Today, the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia and ARC Foundation announce a major new social justice initiative funded by an ARC Foundation gift of $125,000 to the University of British Columbia. The announcement comes on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, observed globally on May 17.
The UBC-ARC Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Fund will support projects that are designed for scale, so as to transform the social justice climate of an entire Faculty and in so doing, to build capacity for faculty, staff and students across the University of British Columbia. The goals of the fund are below:
- To implement transformation towards social justice goals at a faculty-wide scale at the University of British Columbia, so as to create and maintain an LGB/T2/Q inclusive curriculum, culture, work place, and learning environment
- To prioritize systemic, faculty-wide interventions that focus on sexual orientation and gender identity as critical pillars in the architecture of human rights risks, resiliencies and interventions that aim to redress inequities and enhance social sustainability
- To design, innovate and implement whole-climate pedagogical approaches that recognize, and intervene to transform, the impacts of systemic discrimination
The primary initiative of the UBC-ARC Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Education Fund in 2016-17 is the Teacher Education for All! project. The Teacher Education for All! project will build capacity for faculty, staff and students in the Teacher Education program at UBC to create and provide an inclusive culture, work place, and learning environment with a particular focus on intersectional approaches to thinking about sexual and gender diversity in public educational settings and pedagogical approaches to recognize, and intervene to transform, the impacts of systemic discrimination.
The Teacher Education for All! project will integrate multiple approaches to building Faculty of Education whole-climate capacity for LGB/T2/Q inclusion, including:
- A policy review to produce a Teacher Education for All! LGB/T2/Q Inclusion statement;
- A Teacher Education for All! communication campaign;
- A focus on enhance teacher candidates’ understanding and teaching capacities so they in turn may initiate positive spaces for LGB/T2/Q youth and educators in schools;
- Bachelor of Education curriculum mapping to identify gaps and goals to address LGB/T2/Q inclusion;
- Design and delivery of LGB/T2/Q inclusion workshops that address climate, assumptions and practices relevant to building capacity regarding sexual and gender diversity;
- A Teacher Education for All! Expo event to celebrate the end of the project.
“The ARC Foundation is delighted to be partnering with the UBC Faculty of Education on the formation of the UBC-ARC Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Education Fund. We are looking forward to strengthening our long-term relationship with UBC and and to supporting students and educators in BC to live authentic lives and build stronger LGBTQ-inclusive school environments.”
Brad Beattie, Executive Director, Arc Foundation
“The Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia is thrilled to parter with the ARC Foundation to provide the Teacher Education for All! Project, as the core initiative of the ARC Foundation Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Education Fund. Teacher Education for All! is the first project in UBC’s history, to target, at a scale that cuts across an entire Faculty, social justice objectives related to systemic discrimination sexual orientation + gender identity. The people of British Columbia benefit directly when the preparation of teacher candidates includes LGB/T2/Q cultural competency goals and training to make every learning space, a safer space and every educational setting, a fully inclusive climate.”
Dr. Wendy Carr, Associate Dean, Teacher Education & Project Director, Teacher Education for All!
About ARC Foundation
ARC Foundation is a private foundation established in 2009, based in Vancouver, BC. ARC support projects that exhibit Awareness, Respect and Capacity in improving the status of those who are marginalized in society by sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or financial status.
