New Open Online Course: Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From Awareness to Action

New Open Online Course: Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From Awareness to Action

By Paula Sabti

October 21, 2021

UBC Faculty of Education is delighted to offer a free open online anti-racism course

“The Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia is committed to enacting anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonizing practices in its research, teaching and learning; recruitment, retention, and advancement; culture, climate, and wellbeing…” – UBC Faculty of Education: Task Force on Race, Indigeneity and Social Justice: Final Report, 2021

Through systematically uncovering implicit and explicit forms of racism and its colonial and intersectional impacts on marginalized peoples and their communities, participants will gain a deep understanding of the hegemony of racism, as well as how it is embedded and experienced in everyday interactions and relationships.

Learners from across disciplines, professions, organizations and communities will be challenged to think critically about racism, while moving towards awareness, action and dismantling institutional and systemic racism to help create lasting change.

To learn more about the course, visit pdce.educ.ubc.ca/anti-racism-awareness.

To register for the course, visit courses.cpe.ubc.ca/browse/ubcv/faculty-of-education.

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Curriculum Studies in Canada

By Paula Sabti

Project Name

Curriculum Studies in Canada

Project Lead

Dr. William (Bill) Pinar

Learning Transformed Goal

We will discover, create, and share knowledge that is diverse in intellectual focus, responds to educational contexts and evolving societal challenges, and promotes the translation of new knowledge.

Project Summary

The contours of Canadian identities are challenged by Canada’s unique realities, among them ongoing efforts at justice for Indigenous peoples, the continuing arrival of immigrants and refugees, and the complex and sometimes contentious relationship with the United States. Addressing such realities through the field of curriculum studies is critical at this historical conjuncture, given the complex and shifting intersection of local and global dynamics that are currently restructuring education.

The project’s online symposium series engaged leading curriculum scholars from across Canada to share their singular conceptions of the state-of-the-field.

Learn more and view the presentations at curriculumstudiesincanada.ca/services.

2020-21 Seminar Series

September 23, 2020: Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook, University of Ottawa, “Reconstructing Canadian Curriculum Studies: Life Writing, Settler Colonialism, and Reconciliation”

September 30, 2020: Dr. Jen Gilbert, York University, “Between Expertise and Advocacy: Sex Education and the Problem of Curriculum”
 

October 9, 2020: Clermont Gauthier, Université Laval, “Does the School Form Inherited from the 17th Century Still Have Its Relevance in the Contemporary World?”

November 6, 2020: Kumari Beck, Simon Fraser University, “Storying Curriculum as International Text”
 

December 1, 2020: David Lewkowich, University of Alberta, “Reading, Memory, Curriculum, Body: A Psychoanalytic Dialogue.”
 

December 11, 2020: Jackie Seidel, University of Calgary, “Imagining Ecologically-oriented and Life-serving Curriculum Practices in a Hostile Petrostate (Alberta/Canada)”

February 16, 2021: Kathy Bickmore, University of Toronto, “Teaching Social Difference in Handling Conflict: ‘Canadian’ Curriculum Practice in Comparative Context”

February 26, 2021: David Blades, University of Victoria, “Beauty In Shadows: Curriculum Change and the New B.C. School Science Curriculum”

March 11, 2021: Jocelyn Létourneau, Université Laval, “What History (to Teach) for What (Future of) Canada?”
 

March 30, 2021: Claudia Eppert, University of Alberta, “Ecological Witnessing, Imagination, and Transformation in Canadian and ELA Curricula”

April 29, 2021: Lee Airton, Queens University, “No More Subjects: Destabilizing the Gender Diversity Curriculum of Teacher Education”
 

May 13, 2021: Marie-France Bérard, University of British Columbia, “The Uncertain Profession”: In-dwelling between Curriculum Worlds in Canadian Art Museum Education”

June 22, 2021: Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Western University, “Education for Worlds to Come”

Exercise Opportunities for the Spinal Cord Injury Community

By Paula Sabti

Project Name

Creating and enhancing exercise opportunities for the spinal cord injury community

Project Leads

Dr. Andrea Bundon
Dr. Tania Lam

Learning Transformed Goal

We will discover, create, and share knowledge that is diverse in intellectual focus, responds to educational contexts and evolving societal challenges, and promotes the translation of new knowledge.

Project Summary

Since 2013, UBC’s Physical Activity Research Centre (PARC) has provided a dedicated exercise facility for individuals living with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and associated conditions. Although PARC is well used by the SCI community, many individuals living with disabilities want opportunities to be more physically active in gyms closer to their homes and where they can exercise alongside able-bodied peers. This workshop, consisting of online and in person modules delivered at PARC for fitness professionals, will ensure they have the training and mentorship needed to implement adaptive exercise opportunities in their local facilities.

Dean’s Distinguished Lecture: Reconciling History

By michael c s murphy

Reconciling History

Colonialism entrenched inequality as a lived reality for many Indigenous peoples around the world. This presentation talks about what colonialism is, how it birthed multi-generational inequality and what can be done, including academically, to achieve justice in change-resistant environments.

Event Description

The Faculty of Education is pleased to partner with the Janusz Korczak Association (JKA) of Canada in presenting the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture. The distinguished lecture series highlights the ongoing work of those who seek to advance children’s rights in Canada and is presented in partnership with the JKA as a way of continuing the legacy of Janusz Korczak, a Polish-Jewish doctor and educator, who in 1942 perished in Treblinka along with nearly 200 orphans in his care.

Following the Distinguished Lecture, Directors of the JKA will present the Janusz Korczak Scholarship in Children’s Rights and Indigenous Education, Janusz Korczak Association of Canada Statuette, and the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada Medal.

Host

Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem, UBC Faculty of Education

Distinguished Speaker

Dr. Cindy Blackstock

Dr. Blackstock is a member of the Gitksan First Nation with over 25 years of social work experience in child protection and Indigenous children’s rights. Her research interests are Indigenous theory and the identification and remediation of structural inequalities affecting Indigenous children, youth and families.

An author of over 50 publications and a widely sought-after public speaker, Dr. Blackstock has collaborated with other Indigenous leaders to assist the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in the development and adoption of a General Comment on the Rights of Indigenous children. Recently, she also worked with Indigenous youth, UNICEF and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to produce a youth-friendly version of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Her promotion of culturally-based and evidence-informed solutions has been recognized by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Frontline Defenders and many others.

Dr. Blackstock is the 2017 recipient of the Janusz Korczak Medal.

Featuring

Her Honour, The Honourable Janet Austin, OBC, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
Honourable Steven Lewis Point, OBC (xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl)
Ms. Lillian Boraks Nemetz, Board Member, The Janusz Korczak Association of Canada
Dr. Anton Grunfeld, Board Member, The Janusz Korczak Association of Canada
Mr. Jerry Nussbaum, President, The Janusz Korczak Association of Canada
Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, Representative for Children and Youth, British Columbia
Dr. Chris Loock, Board Member, The Janusz Korczak Association of Canada

Recording

Contact

Contact alumni.events@ubc.ca with any questions regarding this event.

References

Jordan’s Principle
Report a Jordan’s Principle case or a retroactive case between 2009-2017.

  • 1-855-JP- CHILD
  • 1-833-PJ-ENFAN

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Spirit Bear Plan to end all inequalities in First Nations public services
fncaringsociety.com/spirit-bear-plan

Calls to action:

  • Spread the word on Twitter using #SpiritBearPlan and tag @CaringSociety
  • Contact your Member of Parliament and ask them to support the Spirit Bear Plan
  • Contact the Caring Society to learn more at info@fncaringsociety.com

Alanis Obomsawin
One of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin has created more than 50 films for the National Film Board of Canada.
nfb.ca/directors/alanis-obomsawin

First Nations Children and Family Caring Society
fncaringsociety.com

A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986
By John S. Milloy
uofmpress.ca/books/detail/a-national-crime

UBC Black Futures

By Paula Sabti

October 7, 2021

Image source: Securing Black Futures: A National Partnership to Advance Youth Academic and Careers Success, York University (UBC is one of five universities working on the Securing Black Futures project.)

Dr. Annette Henry’s UBC Black Futures is a two-pronged project spanning three years with secondary school students and undergraduate students, part of a larger five university project. Learn more about the projects by watching the below online event hosted by York University on October 6, 2021, Securing Black Futures: A National Partnership to Advance Youth Academic and Career Success.

UBC Black Futures 2022

Through this program, Dr. Annette Henry, Dr. Bathseba Opini, and Dr. Kisha McPherson aim to open post-secondary horizons for Black youth in grades 10, 11, and 12, especially students who may not currently have access to higher education or who may not have ever envisioned higher education or UBC as a future possibility.

The students will have the opportunity to:

  • Participate in information sessions, lectures and teamwork activities with other high school peers from school districts across the lower mainland
  • Consider the wide-ranging possibilities afforded by the UBC campus as well as learn about the importance of higher education
  • Experience hands-on practice with the application and admissions process, and interact with Black undergraduate students who are just a little older and with whom they can identify, and with whom they can feel free to ask questions, as well as faculty and professionals from the community
  • Visit science labs and classrooms in many disciplines and engage in a mini-first-year experience

The educational time at UBC will be also counted towards their community service credit hours in their various school boards.

UBC Black Undergrads 2022

The undergraduate component of the project will be synchronized with the four other project sites: University of Calgary, McMaster, Dalhousie and York University, and data will be collected for the major research hub, housed and managed by Carl James, the Jean Augustine Chair at York. The aim of the surveys is to document students’ educational aspirations, attitudes, outcomes and progress during the three-year period. The secondary students mentioned will also be given a version of the survey that is appropriate for their age and educational level during the three years. This novel national project will contribute to knowledge about educational outcomes and experiences about Black youth and is poised to have implications for campus policies and programming. It is also in line with our other UBC strategic initiatives regarding equity, inclusion anti-racism and community engagement.

Book Launch: Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations and Contexts

By gokhan basbug

Indigenous Methodologies (University of Toronto Press) is a groundbreaking text. Since its original publication in 2009, it has become the most trusted guide used in the study of Indigenous methodologies and has been adopted in university courses around the world. It provides a conceptual framework for implementing Indigenous methodologies and serves as a useful entry point for those wishing to learn more broadly about Indigenous research.

The second edition incorporates new literature along with substantial updates, including a thorough discussion of Indigenous theory and analysis, new chapters on community partnership and capacity building, an added focus on oracy and other forms of knowledge dissemination, and a renewed call to decolonize the academy. The second edition also includes discussion questions to enhance classroom interaction with the text. In a field that continues to grow and evolve, and as universities and researchers strive to learn and apply Indigenous-informed research, this important new edition introduces readers to the principles and practices of Indigenous methodologies.

About Dr. Margaret Kovach

Dr. Margaret Kovach was appointed Associate Dean, Indigenous Education at the University of British Columbia on July 1, 2021, and as such, provides leadership in the areas of Indigenous programs and research in the Faculty. She is a Professor in the Department of Educational Studies and a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Kovach is of Nêhiyaw and Saulteaux ancestry from Treaty Four, Saskatchewan and a member of Pasqua First Nation. In addition to her book being celebrated at this event, Dr. Kovach is a co-editor of the newly published book (2021) Royally Wronged: The Royal Society of Canada and Indigenous Peoples (McGill-Queen’s Press). Dr. Kovach is an internationally recognized scholar in Indigenous research methodologies with research interests that include Indigenous higher education and social justice approaches to education. Her research explores ways in which Canadian universities can cultivate environments that enhance the experience for Indigenous scholars and graduate students. As a post-secondary scholar, her teaching, research, and writing is compelled by a particular interest in how members of university communities might work, learn, and live at the intersectionality of diversity in the service of compassionate, socially just relations.

Hosts

Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem
Dr. Patsy Duff, Associate Dean, Research

Guest of Honour

Dr. Margaret Kovach, Associate Dean, Indigenous Education

Invited Speakers

Dr. Jo-Ann Archibald, Q’um Q’um Xiiem, OC, Professor Emerita, UBC
Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann, President, First Nations University of Canada
Dr. Michelle Sarche, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr. Candace Brunette-Debassige, Assistant Professor, Western University
Meg Farrell Patterson, Acquisitions Editor, University of Toronto Press

Format

After remarks from the invited speakers about the significance and impact of Indigenous Methodologies, Dr. Kovach will provide an overview of the new edition of the book, describing how and why her thinking about Indigenous methodologies has evolved over the past decade. She will then read a passage (story) from the book. There will be time for Q&A and discussion in the remaining time.

Date

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Time

10:00 am – 11:15 am PDT

Location

Virtual

Registration

Registration is now closed. Thank you!

Contact educ.ore@ubc.ca with any questions regarding this event.

Community Update | October 2021

By Paula Sabti

October 2021 | published once each term

Message from Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Community Update, an opportunity to share with you a little bit about what I am currently focusing on, along with some of the scholarly and other work going on in our Faculty of Education. I invite you to connect with me to share your thoughts and feedback. Please also feel welcome to forward Community Update to colleagues who may be interested.

Like many of you, our Faculty of Education was troubled by the discoveries of thousands of unmarked graves on or near the sites of former residential schools. Education has a particular role and responsibility in ensuring that Truth and Reconciliation are embedded into all our programs and our outreach activities. As a form of public education on this topic and in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Faculty of Education is hosting two exhibits on loan from the Legacy of Hope Foundation, Bi-Giwen: Truth Telling from the Sixties Scoop and Generations Lost: The Residential School System in Canada. The exhibits provide rich learning opportunities for our community, especially for teacher-candidates as the exhibits complement the required Indigenous education content in their coursework. If you are in the UBC vicinity, I invite you to stop by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, where the exhibits are on display until October 30. More.

Our commitment to Indigenous education extends beyond September 30’s day of commemoration. Recently, with support from the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills, and Training, faculty members and instructors created a set of curriculum enhancement projects that enrich our teacher education and graduate curricula with Indigenous perspectives, knowledges, pedagogies, and experiences. Among other outcomes, the projects ensure that pre-service and in-service teachers are able to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action in their professional practice as emerging and established educators. Several of the projects include video components and resource packages; I invite you to share these with your professional communities as appropriate. More.

On November 15, the Faculty of Education is pleased to present Dr. Cindy Blackstock, who will deliver the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, an ongoing series that highlights the work of those who seek to advance children’s rights in Canada. Dr. Blackstock, a member of the Gitksan First Nation with 25 years of social work experience in child protection and Indigenous children’s rights, will speak on the topic of “Reconciling History.” Please join us for this free, online event presented in partnership with the Janusz Korczak Association (JKA) of Canada. More.

Turning to happy news, I’m proud to share with you Maclean’s 2022 rankings in which the Faculty of Education is ranked 1st in Canada. I offer my thanks to faculty, instructors, students, staff, donors and more for the outstanding work and commitment that contributed to this well-earned achievement. More.

I conclude my message by sharing a blog authored by one of our emeritus faculty members, Dr. Charles Ungerleider. Dr. Ungerleider’s engagement with public education is both deep and broad: at various times he has been a student, teacher, parent, professor, associate dean for teacher education, and deputy minister of education for British Columbia, among other roles. One of Dr. Ungerleider’s recent posts, about the need for educational transformation to effect reconciliation, struck a chord with me, and it may for you, as well. More.

Read the Faculty of Education’s announcement on Dr. Hare’s appointment as Dean pro tem.
Watch this video about the Faculty of Education’s commitment to Indigenous education.

The Faculty of Education recently received UBC Senate approval for a new program, a Master of Education in Indigenous Education, designed for educators, educational administrators and leaders, Indigenous community members, and other professionals in education settings. The program will also support educators implementing the revised provincial K-12 curriculum, which places new emphasis on Indigenous worldviews, histories, and pedagogies. The new MEd program is slated to begin in July, 2022. More.

Those who are interested in better understanding autism and inclusive employment may be interested in our free, online, self-paced program, Autism and Neurodiversity in the Workplace. The asynchronous program, which includes a series of six self-paced, interactive modules filled with useful activities and videos, is offered by our Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism and is approved by the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (BC & Yukon) for CPD hours. More.

Practising teachers, school leaders, counsellors and others who wish to develop an understanding of antiracism education may be interested in the Faculty of Education’s newly launched anti-racism open online program, Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From awareness to action. The asynchronous, self-paced course enables learners to think critically about racism and to move from denial to awareness, action and dismantling institutional and systemic racism. More.

Dr. John-Tyler Binfet addresses student stress through the calming power of therapy dogs. Dr. Binfet’s Building Academic Retention Through K-9s (BARK) program, which is located in the Okanagan, and related research on the benefits of therapy dog visitations has received international attention through a recent article in People. More.

Dr. Jason Ellis’s new publication, “A Short History of K-12 Public School Spending in British Columbia, 1970-2020,” will interest trustees, administrators, teachers, parents and the public in public school districts across British Columbia. Dr. Ellis addresses the received wisdom that K-12 spending in the province is down and challenges researchers and district stakeholders to examine the facts, causes and consequences of school spending. More.

An educational campaign about the importance of, as well as threats to the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous rights in Brazil was launched last summer, as an extension of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) supported research collaboration between the Huni Kui Indigenous People’s Federation and Faculty of Education researchers, including Dr. Vanessa Andreotti, Dr. Cash Ahenakew, and Dr. Sharon Stein. One of the flagships of the educational campaign is the children’s book, A forest called Amazon, which is available for free download. More.

Dr. Annette Henry’s UBC Black Futures is a two-pronged project that opens post-secondary horizons for Black youth in grades 10, 11, and 12, especially students who may not currently have access to higher education or who may not have ever envisioned higher education or UBC as a future possibility. The undergraduate component of the project will be synchronized with the four other Canadian universities, with data collected for a central research hub. More.

In September, Central Okanagan School District educators, Syilx Elders and Okanagan Nation Alliance members, university faculty, and community educators from across the Okanagan gathered to advance a shared commitment to a five-year research project, Co-Curricular-Making—Honoring Indigenous Connections to Land, Culture, and the Relational Self. The SSHRC funded partnership project is facilitated by Dr. Margaret Macintyre Latta, Director of the Okanagan School of Education. More.

The Faculty of Education’s Psychological Services and Counselling Training Centre has two clinics offering services to the public. Clinicians-in-training conduct psychoeducational assessments under the supervision of a Registered Psychologist, for reasonable fees. The Centre also offers counsellors-in-training, operating under the supervision of clinic instructors, to provide free counselling. More.

The UBC School of Kinesiology is excited to announce that as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, it has begun production of a video series entitled, “Study What Moves You!” The field of kinesiology is diverse in its research areas, and the School is equally so. We celebrate this diversity and the strength that lies in the breadth and depth of our faculty members’ science and knowledge creation, as well as their teaching. The School will be showcased as a national leader in redefining “what kinesiology is” for science, policy, and community. More.

The School of Kinesiology invites you to attend a free virtual seminar with 2020 Olympic champion Damian Warner and his physiotherapist, UBC Gunn Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) instructor Dave Zelibka. Learn how UBC Gunn IMS dry needling played an important role in Damian’s gold medal win at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and how they kept him healthy and ready to compete. Join us at 6:00 pm on October 21. More.
 

Maclean’s 2022 Rankings

By Paula Sabti

October 12, 2021

According to the recently published 2022 Maclean’s rankings for education programs, the UBC Faculty of Education ties as 1st in Canada.

Maclean’s seventh annual program rankings assess programs and research from a reputation perspective. Maclean’s contacted faculty and senior administrators at universities across Canada. Academics were asked if their area of expertise was in business, computer science, education, engineering or nursing. If so, they were asked to list up to 10 universities that they felt offered the best programs and conducted the best research in their discipline. In the end, more than 1,200 professors, deans and chairs at 80 universities responded.

To learn more about Maclean’s rankings for education programs in Canada, visit their rankings page.

To learn more about Maclean’s methodology for program rankings, visit their methodology page.

Education about and for the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous rights

By Ayla Collins

October 6, 2021

“The fight against the climate crisis—which is also the fight against human extinction—depends on the protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights. We are the front lines of protecting the Amazon forest and many other sensitive areas in Brazil and around the world. Now is the time to act for our human and other-than-human relations, and for our collective future.” Chief Ninawa Huni Kui.

The Amazon holds a unique place within the living fabric of the Earth. Its significance to the climate emergency and the wider extinction crisis is attested by science, while its role in the cultural imagination of environmental movements is unparalleled. An educational campaign about the importance of, as well as threats to, the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous rights in Brazil was launched last summer. The Last Warning educational initiative is an extension of a long-term research collaboration between the Huni Kui Indigenous People’s Federation in the Amazon and researchers from the Department of Educational Studies, including Dr. Vanessa Andreotti, Dr. Cash Ahenakew and Dr. Sharon Stein.

One of the flagships of the educational campaign is the children’s book “A forest called Amazon” authored by Chief Ninawa Huni Kui and produced with the support of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures arts/research collective at UBC. The book is available to download for free. Another educational resource available is the “Pledge of Generations“, which invites new commitments across generations to face global challenges with deeper levels of responsibility. A knowledge mobilization video with 15 Canada Research Chairs in related areas has also been collaboratively created to highlight the importance of the Amazon region for the regulation of global water cycles and carbon filtration and the urgency of making Indigenous rights central to the climate agenda. The video and a featured article emphasize that more deforestation will push the Amazon beyond a tipping point, turning it from a rainforest into a savanna. The Amazon will go from being a vital carbon sink that helps us slow down climate change to a dangerous carbon source that will accelerate the heating of the planet.

The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) has issued a formal letter in support of the Huni Kui Federation and this educational initiative. Teri Mooring, BCTF’s president, stated “As teachers, we are guided by an ethical responsibility to protect the future of the planet and of future generations, both human and non-human. The climate crisis threatens the planet, and its effects are being increasingly seen across our countries. The Amazon plays a vital role in helping to slow down climate change and must be protected from exploitation.”

Additional educational resources are currently being developed for the next phase of this initiative, which will be launched during an extended visit of Chief Ninawa Huni Kui to UBC in 2022.

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