. In 1975, with the waves of new immigrants from around the world, Nicholas Ng-A-Fook and his family immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom and Guyana, making him a first-generation immigrant to Canada with transnational dual citizenships. During his childhood, Ng-A-Fook attended Immaculé Conception, Sacré Coeur, and André Carré, a French Roman Catholic school in northern Ontario, from grades 5 to 8 and later École Secondaire de la Cité-des-Jeunes, a French Catholic High School where he had to learn and speak a new foreign language: French. Although successful integration into a predominantly French-Canadian school may have been difficult for Ng-A-Fook, he demonstrated success in school sports, particularly badminton. Ng-A-Fook played badminton for his high school's team and won bronze, silver and gold for OFSAA in Grades 11, 12 and 13, respectively . He went on to play for the University of Ottawa's varsity badminton team and trained at the RA centre. He won MVP during his last year at the University of Ottawa .
Education
Dr. Ng-A-Fook received his B.A with concentration in Classical Studies at the University of Ottawa, CA, in 1997, followed by completing a Graduate Diploma in Education in Secondary Science and History at the University of Western Sydney, AU, in 1999. That year, Ng-A-Fook taught as a newly qualified high school science and history teacher in Penrith, New South Wales. Then in 1999, he returned to Canada and took on a long-term occasional position at an inner-city high school teaching youth who were identified as being “at risk” of being pushed or dropping out of the public schooling system. In 2000, Mike Harris implemented Bill 160 and consequently, Nicholas Ng-A-Fook enrolled into the Master's of Education program at York University. While Ng-A-Fook worked on his thesis Beginning Re-Search: Towards An Understanding of Vulnerable Education, William F. Pinar invited him to begin his doctorate at Louisiana State University. There, Ng-A-Fook was able to study the unique Curriculum Theory Project with William Pinar and Petra Munro Hendry. At this southern institution, Ng-A-Fook also had the opportunity to study and collaborate on different curriculum theory projects with internationally renowned curriculum scholars like William E. Doll Jr., Denise Egéa-Kuehne and Claudia Eppert.
In the Fall of 2001, with the guidance of Celia Haig-Brown, Ng-A-Fook briefly returned from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Toronto to defend his Master's in Education thesis. Over the next four years, while pursuing his studies at LSU, he worked closely with the United Houma Nation, the largest Franco Indigenous community in Louisiana. Ng-A-Fook also worked with McKinley High School in Baton Rouge for a community oral history project that focused on Civil Rights Movements. In Fall 2005, Ng-A-Fook defended his doctoral dissertation An Indigenous Curriculum of Place: The United Houma Nation's Contentious Relationship with Louisiana's Educational Institutions, which focused on how the Louisiana state apparatus historically dictated educational exclusion through its infamous Jim Crow policies of racial segregation. It has since been published as An Indigenous Curriculum of Place. Using participatory and critical ethnographic and oral history research methodologies, he examined the life histories of United Houma Nation Elders who experienced firsthand the complexities and difficulties of institutional racism. In 2006, Ng-A-Fook graduated with a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a minor concentration in Women and Gender Studies. The Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa subsequently hired him as an assistant professor of Curriculum theory.
Career
In 2005, Dr. Ng-A-Fook began his career as a replacement professor teaching within the Teacher Education Program the University of Ottawa. As a former Science and History High School teacher he taught courses such as, but not limited to Senior Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Teaching Methods; Schooling and Society; and Curriculum Design and Evaluation. In the Fall of 2005, he returned to Louisiana State University two weeks after Hurricane Katrina to defend his doctoral thesis: An Indigenous Curriculum of Place: The United Houma Nation's Contentious Relationship with Louisiana's Educational Institutions. After graduating and teaching that year, he was hired as an assistant professor of Curriculum Theory (2006-2012).
During his time as an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, Ng-A-Fook taught a number of courses at the Faculty of Education, including Introduction to Curriculum Studies, Schooling and Society, Historical Narratives and Education and Curriculum, Culture and Language, among others . An avid researcher and writer, Ng-A-Fook wrote multiple academic articles and book chapters, including some that seek to understand diversity, equity, curriculum studies, and language, in addition to writing autobiographical works. During this time, Nicholas Ng-A-Fook spent his time educating others by submitting work in referred conference proceedings throughout North America. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook also collaborated on different monographs with Ontario Ministry of Education Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat that focused on culturally responsive curriculum, diversity and equity.
Nicholas Ng-A-Fook engaged in a number of academic activities during his time as an assistant professor. From 2008 to 2015, Ng-A-Fook was as a member of numerous committees at the University of Ottawa including the Faculty of Education Policy Committee, the Equity Committee and The Centre for Global and Community Engagement Awards Committee. Professionally, Ng-A-Fook was Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies between 2010 and 2011 and moved to Co-President from 2011 to 2013. He was Secretary-Treasurer for the Canadian Society for the Study of Education from 2012 to 2015 and later became President in 2016. In 2007, Ng-A-Fook created A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project at the University of Ottawa, which provides a platform for educators and students to discuss and showcase curriculum theory and developmental projects.
Nicholas Ng-A-Fook was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2012. During this time, he taught additional courses such as Curriculum Design and Evaluation and Seminar in Curriculum Studies. In 2014, he took on the role of Director of Teacher Education within the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. He was responsible for implementing the new extended Teacher Education program that went in to effect in 2015. In 2016, for his contributions to, and impact within the international field of Curriculum Studies, he was promoted to Full Professor. Ng-A-Fook, in collaboration with a First Nations, Métis, and Inuit advisory committee and the Faculty of Education established the introduction of a mandatory course on Aboriginal perspectives for all students in the Faculty of Education . Currently Ng-A-Fook works to change the way the Ontario curriculum treats the contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people to Canadian culture, history and society, and strives to ensure teacher training responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s recommendations: that all Canadian students learn about the repercussions of the residential schooling system and intergenerational trauma .
Awards and Honours
* Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies, Ted. T. Aoki Distinguished Service Award, 2018
* The Canadian Oral History Association (COHA) Prize, 2018
* Membership to the Professor of Curriculum Studies, 2014-Present
* The Faculty of Education New Researcher Award, 2012
* Community Service Learning Outstanding Achievement Award, University of Ottawa, 2010
* Tribal Advocate Award, United Houma Nation, 2004
* The National Society of Collegiate Scholars Award, Louisiana State University, 2003
Selected Academic Activities
* 2017-2018: University of Ottawa Standing Committee on Indigenous Engagement
* 2015-2018: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Teacher Education Advisory Committee
* 2014-2018: Chair of Teacher Education Advisory Committee
* 2009-2018: Associate Member of Making History Educational Research Unit
Selected Professional Service Activities
*2017-2018: OTC, accreditation institutional panel member, York University
*2017-2020: Co-Lead of the Ontario Ministry of Education Equity Knowledge Network
*2016-2019: Board of Governors at Ashbury College
*2016-2018: President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education
*2007-2018: Peer reviewer for several articles submitted to journals such as, but not limited to: Canadian Journal of Education, Journal of Curriculum Inquiry, Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Multicultural Education Review, Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education, Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, Journal for the Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies, and Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy
*2007-2018: Founder and Director of A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project at the University of Ottawa (see www.curriculumtheoryproject.ca)
*2014-2018: Member of Professors of Curriculum Studies
*2014-2018: Evaluation Committee for Government of Canada History Awards.
*2013-2017: IAACS Secretary Treasurer
*2015-2016: President-Elect of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education
*2014-2016: Program Chair for AERA Division B Section: Decolonizing, Transnational, and Indigenous Inquiry
*2011-2013: Co-President of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies
*2010-2011: Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies
Bibliography
Books, Books Edited and Selected Book Chapters
*An Indigenous Curriculum of Place: The United Houma Nation's Contentious Relationship with Louisiana's Educational Institutions (New York, New York: Peter Lang, 2007)
*Hebert, C., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Smith, B., Ibrahim, A. (2019). Internationalizing Curriculum Studies: Histories, Environments, and Critiques. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
*Smith, B., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Pratt, S., & Radford, L. (2018). (Eds.). Hacking Education in a Digital Age: Teacher Education, Curriculum, and Literacies. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc.
*Llewellyn, K., & Ng-A-Fook, N. (2017). (Eds.). Oral History and Education: Theories, Dilemmas, and Practices. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Canadian Oral History Association Prize; awarded to an outstanding example of oral history practice, 2018).
*Ng-A-Fook, N., & Ibrahim, A., & Reis, G. (2016). (Eds.). Provoking Curriculum Studies: Strong Poetry and Arts of the Possible in Education. New York, New York: Routledge. (Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, 2017; AERA Division B, Outstanding Book Recognition Award, 2016)
*Ng-A-Fook, N. & *Rottmann, J. (Eds.). (2012). Reconsidering Canadian Curriculum Studies. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. i-278.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2019). Addressing “Curriculum” as an Inspirited Letter. In M. Quinn (Ed.). Complexifying Curriculum Studies: From the Echo of God's Laughter: Essays on the Generative and Generous Gifts of William E. Doll Jr. New York, New York: Routledge.
*Forte, R., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Reis, G. (2018). Enclosing the Commons: Beyond A Beautiful Destruction. In Peter Trifonas & Susan Jagger (Eds.). Handbook of Cultural Studies in Education. New York, New York: Routledge.
*Ng-A-Fook, N., *Ingham, M., *Burrows, T. (2018). Reconciling 170 Years of Settler Curriculum Policies: Teacher Education in Ontario. In Theodore Christou. (Ed.). Curriculum History of Teacher Education. New York, New York: Routledge.
*Butler, J., Ng-A-Fook, N., & *Forte, R., & *McFadden, F., & Reis, G. (2017). Ecojustice Education as a Praxis of Environmental Reconciliation: Teacher Education, Indigenous Knowledges, and Relationality. In Giuliano Reis & Jeff Scott. International Perspectives on the Theory and Practice of Environmental Education: A Reader. New York, New York: Springer.
*Brant, K., *Cheechoo, K., *McGuire-Adams, T., *Vaudrin-Charette, J., Ng-A-Fook, N. (2017). Indigenizing Ivory Towers: Poetic Inquiry, Métissage and Reconciliation. In Ellyn Lyle (Ed.). At the Intersection of Selves and Subject: Exploring the Curricular Landscape of Identity. Rotterdam The Netherlands: Sense Publisher.
*Ng-A-Fook, N., Kane, R., Crowe, T., & Karagiozis, N., & Schira-Hagermann, M. (2017). Reconceptualizing Teacher Education at the University of Ottawa. In Diana Petrarcha & Julian Kitchen. (Eds.). Initial Teacher Education in Ontario: The First Year of Four-Semester Teacher Education Programs. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association for Teacher Education. . http://cate-acfe.ca/polygraph-book-series/.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. & Smith, B. (2017). Doing Oral History Education Toward Reconciliation. In Kristina Llewellyn and Nicholas Ng-A-Fook (Eds.). Oral History and Education. New York, New York: Palgrave, Macmillan.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2016). Becoming an International: Curriculum Theory, Currere, and Subjectivity. In Mary Aswell Doll and Marla Morris (Eds.). The Reconceptualization of Curriculum Studies: A Festschrift in Honor of William F. Pinar, pp. 121-129. New York, New York: Routledge.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2015). Autobiography, Intellectual Topographies, and Teacher Education. In Hua Zhang and William F. Pinar (Eds.). Autobiography and Teacher Development in China: Subjectivity and Culture in Curriculum Reform, pp. 121-150. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2013). Contemplating A Canadian Curriculum Theory Project: Currere, Denkbild and Intellectual Genealogies, pp. 172-181. In Erika Hasebe-Ludt and Wanda Hurren (Eds.), Contemplating Curriculum: Genealogies/Times/Places. New York, New York: Routledge.
*Aoki, T. T., Pinar, W. F., & Irwin, R. L. (2012). Curriculum in a new key: The collected works of Ted T. Aoki. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2012). Navigating M/other-Son Plots as a Migrant Act: Autobiography, Currere, and Gender. In Springgay, S. & Freedman, D. (Eds.). Mothering a bodied curriculum: Emplacement, desire, affect, pp. 160-185. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2009). Inhabiting the Hyphenated Spaces of Alienation and Appropriation: Currere, Language, and Postcolonial Migrant Subjectivities. In James Nahachewsky and Ingrid Johnson (Eds.), Beyond Presentism, pp. 87-103. Rotterdam The Netherlands: Sense publishers.
Selected Papers in Referred Journals
*Kane, R., Ng-A-Fook, N., Radford, L., & *Butler, J., (2016). Conceptualizing and contextualizing digital citizenship in urban schools: Civic engagement, teacher education, and the placelessness of digital technologies. Citizenship Education Research Journal, 6(1), pp. 24-39.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2016). Storying Curriculum as Technoeconomic Progress: A Lament! Antistasis, 6(1), pp. 30-33.
*Smith, B., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & *Corrigan, J. (2014, Fall). Mobile (izing) Educational Research: Historical Thinking, M-Learning, and Technopolitics. McGill Journal of Education, 49(3), pp. 583-602.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. & *Milne, R. (2014, Fall). Unsettling our Narrative Encounters within and outside of Canadian Social Studies. Canadian Journal of Social Studies, 47(2), pp. 91-109.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2014. Fall). Provoking the very “Idea” of Canadian Curriculum Studies as a Counterpointed Composition. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 12(1), pp. 10-69.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2014, Fall). Spinning Curriculum Designs at a Crossroads: Big Ideas, Conversations, and Reconciliation. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 12(1), pp. 97-118.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. & Radford, L. & *Ausman, T. (2012, October). Living a Curriculum of Hyph-e-nations: Diversity, Equity, and Social Media. Multicultural Educational Review, 4 (2), pp. 91-128.
*Smith, B., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & *Berry, S. & *Spence, K. (2011, December). Deconstructing a Curriculum of Dominance: Teacher Education, Colonial Frontier Logics, and Residential Schooling. Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, 8 (2), pp. 54-71.
*Reis, G. & Ng-A-Fook, N. (2010). TEK talk: so what? Language and the decolonization of narrative gatekeepers of science education curriculum. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5 (4), pp. 1009-1026.
*Ng-A-Fook, N. (2005). A Curriculum of Mother-Son Plots on Education's Center Stage, Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 21 (4), pp. 43-58.
University Courses Taught
Teacher Education Undergraduate Courses
*2018: PED 3138 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education: Historical Experiences and Contemporary Perspectives (Hybrid)
*2014: PED 3103 Curriculum Design and Evaluation (Hybrid)
*2005-2011: PED 3102 Schooling and Society
*2011-2012: PED 3103 Curriculum Design and Evaluation (Hybrid)
*2010: PED 3103 Curriculum Design and Evaluation (Online)
*2008-2009: PED 3103 Curriculum Design and Evaluation (Hybrid)
*2006-2012: PED 3103 CD & E in Aboriginal Teacher Education Program
Graduate Courses
*2018: EDU5260 Introduction to Curriculum Studies (Hybrid)
*2015-2017: EDU 5101 Perspectives in Education (Online)
*2014: EDU 5260 Introduction to Curriculum Studies (Hybrid)
*2013: EDU 6460 Curriculum, Culture, and Language
*2012: EDU 6102 Seminar in Curriculum Studies (Hybrid)
*2011-2012: EDU 5260 Introduction to Curriculum Studies (Hybrid)
*2011-2012: EDU 5265 Internationalization of Curriculum Studies (Online)
*2009-2010: EDU 5260 Introduction to Curriculum Studies
*2010: EDU 6460 Curriculum, Culture and Language
*2009: EDU 5265 Internationalization of Curriculum Studies
*2007: EDU 5221 Historical Narratives and Education

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu