Dr. Kate Tilleczek is the Canada Research Chair in Child/Youth Cultures and Transitions, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island, and a Research Scientist at the Community Health Systems Group at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is a former school teacher and is a sociologist who has been studying and teaching the social and cultural realities and experiences of childhood and youth for 20 years. This program of research demonstrates a commitment to work with and for young people across many cultures and contexts.
Dr. Tilleczek’s research has practical applications for both education and health. She is particularly interested in issues of marginality and the ways in which education is related to the developmental health of youth. Kate will host an international conference on Marginalized Youth in Contemporary Educational Contexts in May, 2009 in Toronto (http://chsrgevents.ca/BecomingModernYouth/default.aspx). The conference will bring together scholars, educators, practitioners and young people to discuss the state of the field today and the best ways to meaningfully move forward.
Kate’s work has applications for the nexus of education and health and employs a range of forms of inquiry. For example, she has produced a documentary film relating the children's mental health (http://www.cranhr.ca/film.html) and a series of "post-card testimonials" as emerging from the daily experiences of marginalized youth in schools. Dr. Tilleczek is currently leading a three year ethnographic study of elementary and secondary schools, the transitions between them, and the developmental health of young people in Ontario (http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/research/tilleczek.pdf). Dr. Tilleczek has also collaborated with colleagues at The Hospital for Sick Children on a multi-method, large scale study of secondary schools and early school leavers in Ontario (http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/schoolleavers.pdf). She is also currently engaged in collaborative work relating to the mental health of young people in Canada and in the children's rights movement relating to Aboriginal education in Canada.
Kate's most recent edited book was Why do students drop out of school? Narrative studies and social critiques (2008, New York: Edwin Mellen Press). Her forthcoming book, Youth studies in contemporary contexst: Being, becoming and belonging is a critical examination of the field of youth studies as it is emerging today. It addressed the myths, issues, practices and possibilities of working with and for young people.
Dr. Tilleczek has also published numerous academic articles and dozens of research reports and has most often taught the Sociology of Childhood, the Sociology of Youth, Qualitative Methods, Social Research Methods, and Human Development at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Kate is active in many community endeavors and scholarly societies including the International Child and Youth Research Network (ICYRNet) (http://www.icyrnet.net/).
Email: ktilleczek@upei.ca
