February 2022 | published once each term
Message from Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem
Welcome to the Community Update’s first issue of 2022, which I hope will be a kinder and gentler year for our communities and our province.
The past 22 months have taught us that even the most stable and orderly of systems, like BC’s public education system, can be thrown off balance by external forces. As a Faculty of Education, our concerns include not only learners and educators in the K-12 education system but also early childhood learners and educators, adult learners and educators, and our own teacher education and graduate students. All of these groups have been severely impacted by COVID-19 and related disruptions to health, learning and community cohesion. Teaching and learning have changed as a result, and will continue to change into the future.
The Faculty of Education is using this notion of the constancy of change as an opportunity to develop new educational possibilities. Our recently launched Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre is helping to remediate the educational inequities highlighted by the pandemic, by designing and distributing current learning tools and evidence-informed technological practices among communities often overlooked and underserved by online education. Through the Centre, instructors, students and community groups collaborate to transform online education practices, develop timely and place-centred professional development opportunities for rural educators, support early childhood educators’ focus on the socio-emotional wellness of children and families, honour Indigenous and intergenerational knowledges and practices, and create online networks of support, including second language learning resources for immigrant and refugee students and parents. I invite you to share information about the Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre within your networks.
One of the happiest pieces of news I’ve received recently is the announcement that one of our emeritus faculty members, Dr. Donald McKenzie, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Dr. McKenzie, who was cross-appointed in both the School of Kinesiology and the Faculty of Medicine, was recognized for his contributions to exercise and sports medicine, including his work with breast cancer survivors. In 1995, Dr. McKenzie pursued research that challenged the view that engaging in physical activity would result in lymphedema for breast cancer survivors. His successful study engendered Abreast In A Boat, which raises awareness about breast cancer and demonstrates that women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer can lead full and active lives. I offer my sincere congratulations to Dr. McKenzie on this recognition!
I am also pleased to announce that UBC’s Gateway Building, slated to open in 2024 as a home for the Schools of Kinesiology and Nursing, Integrated Student Health and Wellbeing Services & Programs, Language Sciences Initiatives, and components of UBC Health, has been recognized with the 2021 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence. To be located at the corner of Wesbrook Mall and University Boulevard, the Gateway Building will serve as a principal point of entry to the campus and will incorporate learning, research, and community outreach spaces that combine Musqueam building traditions with leading-edge sustainability approaches.
On November 15, 2021, Dr. Cindy Blackstock delivered the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, entitled “Reconciling History”. In case you missed what was a moving, enlightening and ultimately, hopeful event, a recording of the session is now available. Please do take some time to listen to it, and let me know whether Dr. Blackstock’s lecture touched you, as it did me.
Nearly one-third of BC’s K-12 public education students attend schools outside the main urban areas, including larger centres such as Prince George and smaller communities located in more remote parts of the province. Many of these communities, which have very different needs from urban communities, are challenged to recruit and retain qualified teachers. The Faculty of Education’s new rural and remote teacher education program, the first of its kind in BC, will address this need through a blended (online and in-person components) program for elementary and middle years teacher-candidates. The first intake begins August 2022, with in-person classes held at the UBC West Kootenay Rural Teacher Education Program Learning Centre in Nelson, BC. More.
The latest issue of the BC TEAL Journal, the journal of the Association of BC Teachers of English as an Additional Language, has been released. The open access journal is hosted by the UBC Library and edited by the Okanagan School of Education’s Dr. Scott Douglas. Nine peer-reviewed articles and one editorial cover a range of topics related to English as an additional language, including universal design for learning, social justice content in English language learning programs, and more. More.
Neoliberalism and Public Education Finance in Canada: Reframing Educational Leadership as Entrepreneurship is a new book by Faculty of Education authors Dr. Wendy Poole, Dr. Vicheth Sen and Dr. Gerald Fallon. Situated in the world of BC’s school district administrators (SDAs), the book reports on research into a neoliberal public education policy environment that is characterized by retrenchment of government expenditure on public education, and the imperative for school districts to actively generate supplementary revenue through entrepreneurial and other means. More.
Please join me for the UBC Dean of Education’s Community & Alumni Engagement Series. This is an online speaker series focusing on important questions and significant priorities that are engaging educators today. This dynamic series brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, youth, and you—the participants—to discuss how educators and students are making a difference every day, and explore how we, as a community, can support and empower young people to face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Our next conversation, focusing on Climate Change in Education and Supporting Youth Mental Health, is scheduled for February 15, 2022 beginning at 5:00 pm. More.
