McLeod, Keith A.

• McLeod, Keith Alwyn

Keith McLeod was born in Saskatchewan in 1935 and educated at the University of Saskatchewan (BEd 1958, BA 1961, MEd 1966) and at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (PhD 1975).

He began his teaching career in Melfort, Saskatchewan in 1957, rising to the position of assistant principal before leaving in 1964 for the University of Saskatchewan. In 1970 Professor McLeod was appointed to a lectureship in the then Ontario College of Education. He also taught a course in the history and philosophy of education at OISE in the summer/fall of 1975 and again in the fall of 1985. He was visiting professor in multiculturalism at the University of Manitoba in 1976-1977, and guest professor at the Université de Montréal for the winter term, 1990.

At the University of Toronto Professor McLeod headed two departments -- History, Philosophy and Sociology from 1982 to 1987 and then, until his retirement in 1997, Educational Policy and Foundation Studies. In 1987 and from 1991 to 1994 he was chair of the Program Committee at the Faculty of Education (FEUT) and, in 1992-1993 co-chair, with the dean, of the Faculty of Education Restructuring Committee. He acted (1987-1989) as coordinator of Multiculturalism and Education – Research and Development Group, a FEUT based group of about fifty specialists in education, social work, medicine, libraries, and business. From 1990 he served as an associate in the Centre for Health Promotion in the Faculty of Medicine. From 1986 to 1990 he was a member of the Fellowship and Distinguished Educators Awards Committee of OISE, and from 1990 has sat on the Publications Committee of OISE Press. In 1993 he was elected to a three-year term on the Academic Board of the Governing Council of the University.

Professor McLeod has been very active in educational activities outside the University, primarily as a specialist in multicultural and intercultural issues. The recording of these activities, often in considerable detail, forms the largest series in this fonds. In 1984-1985 he developed a curriculum project for the Canadian Teachers Federation and an ongoing national project on multicultural education and secondary schooling. At the request of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers [CASALT], he developed a three-year national study, “Multicultural Education – Two Decades: An evaluation and assessment and state of the art,” the results of which was published in 1993. In his capacity as a consultant, he was invited to critique the Policy Report for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], and has advised the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council of Multicultural Health from its inception in 1986.

Professor McLeod organized and chaired three major national conferences on multicultural education: Winnipeg, 1977 and Toronto, 1978 and 1984, the last in his capacity as president of the Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education. In 1982 he organized and hosted a conference for the Canadian History of Education Association on “The New Education”. In 1987 he chaired a forum on “Citizenship and citizenship education in schools and communities” in Edmonton, and two years later was co-chair of the first National Conference of the Canadian Council of Multicultural Health. In 1991 he organized and chaired a colloquium in Toronto, “Multicultural education: equity and human rights.” He helped organize an international conference on ethno-development in Vancouver in 1993, and two international conferences on ethnicity, conflict and co-operation held in Moscow and Detroit (1991, 1992). The former was organized through the Ontario/Michigan Project. He has given keynote addresses, talks, workshops and other presentations many other meetings and symposia. Many of these activities are described in considerable depth.

Professor McLeod has served in an executive capacity with numerous organizations. He chaired the Ontario Multicultural Education Conference Committee from 1980 to 1983 and the Ontario Advisory Committee on Citizenship and Multiculturalism from 1980 to 1984. He was founding president of the Ontario Multicultural Association (1983). A member of the Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education since 1980, he served as president from 1981 to 1985 and as past president for the next three years. From 1988 to 1993 he was chair of a national committee, Multiculturalism and Aging Seniors Coordinating Committee [MASCC]. He was a member of the board of directors of the Multicultural Health Coalition from 1985 to 1988 and president from 1990 to 1992. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association and was secretary-treasurer of the first executive of the Canadian History of Education Association [CHEA]. He has also maintained an active interest in the Canadian Association of Founders of Education, Canadian Education Association, Canadian Society for the Study of Education [CESE], Comparative and International Education Association, and the International Association for the Study of Adult Education, and the Council of Ontario Professors of Education Only the last is not separately documented.

Professor McLeod’s publications include articles, bibliographies and a videotape, “Putting it all together: Ethnic and race relations” (1991). He has edited several books, including Multicultural Early Childhood Education (1984), Multicultural Education: a Partnership (1987), and Canada and Citizenship Education (1989). In the spring of 1977 he founded the journal MC Multiculturalism/ Multiculturalisme, which he edited until the fall of 1992. He was also a guest editor of the second issue of the Journal of Ethno-Development (1991). He has co-edited several books -- Heritage Languages and Education, Aboriginal Languages and Education, and Health and Cultures (all 1993).

In recent years Professor McLeod has devoted time to the collection and study of antiques, especially fine china. He has contributed extensively to Antiques Magazine and has been active in the Wedgwood International Seminar, which published his edited volume, Josiah Wedgwood and the Potter’s Art, in 1996. McLeod also co-curated an exhibition on the Cabot/Women’s Art Association of Canada State Dinner Service at the Museum of Civilization in 1997.