John Dickson

A Brock graduate can add “the best” to his list of titles.

John Dickson, who received his master’s degree in education last year, has also been recognized for producing the best work to earn that degree. Dickson recently won the Margaret Haughey Masters Award for the best master’s research completed in the previous year.

The award was presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education annual general meeting in May. Receiving it was “incredibly humbling and a great honour,” Dickson said.

Dickson’s research, titled “Tracking Superintendents’ Experiences as they Create and Build a Learning Community,” was highly relevant, significant to the field of educational leadership and posed important questions, according to the selection committee.

Dickson has a vested interest in his research topic, aside from helping him earn his graduate degree. He’s a superintendent of schools for the District School Board of Niagara.

“While this was a major reason for choosing my research topic, it was not the only reason,” Dickson said. “I have been interested in, and working with, the concept of learning communities for many years and this research project provided me with an opportunity to examine this concept from a more theoretical and academic perspective and then apply that learning in a practical way.”

Education professor Coral Mitchell, who served as Dickson’s academic adviser, said Dickson’s “research deals with a subject that is centrally important for school administrators: how to build learning communities in schools so as to improve teaching and learning.”