Cornelia Schnider

Cornelia has a strong European background. Born and raised in Nuremberg, Germany, her first academic studies were at the University of Würzburg in Bavaria where she completed Special Education Teacher Training in 2001. She completed her Master’s degree in Educational Sciences from University René Descartes in Paris, (Faculté des Sciences humaines et sociales – Sorbonne, 2002). In 2002 Cornelia began lecturing in Sociology of Education and Disability at the University René Descartes in Paris. She completed her Ph.D. in 20006 – her dissertation was an examination of – ‘Peer Relationships in Mainstream Classrooms Between Children With and Without Disabilities’. 

Cornelia Schneider has been at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia since 2007. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and the Director of the Teacher Training Program. In 2015 she co-founded MountAbility (IPSE – Inclusive Postsecondary Education) which allows young people with disabilities to engage in academic undergraduate studies using a participatory audit model. The program is continuing to grow and thrive on the MSVU campus. 

Dr. Schneider’s research and teaching focuses on the people who are involved in the educational processes, especially the children themselves. This is done from the perspective of the sociology of childhood and disability studies, recognizing children as actors. Cornelia utilizes a comparative approach to issues in educational and inclusive policies, strategies and practices. Cornelia publishes in English, French and occasionally German. She has been involved in research about inclusive education in Canada and several European countries including France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, and Sweden. She has also been involved in work in the Central American nation of Honduras. 

Dr Schneider is currently involved in the development of education accessibility standards in a project coordinated by the Accessibility Directorate at the Nova Scotia Department of Justice in connection with the implementation of the Nova Scotia Accessibility Act.

Email: cornelia.schneider@msvu.ca

Projects and Publications

• Schneider, C. (2019). From the margins to the centre: Educational Assistants as inclusion facilitators. In: Harber, M., Rao, A., The Role of the Education Assistant (p.5-18), Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto 

• Schneider, C. (2017). Between children’s rights and disability rights: inclusion and participation of children with disabilities. In: Xiaobei, C., Raby, R., Albanese, P., The Sociology of Childhood and Youth Studies in Canada: Categories, Inequalities, Engagement (p. 361-377), Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto 

• Schneider, C. (2011). Une étude comparative de l’éducation inclusive des enfants avec besoins particuliers en France et en Allemange: Recherches dans onze salles de classe = A comparative study of the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools in France and Germany : case studies of eleven classrooms. Lewiston, N.Y: Edwin Mellen Press.