Photo Credits: Heather Stuart
RESEARCH
I am an active researcher who enjoys the opportunity to collaborate with others and to mentor graduate students as they pursue their own research endeavours.
Research Focus
The central purpose of my research, often informed by postmodern, critical, and feminist perspectives, is to explore the inter-related workings of power, discourses and identities, particularly as they relate to teachers and children. This interest is manifested in the following research areas:
• Teacher Education – Often focusing on in-service teachers, I am interested in the ways in which discourses in/form teacher identities, and subsequently illustrate the ways in which discourses and power work to create the teaching subject. This work, emerging from the interstices of teacher education and curriculum theory, is important in relation to understanding teacher identity and teacher “becoming”. Currently, this research is focused on surfacing the emotional toll of obligation that teachers experience in this neoliberal era where teaching is at risk of increased standardization and managerialism.
• Critical Perspectives of Children within Systems of Education – Situated within reconceptualist understandings of children, my research explores the conceptions of identities of children (defined as those under the age of 18 years of age), how these are discursively formed, and the ways in which this relationship between discourse, power and identity effectively marginalize and disenfranchise children from the very systems that are meant to serve them. Most recently, my interest is on the implications of the discursive construction of children within policy, with a particular focus on the failings of our system for children in care.
Selected Funded Research Projects:
Levine, K. (Principal Investigator, UM), Janzen, M.D. (Co-App.), & Sutherland, D. (Co-App). Exploring system change to improve educational outcomes for children in care in Manitoba. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Partnership Development Grant. (2016)
Janzen, M. D., (Principal Investigator), & Phelan, A. (Co-App., UBC). The emotional toll of obligation and teachers’ disengagement from the profession. Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant. (2015)
Janzen, M. D. Kids in trouble: Analyzing student behaviour management policies. Faculty of Education Research Development Fund, University of Manitoba. (2015)
Janzen, M. D., (Principal Investigator), & Phelan, A. (Co-App., UBC). The anxiety of obligation: Understanding the emotional toll of teaching. SSHRC Research Grant Program, University of Manitoba. (2014)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator), & Cranston, J. (Co-Investigator). Examining the outcomes of the 2014 Summer Institute: The fourth R: A global perspective on teaching and leading human rights education. Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba. (2014)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator). Beyond Schools: Exploring multiple perspectives of community-based practicums. Research Grant Program, University of Manitoba. (2013)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator). Northern practicum: Teaching and researching with Manitoba’s northern schools and communities. Faculty Development Initiative Fund, University of Manitoba. (2013)
Janzen, M. D. Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). (2008 - 2010)
Research Focus
The central purpose of my research, often informed by postmodern, critical, and feminist perspectives, is to explore the inter-related workings of power, discourses and identities, particularly as they relate to teachers and children. This interest is manifested in the following research areas:
• Teacher Education – Often focusing on in-service teachers, I am interested in the ways in which discourses in/form teacher identities, and subsequently illustrate the ways in which discourses and power work to create the teaching subject. This work, emerging from the interstices of teacher education and curriculum theory, is important in relation to understanding teacher identity and teacher “becoming”. Currently, this research is focused on surfacing the emotional toll of obligation that teachers experience in this neoliberal era where teaching is at risk of increased standardization and managerialism.
• Critical Perspectives of Children within Systems of Education – Situated within reconceptualist understandings of children, my research explores the conceptions of identities of children (defined as those under the age of 18 years of age), how these are discursively formed, and the ways in which this relationship between discourse, power and identity effectively marginalize and disenfranchise children from the very systems that are meant to serve them. Most recently, my interest is on the implications of the discursive construction of children within policy, with a particular focus on the failings of our system for children in care.
Selected Funded Research Projects:
Levine, K. (Principal Investigator, UM), Janzen, M.D. (Co-App.), & Sutherland, D. (Co-App). Exploring system change to improve educational outcomes for children in care in Manitoba. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Partnership Development Grant. (2016)
Janzen, M. D., (Principal Investigator), & Phelan, A. (Co-App., UBC). The emotional toll of obligation and teachers’ disengagement from the profession. Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant. (2015)
Janzen, M. D. Kids in trouble: Analyzing student behaviour management policies. Faculty of Education Research Development Fund, University of Manitoba. (2015)
Janzen, M. D., (Principal Investigator), & Phelan, A. (Co-App., UBC). The anxiety of obligation: Understanding the emotional toll of teaching. SSHRC Research Grant Program, University of Manitoba. (2014)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator), & Cranston, J. (Co-Investigator). Examining the outcomes of the 2014 Summer Institute: The fourth R: A global perspective on teaching and leading human rights education. Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba. (2014)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator). Beyond Schools: Exploring multiple perspectives of community-based practicums. Research Grant Program, University of Manitoba. (2013)
Janzen, M. D. (Principal Investigator). Northern practicum: Teaching and researching with Manitoba’s northern schools and communities. Faculty Development Initiative Fund, University of Manitoba. (2013)
Janzen, M. D. Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). (2008 - 2010)
