connexion canadienne : L’AERO et les éducateurs canadiens

This paper investigates the relationship between the Alternative Education Resources Organization (AERO), considered to be the “primary hub of communications and support for educational alternatives around the world,” and Canadian educators. As it turns out, Canadians, particularly Indigenous groups in Canada, were instrumental in shaping AERO. Educators from Ontario’s alternative education sector, as well as the free schools of British Columbia developed deep connections with AERO over the course of its rise from 1989 to 2003.  These relationships helped reinforce AERO’s values surrounding self-directed learning and learner autonomy. An historical analysis was used to understand the influence Canadians had on AERO during the rise of the organization in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. This form of analysis works to reconstruct the past through the examination of primary source material, so that we may learn from the past and better understand the forces that shaped it. For its source material, this inquiry drew from the primary source documents released on AERO’s online archive. This archive contains copies of AERO’s publications from 1989 to 2011, such as The AERO-Gramme Newsletter and The Education Revolution Magazine. The chronological scope of this work encapsulates AERO rise, from 1989 to 2003.