Joint PhD in Education

Program Completion Date: 2018

My name is Sean Schat, and this is my Brock Grad Story. I am a former elementary and high school teacher and educational leader (director of staff development, vice principal and principal) currently working as a full-time sessional instructor at Redeemer University College in the Hamilton area. I am in the final stages of my 6-year PhD journey at Brock University (Joint PhD in Education). It is my hope that I will be able to defend my dissertation in the next few months. My dissertation research study has focused on “the successful communication of educational care,” exploring the experiences and perceptions of adolescent students. This constructivist grounded theory study has generated two descriptions (the 3 primary Dimensions of Educational Care and the 13 secondary Elements of Educational Care) and two theoretical explanations (the communication of educational care and the establishment of a caring teacher-student relationship). Over the last few months I have been able to publish two articles related to my research, and have presented the initial study results to teacher educators, preservice teachers, and inservice teachers in a number of different contexts. Later in the year I will be working with a high school staff, exploring the communication of educational care. I look forward to having opportunities to share the results of my study.

Over the past few years at Brock I have been privileged to teach courses, to work as a research assistant, and to serve international students, supporting their learning and written communication. I have very much appreciated the opportunity to interact regularly with both classmates and instructors and other faculty members, which has been an integral part of my own learning experience. I am grateful for the support and encouragement I have received.