tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/students-1495/articlesStudents – The Conversation2024-03-20T19:25:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244862024-03-20T19:25:08Z2024-03-20T19:25:08ZHow a first-year university writing course for Indigenous students fostered skills and belonging<p>Academic writing courses have historically served as a kind of <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/gatekeepers-or-greeters-we-must-demystify-university-firstgen-students">gate-keeping measure</a>. In North America and other settler colonial societies, such courses have traditionally imparted skills and knowledge for succeeding in university as an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-relate-with-students-changed-in-the-past-century-but-a-duty-of-care-remains-211255">institution that has privileged Eurocentric forms of knowledge and served elite members of society</a>. </p>
<p>As anti-racist educators like George Sefa Dei and colleagues explain, settler colonialism “imposed colonial theories of knowledge that privileged and superiorized Eurocentric knowledges <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84201-7_3">and denied, denigrated and invalidated Indigenous knowledges …</a>.” Eurocentric educational ideology “continues to inform what is considered formal education in Canada.”</p>
<p>Since fall 2021, the University of Victoria (UVic) has offered a section of a foundational <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/humanities/atwp/index.php">introduction to writing course</a> specifically for Indigenous students. The general foundational writing course meets UVic’s <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/humanities/atwp/program/academic-writing-requirement/index.php">academic writing requirement</a>, so most students will take it in their first or second year.</p>
<p>We designed a specific academic writing course that introduces Indigenous students to the conventions of academic writing and the <a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/iipj/article/view/7418">skills they need to navigate the institution</a>. When we identified <a href="https://teachanywhere.uvic.ca/teach-a-course/intended-learning-outcomes">“learning outcomes” for this course</a> — what we wanted the outcome of students having taken the course to be — among these, we envisioned that at the end of the course, students would feel a sense <a href="https://diversity.cornell.edu/belonging/sense-belonging#:%7E:text=Belonging%20is%20the%20feeling%20of,their%20authentic%20self%20to%20work">of belonging</a> at the university. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-taken-thousands-of-years-but-western-science-is-finally-catching-up-to-traditional-knowledge-90291">It's taken thousands of years, but Western science is finally catching up to Traditional Knowledge</a>
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<h2>Why a writing course?</h2>
<p>Loren Gaudet, the lead author of this story, is a rhetoric and writing studies white settler scholar who teaches first-year students writing. She focuses on teaching students to understand academic writing as a <a href="https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/from-combat-to-conversation-and-community-reimagining-university-writing/">scholarly conversation</a> they’re entering. </p>
<p>First-year writing courses provide a <a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-is-a-technology-that-restructures-thought-and-in-an-ai-age-universities-need-to-teach-it-more-219482">necessary introduction into the world of academic communication</a>. They equip students with the skills and confidence to add their voices to scholarly discourse.</p>
<p>By leveraging an existing academic writing course that meets the academic writing requirement, the writing course for Indigenous students provided a space to cultivate belonging for Indigenous students who have historically been and continue to be systematically <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">excluded from post-secondary education</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-universities-and-schools-must-acknowledge-how-colonial-education-has-reproduced-anti-indigenous-racism-123315">National Day for Truth & Reconciliation: Universities and schools must acknowledge how colonial education has reproduced anti-Indigenous racism</a>
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<h2>Creating the course</h2>
<p>Lydia Toorenburgh, the co-author of this story, worked with many Indigenous students through their studies and staff roles at UVic. Toorenburgh is a mixed settler and Bungi-Metis Two-Spirit person who has served as an Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator at UVic and is a PhD student in anthropology and Indigenous governance. </p>
<p>Toorenburgh learned many Indigenous students struggle to navigate post-secondary education because these institutions require skills, knowledge and ways of knowing that are not intuitive, not readily taught <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/jamerindieduc.54.1.0154">and stem from a colonial orientation</a>. </p>
<p>Toorenburgh wondered how to deliver to Indigenous students:</p>
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<li><p>the <a href="https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/jnep/article/view/17306">knowledge of campus supports and confidence to access these supports</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>the skills needed to meet the academic and administrative demands of university;</p></li>
<li><p>the feeling that they belong on campus and are valued members of the community. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>All of these factors <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/jamerindieduc.54.1.0154">support Indigenous student success</a>. </p>
<p>Toorenburgh recognized the potential of the first-year writing course to deliver these learning outcomes because it is a requirement and a foundational skills course.</p>
<h2>‘Belonging’ as learning outcome</h2>
<p>By including belonging as a learning outcome, we signalled to ourselves and our students that building community was a valued part of our class time together — and an intentional and deliberate undertaking. We intentionally fostered belonging and community-building in varying ways. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-voices-new-grade-11-english-courses-can-support-reconciliation-and-resurgence-by-centring-indigenous-literature-199292">First Voices: New Grade 11 English courses can support reconciliation and resurgence by centring Indigenous literature</a>
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<p>We began every class with a “round”: we sat in a circle together and each person had a chance to share how they were feeling. In an institution that can often be unfriendly and is full of overt and covert <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/indigenous-students-systemic-barriers-higher-education">barriers for Indigenous students</a>, it is radical to create a class environment built on personal connection and belonging.</p>
<p>We brought representatives for Indigenous-specific supports into the classroom to meet the students and talk with them, rather than just offering links to resources <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320959979">in the syllabus</a> or course. In other words, we prioritized proximity and access to supports and relationships as essential factors in cultivating a sense of belonging for our students. </p>
<p>We also <a href="https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/labor/">adopted an anti-oppressive grading practice</a>. For us, this meant that student grades were <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/dwr/index.php/dwr/article/view/975/873">determined by how many assignments the students completed over the term</a>. Students earned an “A” by <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/humanities/atwp/current-students/grading/index.php">exceeding expectations</a> and proposing their own additional projects. For example, two of our students created a podcast, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5L3Ux6InOxmYS9f0TzwQWs">“The Power of Indigenous Kinship</a>.” </p>
<h2>Student responses</h2>
<p>To measure the impact of this course, we surveyed the students at the end of each term. Ninety-one per cent of students strongly agreed or agreed that being in this course section with other Indigenous students made them feel more comfortable in the classroom. Ninety-three per cent strongly agreed or agreed that this made them more comfortable at UVic. </p>
<p>In response to the question: “What worked?” one student wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I loved having the community that was created in our classroom. I felt a lot of support and love, a very safe space for me.” </p>
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<p>These results show that making time and space for belonging has had a direct impact on these Indigenous students.</p>
<h2>Dedicated spaces</h2>
<p>Spaces that are dedicated to <a href="https://www.univcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/enhancing-indigenous-student-access-at-canadian-universities-june-2016accessible-1.pdf">Indigenous students enhance their learning and success</a>. <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/aboriginalpeoples/events/sfu-news--aboriginal-editions-/2022-aboriginal-peoples-supplement/new-burnaby-and-surrey-spaces-enhance-student-experience-work.html">Many institutions</a> are creating dedicated spaces like <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/services/indigenous/house/index.php">UVic’s First Peoples House</a>, where the writing course serving Indigenous students has been held, but we argue that we can extend this work beyond resource centres. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-decolonize-education-where-classes-are-held-matters-165937">Want to decolonize education? Where classes are held matters</a>
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<p>A writing course for Indigenous students, as both a first-year and requirement-satisfying course, provides the opportunity <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-universities-need-homerooms-106299">for a homeroom-style class</a>. </p>
<p>Here, instructors can deliver essential curriculum (including practices to foster belonging), introduce students to key resources — and identify and intervene in student struggles. </p>
<p>Finally, we encourage collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff, instructors and administrators to be innovative. In so doing, it’s possible to work with present (and often restricted) resources to design and implement creative initiatives for decolonization.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s possible to work with restricted resources to design and implement creative initiatives to serve the particular needs of Indigenous students at university.Loren Gaudet, Assistant Teaching Professor, Academic and Technical Writing Program, University of VictoriaLydia A. I. Toorenburgh, PhD Student, Anthropology, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224652024-03-03T14:27:50Z2024-03-03T14:27:50ZNavigating special education labels is complex, and it matters for education equity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578488/original/file-20240228-24-s7p4c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C87%2C3631%2C2583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Racialized immigrant parents in a study had to find ways to navigate the education system as newcomers, while also addressing intended and unintended effects of special education programs for their children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mche Lee/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Ontario Ministry of Education’s <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/edu-special-education-policy-resource-guide-en-2022-05-30.pdf">special education policy and resource guide</a> provides instructions <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/special-education-ontario-policy-and-resource-guide-kindergarten-grade-12">to school boards and schools</a> on administering special education programs. </p>
<p>It also emphasizes the importance of education equity, and involving parents in special education designations. </p>
<p>As researchers, we explored the rights of Latin American and Black Caribbean youth when it comes to special education in our project: the <a href="https://rcypartnership.org/en/">Rights for Children and Youth Partnership</a>. </p>
<p>To better understand newcomer experiences, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2255837">we interviewed</a> 32 parents, 12 of whom indicated having a first-hand experience with special education in Ontario schools.</p>
<p>We learned that despite the special education policy’s commitment to involving parents, many parents felt excluded from decision-making processes surrounding assessments for their child’s learning needs, and faced language barriers. </p>
<h2>Identifying need for special education</h2>
<p>In Ontario, students presenting learning needs may be identified as exceptional within one or more special education categories. These categories are intended to address conditions affecting their learning. </p>
<p>Special education can benefit students to ensure an equitable educational experience. However, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1277996.pdf">researchers have also raised concerns</a> about the efficacy of special education programs for equitable learning because of how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248821">social factors such as racism and classism result in discriminatory framings of disability and the perception of special needs</a>.</p>
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Read more:
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<p>In Ontario’s largest school boards, Black and Latin American youth have been disproportionately <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/Intersection%20of%20Disability%20Achievement%20and%20Equity.pdf">placed in special education programs</a>, compared to students in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818813303">other racial-ethnic groupings</a>. </p>
<p>Research from the Peel District School board, serving the western Greater Toronto Area, reports <a href="https://www.peelschools.org/documents/16.2b_Directive9-EquityAccountabilityReportCard-UnderstandingtheEquityGapinSpecialEducation.pdf/16.2b_Directive9-EquityAccountabilityReportCard-UnderstandingtheEquityGapinSpecialEducation.pdf">Black students are three times more likely to be identified with a behavioural exceptionality</a> and streamed into special education programming. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/i-was-very-isolated-report-documents-hispanic-students-alienation-in-ontario/article_21d6d9fd-1b13-57c3-8f26-94d545a80556.html">Latin American youth have reported arbitrarily being placed in English as a Second Language courses</a> and labelled with communicational exceptionalities, despite proficiency in English. These labels carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818812772">long-lasting impacts on their educational journey</a>.</p>
<h2>Complex special education processes</h2>
<p>In Ontario, the special education placement process is complex and can include many parties (like teachers, principals, special education staff, school board officers, parents or guardians and, if requested, interpreters).</p>
<p>These parties engage in consultations to evaluate the student’s learning needs. Assessments are then reviewed by a board’s <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/identifying-students-special-education-needs">Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC)</a>, consisting of at least three members, one of whom must be a principal or supervisory officer of the school board.</p>
<p>According to the guide, educators should encourage and invite parents to participate throughout this evaluation process and the IPRC meeting, though their attendance isn’t required. </p>
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<img alt="A blurred person seen in a corridor of file folders and records on shelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Special education labels and categorizations are documented in student records.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Redd F)</span></span>
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<h2>Lack of required parental input</h2>
<p>Parents are, however, required to sign and agree to the IPRC’s statement of decision. They have a right to appeal the findings, and are given 30 days. If parents don’t appeal, the board instructs the principal to implement the committee’s decision, including <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/individual-education-plans">individual education plans (IEP)</a>. </p>
<p>The child’s provincial student record documents the outcomes of the decision, including the various labels, or “exceptionalities” identified, and the IEP. These records follow students throughout primary and secondary education.</p>
<p>Lack of required parental input throughout the process indicates that early on, educators alone can make decisions involving a child. </p>
<h2>Language barriers</h2>
<p>In our study, one parent, Mariela, described the challenges of learning a new educational system. This was compounded by the technical language educators used: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The language that is used is very strategic. It’s language that doesn’t welcome parents’ feedback [and] parents don’t know they have the option to say no. […] It’s like, ‘This is what happens; this is what we do. We need you to sign this.’ And that’s the language; it isn’t welcoming for parents to ask [questions].”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Specialized language</h2>
<p>Parents also recognized that a sense of pressure to accept educators’ decisions was discriminatory based on their limited abilities to keep up with the discourse and to have input in decision-making. Scarlett described feeling intimidated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It was always so traumatic and intimidating dealing with the school; it would be me and five school officials, you know? […] It’s like, you’re coming into this space, and decisions may already have been made.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Scarlett’s son was identified as having behavioural issues as early as Grade 2. She insisted her son be tested for gifted learning, recognizing that he was experiencing behaviour difficulties because he was bored and not being academically challenged. </p>
<p>Her son was not placed in a gifted class until Grade 7. During what she called “lost time,” the school involved the police in instances when he was “acting out,” and recommended her son be sent to a treatment facility for high-risk youth.</p>
<h2>Pressure to accept decisions</h2>
<p>Special education meetings also illuminated imbalances we observed in our study between parents who understood they had the right to ask for an interpreter or bring a representative — and parents who were unaware of this. </p>
<p>Claudia voiced concern about a special education label for her son in elementary school, saying educators had mistaken his speech difficulties for low intelligence. She was told her son’s speech delay would impact his ability to go to college or university.</p>
<p>She later recalled learning about her right to bring someone with her to IPRC meetings. She detailed the impact of having her son’s daycare supervisor there with her, saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I wanted to bring that person to support [me], probably for emotional support, for the English support, for the systematic barrier that I knew that I could face.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the support of someone who educators also considered an “expert,” Claudia withdrew her son from special education programs — and instead sought additional support outside the school system.</p>
<p>Notably, only a few parents mentioned knowing their right to bring someone to the meetings, and all said the information came from sources outside the education system.</p>
<h2>Lack of guidance</h2>
<p>The Toronto District School Board has made the effort to increase access to parents’ rights to special education, offering the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Learning-Equity-and-Well-Being/Special-Education-and-Inclusion/Parent-Guides-to-Special-Education-and-Inclusion"><em>Guide to Special Education and Inclusion for Parents/Caregivers/Guardians</em></a> in various languages.</p>
<p>However, for immigrant parents in our study who had no prior experience in Ontario’s schooling system, the lack of concrete information about their rights was a barrier to them being true participants in decision-making. </p>
<p>System accountability is needed to ensure immigrant racialized students and families are effectively provided support and understand the special education process. This support must be tailored to better address the needs of parents, so that their children are equitably positioned for successful academic pathways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Parada: This study received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC- 895-2015-1014). Toronto Metropolitan University Ethics Committee approved this study (2018-200).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Perez Gonzalez and Veronica Escobar Olivo do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study of newcomer Latin American and Black Caribbean parents in Ontario schools found many parents felt excluded from processes surrounding assessments for their child’s learning needs.Laura Perez Gonzalez, Research Assistant, School of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityHenry Parada, Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Social Work and the Immigration and Settlement (ISS) Graduate Program and Graduate Program Director, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityVeronica Escobar Olivo, Research Associate, School of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242342024-02-29T22:55:50Z2024-02-29T22:55:50ZBeyond the cafeteria: The economic case for investing in school meals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578771/original/file-20240228-18-mnuihk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=66%2C8%2C5492%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An investment in a national school food program today is an investment in a stronger Canada tomorrow.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The return on investing in universal school meals is clear. According to our new report, universal free school meals (breakfast and lunch for students regardless of income) have <a href="https://amberleyruetz.ca/assets/uploads/ruetz-consulting_the-economic-rationale-for-investing-in-school-meal-programs-for-canada.pdf">2.5 to seven times the return</a> in human health and economic benefits in comparable high-income countries. </p>
<p>The quality of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2017-0125">student diets in Canada across all socio-economic backgrounds is poor</a>, with only a small fraction meeting <a href="https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/">Canada’s Food Guide recommendations</a>. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that school-provided meals offer higher nutritional quality compared to home-packed lunches in many countries, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980012000699">Canada</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1941406411399124">United States</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114510001601">United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2018.29">Denmark</a>. </p>
<p>A national school food program would join <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/child-care.html">Canada’s universal child care program</a> and the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-child-benefit-overview.html">Canada child benefit</a> as a crucial social support, bringing immediate relief to families while also delivering several short to long-term economic and social benefits. </p>
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<img alt="An illustrated graphic titled 'the missing piece in existing social policies: national school food program'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578738/original/file-20240228-16-1t0o6e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Universal free school meals have 2.5 to seven times the return in human health and economic benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexandra Sawatzky/Arrell Food Institute)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Immediate relief to household budgets</h2>
<p>Healthy food has become unaffordable for many Canadian families. In 2023, Canadians <a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sites/agri-food/Canada%27s%20Food%20Price%20Report%202023_Digital.pdf">spent less on food</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/inflation-is-down-overall-so-why-are-my-grocery-bills-still-going-up-210122">despite rampant cost increases</a>, and this is only predicted to get worse.</p>
<p>The 2024 Canada’s Food Price Report anticipates <a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sites/agri-food/EN_CANADA%27S%20FOOD%20PRICE%20REPORT%202024.pdf">an annual increase of $701 in food costs</a> per four-person household, which means Canadian families can expect to spend $16,297 on groceries this year.</p>
<p>Universal school meals could <a href="https://amberleyruetz.ca/assets/uploads/ruetz-consulting_the-economic-rationale-for-investing-in-school-meal-programs-for-canada.pdf">save families between $129 and $189 per child per month on grocery bills</a>, according to our report. </p>
<p>Universal school meals would put more money back into the pockets of Canadians, helping them keep up with the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/the-grind-submissions-1.7043269">increased cost of living</a> and allowing them to afford healthy meals when their children are not in school.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578646/original/file-20240228-22-s5xddp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Universal school meals could save families between $129 and $189 per child per month on grocery bills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexandra Sawatzky/Arrell Food Institute)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Sweden, one study found that participation in a universal free school lunch program led to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdab028">permanent household income increase of 2.6 per cent</a>. </p>
<p>Importantly, this permanent increase was not attributed to reduced household food expenditures, meaning school meals can help increase affordability in the short-term and increase household incomes in the mid-term. </p>
<h2>Supporting women in the workforce</h2>
<p>Preparing healthy school lunches is tough when parents work long hours. Universal free school meals support parents — particularly <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209763245/globally-women-are-cooking-twice-as-many-meals-as-men">women, who often spend more time making meals</a> — <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030911">by saving money and time, reducing financial stress, and guaranteeing kids eat well at school</a>. </p>
<p>This allows women to focus better at work, reduces interruptions and helps them achieve a healthier work-life balance, leading to increased productivity and career advancement opportunities.</p>
<p>In fact, the same Swedish study that was previously mentioned found that access to a universal free school lunch program increased mothers’ labour market participation by five per cent.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustrated graphic that lists the benefits of universal food programs on housholds and families" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578634/original/file-20240228-22-bph0sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School food programs support families and especially women, who often spend more time making meals than men do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexandra Sawatzky/Arrell Food Institute)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In China, the introduction of school lunches led to a <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/185233">nine to 14 per cent increase in mothers’ working hours per week</a>, with the greatest increases among low-income mothers and mothers in rural communities.</p>
<p>Overall, this means that in addition to increasing household income, universal free school meals can increase women’s workforce participation, thereby supporting gender equality, individual economic prosperity and national economic growth. </p>
<h2>Increasing earnings, reducing inequality</h2>
<p>In the long-term, universal free school lunches can also improve children’s health, academic performance and subsequent economic outcomes throughout life. </p>
<p>The previously mentioned Swedish study found that students exposed to a school lunch program throughout the entirety of primary school had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdab028">three per cent higher lifetime earnings</a> compared to students that did not participate due to improved nutritional health and education outcomes. </p>
<p>Among children from households in the lowest income bracket, access to free school lunches led to a six per cent increase in lifetime earnings. The program had the greatest positive impact on students from low-income households, showcasing the role school meals can play in reducing socioeconomic inequalities in adulthood.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustrated graphic of a bar graph demonstrating that students’ lifetime earnings when they have access to a universal school food program" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578630/original/file-20240228-16-amimj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Sweden, access to universal free lunch increased students’ lifetime earnings, creating more equitable societies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexandra Sawatzky/Arrell Food Institute)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Growing Canada’s agri-food economy</h2>
<p>Universal school meals can also support the Canadian agri-food sector. A national program has the potential to stimulate the <a href="https://sciencepolicy.ca/posts/national-school-food-program-a-short-term-opportunity-for-jobs-creation-and-economic-growth-2/">creation of as many as 207,700 jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Investments in school meal programs in <a href="https://www.choicesmagazine.org/UserFiles/file/cmsarticle_565.pdf">the U.S.</a> have led to the creation of jobs in food service, agriculture and nutrition and program administration, fuelling economic growth while curbing unemployment. </p>
<p>Furthermore, by adopting a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2012.0023">farm-to-school approach similar to that in the U.S.</a>, Canada could support local farmers and suppliers. According to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, every dollar allocated to such programs generates an additional <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.338161">$1.30 to $2.60 in local economic activity</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, in British Columbia, every dollar allocated to procuring provincially grown food for public institutions yields a <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/growbc-feedbc-buybc/feed-bc-and-the-bc-food-hub-network#">twofold return to the economy</a>, showcasing the significant economic benefits of supporting local agriculture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustrated graphic of a school with a farmer on one side and a vegetable stand on the other, with arrows leading from the school to both" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578625/original/file-20240228-18-s0zoch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School food programs can support local farmers and food businesses and contribute to Canada’s agrifood sector.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexandra Sawatzky/Arrell Food Institute)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>School food programs are recognized internationally as <a href="https://executiveboard.wfp.org/document_download/WFP-0000038526">one of the most successful drivers of health and education among schoolchildren and increased productivity</a> when they become working adults, as reported by the World Food Programme. </p>
<p>Our new research summarizes the <a href="https://amberleyruetz.ca/assets/uploads/ruetz-consulting_the-economic-rationale-for-investing-in-school-meal-programs-for-canada.pdf">strong economic rationale for investing in school meal programs</a> in Canada. Universal school meals can not only provide immediate relief to families, but also build a legacy of improved public health and economic prosperity for generations to come. </p>
<p>An investment in a national school food program today is an investment in a stronger Canada tomorrow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amberley T. Ruetz receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Arrell Family Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flora Zhang receives funding from the Arrell Family Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabrielle Edwards receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Arrell Family Foundation. </span></em></p>From reducing families’ grocery bills to boosting the economy, school meals offer far-reaching benefits, fostering both immediate well-being and long-term economic prosperity.Amberley T. Ruetz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of SaskatchewanFlora Zhang, Master of Public Health Student, University of TorontoGabrielle Edwards, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Food and Nutrition and Sport Science, University of GothenburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231342024-02-22T19:44:43Z2024-02-22T19:44:43ZDoes a university undergraduate degree lead to a ‘good job?’ It depends what you mean<p>Universities are <a href="https://univcan.ca/media-room/media-releases/universities-must-be-a-part-of-canadas-plan-for-economic-growth">central to Canada’s economic growth</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, governments (<a href="https://theconversation.com/low-funding-for-universities-puts-students-at-risk-for-cycles-of-poverty-especially-in-the-wake-of-covid-19-131363">which partially fund them</a>), employers (who hire graduates) and students (who pay tuition fees) have come to view universities as a tool to achieve their own goals: economic growth, <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-reveals-the-folly-of-performance-based-funding-for-universities-138575">a productive workforce</a> and good jobs after graduation.</p>
<p>Yet, the increasing focus on training undergraduates for specific jobs <a href="https://theconversation.com/entrepreneurship-learning-all-university-students-can-benefit-172585">or as economic entrepreneurs</a> — not only in traditional professional degrees in STEM, such as engineering but across all university programs — shortchanges all parties involved. </p>
<h2>Is education only to be ‘endured’?</h2>
<p>Positioning jobs as the paramount outcome of a degree strips away opportunities for students to explore their passions and interests and instead frames education as something they must endure — as they focus on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2023/07/24/5-challenges-to-overcome-building-a-personal-brand-as-college-student/?sh=1a5c171a609b">packaging themselves as marketable brands</a>.</p>
<p>Even while the spectre <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/07/canada-precarity-gig-work-skills-labor-data">of employment precarity</a> and debt hang over students, and despite trends <a href="https://ontariosuniversities.ca/news/preparing-students-to-graduate-job-ready-and-resilient/">towards work-ready</a> undergraduate programs, it’s often only after students have earned an undergraduate degree that they know their career aspirations — and <a href="https://macleans.ca/work/jobs/should-i-pursue-a-masters-degree">seek education to bolster</a> a workplace role that fits them.</p>
<p>One result <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shodewan/2023/09/10/will-a-masters-degree-help-advance-your-career/?sh=1dbd322074b9">is that a master’s degree is becoming the new bachelor’s degree</a> in terms of advancing one’s employment prospects. Students who have pursued their interests during their undergraduate years enter master’s or second-entry programs with a base of general non-workplace knowledge. </p>
<p>This knowledge base comes not only from their undergraduate coursework or weekly job fairs. Rather, it primarily comes after <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-returning-to-campus-want-the-university-experience-missed-during-covid-19-186507">taking advantage of all that universities offer</a> without the pressures of wondering how any assignment, course or program is related to a future job.</p>
<h2>Shifting missions and purposes today</h2>
<p>Universities have become critical engines of national, regional and local innovation and research that have to manage <a href="https://universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/performance-based-funding-comes-to-the-canadian-postsecondary-sector/">new expectations from governments</a>, employers and students. In the past decade, post-secondary institutions <a href="https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/international-students-as-problems-and-solutions/">have also become a means to attract high-performing immigrants</a>.</p>
<p>As governments link <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-reveals-the-folly-of-performance-based-funding-for-universities-138575">university funding to labour market outcomes</a> using various performance measures, universities are in danger of becoming job preparation academies.</p>
<p>Employers seek graduates ready to enter the workplace, even while labour advocates point to stronger models for on-the-job-training seen in other countries <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-adopting-german-job-training-model-could-help-lift-alberta-out-of-downturn">such as Germany</a>. </p>
<h2>Pressures on students</h2>
<p>Many high school students face <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/stress-of-getting-into-university-now-starts-in-grade-10/article18347125">intense pressure to be accepted into an undergraduate program</a> that promises <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-plain-and-simple-students-want-college-programs-that-get-them-jobs/">a good job after graduation</a>. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, given the context, many students, prodded by parents, select programs with the words such as “business,” “technology” and “information” in the title. Across Canada, <a href="https://macleans.ca/education/the-best-application-help-money-can-buy">humanities enrolments have declined, while applications to science, engineering and business programs have increased steadily</a>. </p>
<p>These programs are oversubscribed, allowing universities to charge <a href="https://thevarsity.ca/2023/11/18/why-do-some-undergraduate-degrees-cost-so-much-more-than-others/">deregulated fees</a> that are much higher than fees for most other undergraduate BA and B.Sc. programs. After graduation, students may find they are qualified for highly competitive entry-level positions that scarcely appeal to their interests.</p>
<h2>Education as tool?</h2>
<p>Until <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11-008-x/2000001/article/5086-eng.pdf?st=hiGpmHsZ">the mid-1970s, unemployment rates were low</a>. Many graduates found jobs relatively easily after graduation as the economy boomed and the public sector — such as education — expanded.</p>
<p>Any program of study would most likely lead to a job, and to further opportunities.</p>
<p>The reverse is the case now: competition for good jobs is fierce and sometimes <a href="https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-the-game-or-falling-behind-canadas-readiness-for-a-borderless-global-workforce-201625">international in nature</a>, resulting <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/suzanne-mettler/degrees-of-inequality/9780465044962/">in intensive economic and social pressure</a>. </p>
<p>Understandably, most young people have come to view university education as instrumental: a tool to gain a good job. </p>
<p>Yet as education researcher Roy Y. Chan shows, a growing misalignment exists between the “<a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/roychan/publications/understanding-purpose-higher-education-analysis-economic-and-social-benefits">pragmatic, instrumental goals and aims” of students and the reality of universities’ renegotiating their contemporary missions and mandates</a>. All the while, this is happening amid increasing financial pressure and new post-secondary funding models.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-have-thrived-despite-past-disruptions-and-could-grow-even-stronger-after-covid-19-150346">Universities have thrived despite past disruptions and could grow even stronger after COVID-19</a>
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<h2>The meaning of a ‘good job’</h2>
<p>A good first job after graduation is one that fits the temperament of the person <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Essential-Guide-to-Studying-Abroad-From-Success-in-the-Classroom-to/Klassen-Menges/p/book/9780367235161">and reflects a degree of self-knowledge of</a> what they can commit to working hard at. “Good jobs” immediately after graduation are not necessarily those that have the highest pay or prestige. </p>
<p>Promoting an undergraduate education to young people as a step — if not the most critical step — <a href="https://spon.ca/doug-ford-has-plunged-colleges-and-universities-into-crisis-with-historic-funding-cuts-and-no-plan-for-their-futures/2023/04/26/comment-page-1/">to entering the workforce is</a> misleading. </p>
<p>Both government and universities must rethink the role of the undergraduate degree, and employers should not expect job-ready candidates immediately after the undergraduate convocation ceremony.</p>
<h2>Learning how to learn</h2>
<p>Universities, governments and employers must communicate to Canada’s young people, and future leaders, that a large part of the value of their undergraduate degree, whichever degree they choose, lies in taking advantage of all the opportunities for learning that universities offer. </p>
<p>A university education is an investment, but primarily one in learning how to learn. A university education should teach students how to: be curious, follow passions, debate and ask questions, forge friendships, pursue passions and understand oneself and one’s place in the world.</p>
<p>Young people with such a mindset in their education are poised to <a href="http://www.ubcpress.ca/how-to-succeed-at-university-and-get-a-great-job">flourish in university and in the workplace</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students should know that a key part of the value of their undergraduate degree lies in taking advantage of all the opportunities for learning that universities offer.Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228492024-02-09T13:32:30Z2024-02-09T13:32:30ZWhy John Dewey’s vision for education and democracy still resonates today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574482/original/file-20240208-30-vvibg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C106%2C7790%2C5122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John Dewey was a proponent of active learning. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-working-on-stem-projects-royalty-free-image/1456008678?phrase=children+classroom+active+learning&adppopup=true">FatCamera via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>John Dewey was one of the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey/#:%7E:text=John%20Dewey%20(1859%E2%80%931952),half%20of%20the%20twentieth%20century.">most important educational philosophers</a> of the 20th century. His work has been cited in scholarly publications <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dD5DTREAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">over 400,000 times</a>. Dewey’s writings continue to influence discussions on a variety of subjects, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12567">democratic education</a>, which was the focus of Dewey’s famous 1916 book on the subject. In the following Q&A, Nicholas Tampio, a political science professor and editor of a <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/democracy-and-education/9780231558273">forthcoming 2024 edition of Dewey’s “Democracy and Education,”</a> explains why Dewey’s work remains relevant to this day.</em></p>
<h2>Why revisit John Dewey’s philosophy on education and democracy now?</h2>
<p>I think it is time to revisit Dewey’s philosophy about the value of field trips, classroom experiments, music instruction and children playing together on playgrounds. This is especially true after the pandemic when children spent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.56157">significantly more time</a> in front of screens rather than having whole body experiences.</p>
<p>Dewey’s philosophy of education was that children “learn by doing.” Dewey argued that children learn from using their entire bodies in meaningful experiences. That is why, in his 1916 text, “<a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/democracy-and-education/9780231558273">Democracy and Education,”</a> Dewey called for schools to be “equipped with laboratories, shops, and gardens.”</p>
<p>Dewey argued that planting seeds, measuring the relationship between Sun, soil, water and plant growth, and then tasting fresh peas made for a seamless transition between childhood curiosity and the scientific way of looking at things. Dewey also encouraged schools to create time for “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm">dramatizations, plays, and games</a>.” </p>
<p>In his 2014 book, “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801479540/an-education-in-politics/#bookTabs=1">An Education in Politics: The Origin and Evolution of No Child Left Behind</a>,” the political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OsXHylAAAAAJ&hl=en">Jesse H. Rhodes</a> shows how business groups and certain civil rights groups advocated federal laws that required states to administer high-stakes tests. This focus on tested subjects means that public school students in places <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2010.490776">such as Texas</a> have less time for arts education. </p>
<h2>What role did Dewey see for public schools in preserving democracy?</h2>
<p>For Dewey, modern societies can use schools to impart democratic habits in young people from an early age. He argued that the “intermingling in the school of youth of different races, differing religions, and unlike customs creates for all a new and broader environment.” Dewey was writing as <a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/immigrants-in-progressive-era/">millions of European immigrants</a> were arriving in the United States between 1900 and 1915. Dewey believed that schools could teach immigrants what it means to be a citizen and incorporate their experiences into American culture. </p>
<p>Dewey’s view of the schools remains relevant today. In the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104737.pdf">2020-21 school year</a>, more than a third of the country’s children attended schools where 75% of the student body is the same race or ethnicity – hardly the ideal conditions for Dewey’s vision of democracy. </p>
<p>Dewey <a href="https://chipbruce.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/dewey_creative_dem.pdf">opposed “racial, color, or other class prejudice</a>.” Segregated schools <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2293151">violate Dewey’s ideal</a> of treating all students as possessing intrinsic worth and dignity. Dewey <a href="https://chipbruce.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/dewey_creative_dem.pdf">believed that</a> democracy means “that every human being, independent of the quantity or range of his personal endowment, has the right to equal opportunity with every other person for development of whatever gifts he has.” Democratic schools, for Dewey, empower every child to develop their gifts in ways that benefit the community.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young boy feeds a goat while his parents stand nearby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574477/original/file-20240208-28-gkl7uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dewey espoused the idea of learning by doing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado via Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>How closely does today’s education system resemble Dewey’s vision for education?</h2>
<p>I would argue that the education system resembles the vision of modern testing pioneers like <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/pioneers-of-modern-testing/1999/06">Edward Thorndike</a> more than Dewey’s.</p>
<p>Dewey thought that standardized tests serve a small role in education. <a href="http://dewey.pragmatism.org/creed.htm">He believed</a> that “the child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education.” Dewey maintained that teachers need to use student interest as the fuel to propel students to learn math, reading and the scientific method, and standardized tests serve mainly to help the teacher identify where <a href="http://dewey.pragmatism.org/creed.htm">each student</a> “can receive the most help.” In his lifetime, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3683209.html">Dewey opposed</a> proponents of intelligence testing, such as Thorndike.</p>
<p>But the testing proponents seem to be winning. According to a 2023 <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/educators-feel-growing-pressure-for-students-to-perform-well-on-standardized-tests/2023/09">Education Week</a> survey of teachers, nearly 80% feel moderate or large amounts of pressure to have their students perform well on state-mandated standardized tests. According to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/educators-feel-growing-pressure-for-students-to-perform-well-on-standardized-tests/2023/09">one principal</a>, “There’s too much pressure put on these kids for testing, and there’s too much testing.”</p>
<p>Dewey’s vision of education is teachers nurturing each child’s passions and not using tests to rank children. For many teachers, U.S. public schools are <a href="https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/standardized-testing-still-failing-students">far from realizing that vision</a>.</p>
<h2>How popular are John Dewey’s views today?</h2>
<p>Dewey’s ideas were controversial during his lifetime. They remain so to this day.</p>
<p>In 2023, Richard Corcoran, the president of New College of Florida, criticized “<a href="https://www.srqmagazine.com/srq-daily/2023-11-16/22795_In-Conversation-with-Leaders-in-Higher-Education">the Dewey school of thought</a>” for training students to become “widget makers.” According to Corcoran, Dewey thought that “if we can teach (people) just enough skills to get on the assembly line and help us with this Industrial Revolution, everything will be great.” Corcoran is right that Dewey thought that schools should teach children about industry, including with hands-on tasks. But Dewey opposed vocational education that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179397">slotted children from a young age into a career path</a>. </p>
<p>“I am utterly opposed,” Dewey explained, “to giving the power of social predestination, by means of narrow trade-training, to any group of fallible men no matter how well-intentioned they may be.” Dewey thought that children could learn about history and economics from using machinery in schools. However, he opposed a two-tiered education system that denied working-class children a well-rounded education or that equated human flourishing with making widgets. </p>
<p>Educators and scholars such as <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2017/12/31/john-dewey-my-pedagogic-creed/">Diane Ravitch</a>, <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/beyond-testing-9780807758526">Deborah Meier</a> and <a href="http://zhaolearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/josi12191_LR.pdf">Yong Zhao</a> cite Dewey and apply his insights to current education debates. Those debates include topics such as the place of standardized testing in schools, the freedom of the classroom teacher and the need for schools to build trust with families and community members.</p>
<p>Zhao, for instance, argues that Dewey outlined a way to address education inequity that does not rely on closing gaps in test scores. Dewey’s idea, according to Zhao, is that all children should have a chance to express and cultivate individuality, learn through experiences and make “the most of the opportunities of present life.”</p>
<p>Dewey believed that “<a href="https://chipbruce.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/dewey_creative_dem.pdf">democracy is a way of life</a>.” He also believed schools could teach that lesson to young people by allowing people in the school to have a meaningful say in the aims of education. For many people who read Dewey today, his call for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/992653">democracy in education</a> still resonates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Tampio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Educational philosopher John Dewey saw America’s schools as a place for students from different backgrounds to learn from one another.Nicholas Tampio, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203632024-02-01T22:06:59Z2024-02-01T22:06:59ZQuébec’s teacher strike offers lessons on the urgent need to support public education<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/quebecs-teacher-strike-offers-lessons-on-the-urgent-need-to-support-public-education" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The doors of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10184999/concerns-mounting-over-childrens-welfare-as-quebec-teachers-strike-drags-on/">around 800</a> Québec public schools were closed due to the strike action of <a href="https://www.lafae.qc.ca/public/file/communique-entente-principe-28dec2023.pdf">the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement</a> (FAE) from Nov. 23 through Jan. 8. </p>
<p>During this strike period, <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2037932/common-front-and-quebec-reach-tentative-agreement-over-pay-for-public-sector-workers">368,000 students</a> missed 22 days of school while teachers also lost the same number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-do-teachers-get-paid-when-they-go-on-strike-130158">days in pay</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, teachers in unions represented by the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/common-front-voting-begins-1.7083702">Common Front</a> were on strike for 11 days. </p>
<p>The strikes impacted public school teachers, students and parents across Québec at multiple levels including primary, secondary and adult education. </p>
<p>The consequences both in the short- and long-term are potentially devastating. The strike offers lessons about the urgent need to support teachers and address issues in public education. </p>
<p>Failing to do so will continue to negatively affect teacher morale, burnout and attrition. It will also risk further corroding the critical role of public schooling in supporting our communities. </p>
<h2>Understanding demands, uplifting teacher voices</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.lafae.qc.ca/negociation-nationale">demands</a> of the FAE were extended beyond pay, including better recognition (including improved pension plans and parental rights), better family-work-life balance, better class composition, a reduction in the workload, new provisions regarding grievances and arbitration, better treatment of teachers with precarious status and a healthy workplace. </p>
<p>These demands cover finances, classroom practices and teacher well-being.</p>
<p>Given the current social and educational climate, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/end-of-topsy-turvy-school-year-5-education-issues-exposed-by-the-covid-19-pandemic-161145">post-pandemic educational challenges</a>, supporting teachers and policy changes is of the utmost importance. </p>
<p>Mitigating current challenges by accepting teacher demands is crucial because healthy and well-supported teachers are paramount for <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689628">successful student learning</a>. </p>
<p>The role of teacher well-being is particularly critical due to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1797439">continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic</a> in Canada.</p>
<h2>Must change systemic problems</h2>
<p>The lack of resources and support that teachers receive can lead to several consequences, ranging from increased stress and exhaustion to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231151787">burnout</a>.</p>
<p>While teachers are proven to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.006">resilient</a> in the face of these challenges, the concept of resilience itself is a <a href="https://www.toronto.com/opinion/don-t-call-me-resilient----it-covers-up-systemic-racism/article_e79cedf4-c81e-5999-bff6-fee793feacbb.html">contested one</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-to-dont-call-me-resilient-our-podcast-about-race-149692">Listen to 'Don't Call Me Resilient': Our podcast about race</a>
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<p>Teachers should not need to be resilient because of policies and practices that do not provide a healthy, positive working environment. </p>
<p>Asking teachers to endure sub-optimal working conditions shifts the burden of addressing structural and systemic issues away from governmental responsibility for public education reforms. </p>
<p>It also places an undue strain on the relationships between teachers, students and parents, whose interests should be aligned. There is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsecp.2012.29.4.8">clear relationship</a> between student and teacher well-being. When the well-being of teachers is prioritized, <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier29/turner2.pdf">students’ work and learning flourishes</a> in schools.</p>
<h2>Serious attrition rates</h2>
<p>The prolonged strike and the unwillingness of the government to address union demands in a timely manner may have further reduced teacher morale. It may also exacerbate the already high <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2014.900009">teacher attrition</a> rates in Québec. </p>
<p>In fact, it points to the lack of concern for teachers who cite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2012.696044">psychological and interpersonal reasons</a> for leaving their roles. </p>
<p>Through policy and practice, teachers need to be valued as essential workers in education. Priority needs to be placed on not just bringing new professionals to the field, but keeping them. </p>
<h2>Consequences for students, families</h2>
<p>The prolonged strike will not just impact teacher morale: students will also bear the long-term consequences. </p>
<p>Students will have experienced learning loss, the stalling of academic gains, and social and psychological disruptions. </p>
<p>Although the Québec government has allocated <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-announces-300-million-catch-up-plan-for-students-after-weeks-of-strike-1.6717307">$300 million</a> on a catch-up plan designed to help students who have fallen behind with free tutoring and summer camps for high schoolers who are at risk of dropping out, the reverberations of the strike will last for years to come. </p>
<p>Studies have demonstrated that strike actions impact <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06050-9">educational achievements</a> and even <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/703134#_i37">employment and labour market earnings</a>. </p>
<p>Parents and families, especially mothers, will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102679">impacted financially</a>.</p>
<h2>Uneven effects</h2>
<p>We must also consider larger connections between this educational labour issue and class struggles because the impacts of the strikes are certainly uneven. Hundreds of thousands of students in the public system will be racing to catch up on missed time while students in private schools <a href="https://montreal.citynews.ca/2024/01/07/quebec-teachers-hopeful-after-strikes/">did not miss</a> a day. </p>
<p>These students will compete on the same ministerial examinations and for places at <a href="https://www.cegepsquebec.ca/en/cegeps/presentation/what-is-a-cegep/">CEGEPs — colleges in Québec offering the first level of post-secondary education — which</a> have become increasingly competitive. </p>
<p>During the strike, parents and caregivers were forced to manage child care alongside their own daily responsibilities, and many did not have the financial means for private tutoring or other ways to supplement learning loss. </p>
<p>Teachers from various backgrounds and economic statuses were also unpaid during this time; an unexpected loss of income can drastically influence one’s livelihood.</p>
<h2>Deeper reflection needed</h2>
<p>The strike is indicative of deeply entrenched problems in Québec’s public schools and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/sask-teachers-federation-announces-full-day-rotating-strikes-1.7097861">reverberates with</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10105600/ontario-elementary-teachers-reach-contract-deal/">problems seen across</a> the country.</p>
<p>Now that these strike actions are over, an opening is created for deeper reflection and work on transforming education and restoring the teaching profession to one that is highly valued and respected. </p>
<p>The success of students, the education system and the future of our communities depend on the learning that children receive in schools today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>R. Nanre Nafziger receives funding from Spencer Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation and McGill University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Safeera Jaffer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The success of students, the education system and the future of our communities depend on the learning that children receive in schools today.Safeera Jaffer, Research Assistant, Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill UniversityR. Nanre Nafziger, Assistant Professor, African/Black Studies in Education, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209632024-01-23T13:59:14Z2024-01-23T13:59:14ZStudents with physical disabilities explain the challenges they face when they go to university<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570596/original/file-20240122-21-2f49o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=975%2C10%2C5734%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-disabled-student-wheelchair-choosing-books-1537798346">SeventyFour/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of UK students with a declared disability <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/25-01-2022/sb262-higher-education-student-statistics">rose by 46%</a> over the five years between 2016-17 and 2020-21. Students with disabilities now make up <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/whos-in-he">over 15% of students</a>.</p>
<p>These disabilities include learning disabilities, mental health conditions and physical disabilities.</p>
<p>Making the transition to university is not always easy for these students. They face pressure to choose the right course, adapt to an increasing expectation of independence, and socially integrate and thrive as university students. </p>
<p>And higher education is not always set up in a way that makes it <a href="https://www.policyconnect.org.uk/research/arriving-thriving-learning-disabled-students-ensure-access-all">easily accessible</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2018.1436041">students with disabilities</a>. Some have expressed concern that inclusive education in higher education is <a href="https://disabledstudents.co.uk/not-a-choice/">not prioritised</a>.</p>
<p>Using individual interviews, <a href="https://ijelt.dundee.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/ijelt.72#B39">our research</a> explored the experiences of seven students with a variety of physical needs as they started university. Our participants attended several different universities across the UK, with a few having experienced more than one institution. We asked them about how they decided where to go to university and about their personal experiences of being university students on their chosen course. </p>
<h2>Encountering barriers</h2>
<p>Before going to university, some of the students attended open days and found that their options for institutions – and so also for the academic courses offered by those institutions – were constrained because they felt some were not set up to accommodate their physical needs. One student claimed that a university “didn’t want to know me” because they used a wheelchair. They said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve been on quite a few campuses that are not disabled friendly. The disabled access has been pretty poor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The students also experienced challenges at the universities they chose to attend. These included poor wheelchair access in living spaces, inaccessible lecture theatres and consistently broken lifts. There were issues with both accommodation and learning spaces, affecting both their educational and social experiences. Telling us about their on-campus accommodation, one student said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could barely get through the door [in my wheelchair] and then it was literally like… the bed and then a desk, and then that was it. And I was like, I can’t… I couldn’t even turn around. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some of the students we talked to praised their university’s central student services team for the dedicated time they were given when they first arrived at university. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman in wheelchair in casual meeting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570598/original/file-20240122-17-kt4zcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The students praised their university’s central support services.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesswoman-wheelchair-having-business-meeting-team-2234404489">dotshock/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The students were given opportunities to discuss their individual needs and offered a range of reasonable adjustments that were formally documented on their individual support plan. This is a summary document which details the relevant support and adjustments which have been agreed to meet a student’s needs. It is prepared by the university’s disability advisor in collaboration with the student. </p>
<h2>Not involved</h2>
<p>However, on the courses they were studying, some of the students found they had to repeatedly tell lecturers about their disabilities and ask for adjustments as the lecturing team were unaware of their disability or had not prepared for their needs. </p>
<p>As a result, some students faced limitations in accessing specific optional modules, which constrained their curriculum choices. Some were excluded from participating in practical activities or excursions. One student said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They didn’t make any effort to get me involved. I was sat there for an hour and a half just waiting for it to be over. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The students we interviewed were keen to identify practical solutions. One was for universities to offer open days specifically for disabled students. This would provide students with the confidence to fully explore the campus and identify potential issues, as well as provide a potential opportunity to meet and build connections with their peers. </p>
<p>In addition, the students thought that universities should consult with disabled students when assessing the accessibility of both the campus environment and the courses offered. One said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think a lot of the issue is [that] a lot of … the systems have been created by able-bodied people, and so no one actually thinks to consult with us about what is actually helpful. So, there’s a lot of things in place that are useless, and there’s a lot of things that need to be in place that aren’t. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Giving students with disabilities a voice here would allow them to play a crucial decision-making role in areas that directly affect them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Issues included poor wheelchair access in living spaces, inaccessible lecture theatres and broken lifts.Rhiannon Packer, Senior Lecturer in Additional Learning Needs, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityEmily Abbinett, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityPaul Smith, Principal Lecturer, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2180172024-01-21T12:59:10Z2024-01-21T12:59:10ZAnti-racist, culturally responsive French immersion: Listening to racialized students is an important step towards equitable education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562480/original/file-20231129-19-xh48rb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C4256%2C2765&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A study saw racialized students in Ontario French immersion programs write monologues and stories about their experiences, and also invited immersion stakeholders like teachers and parents to give feedback on
race and racism in Ontario immersion programs. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CDC)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/anti-racist-culturally-responsive-french-immersion-listening-to-racialized-students-is-an-important-step-towards-equitable-education" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://education.macleans.ca/feature/just-say-non-the-problem-with-french-immersion/">Debates among researchers, educators and parents</a> continue about the successes and challenges with French immersion programs across English-speaking parts of Canada.</p>
<p>Programs are criticized for being elitist by some and praised for being exceptional by others. </p>
<p>My master’s research <a href="https://doi.org/10.37213/cjal.2023.32817">showed how Ontario and Toronto French immersion policies exacerbate inequities</a>, finding that program locations favoured middle-class students, curricula demonstrated a Eurocentric focus and colonial lens and program entry-points favoured established residents over newcomers.</p>
<p>My PhD work research has relied upon a collective creation research method known <a href="https://learninglandscapes.ca/index.php/learnland/article/view/1024/1040">as “playbuilding”</a> to propose ways French immersion programs can be more culturally responsive and anti-racist.</p>
<h2>Issues in French immersion</h2>
<p><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793612731/French-Immersion-Ideologies-in-Canada">Research about students in Alberta has shown</a> that language levels of French immersion graduates are low and many lack confidence in their French skills.</p>
<p>French immersion programs have been known to exclude many students, particularly those with <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/TDSB%20French%20Programs%20Review%20Mar082019.pdf">special education needs, multilingual learners, immigrants and lower-income students</a>. In the past, some immersion programs even <a href="https://www.peelschools.org/documents/Elementary-FI-Program-Review.pdf/Elementary-FI-Program-Review.pdf">required IQ testing for admission</a>. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://doi.org/10.37213/cjal.2023.32817">immersion programs in Toronto mainly found in white, middle-class areas</a>, it is unsurprising that white, middle-class students are the most present in Toronto programs.</p>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board, research about French immersion enrolment shows inequitable demographics have been <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/TDSB%20French%20Programs%20Review%20Mar082019.pdf">improving in terms of racial and multilingual representation of enrolled students</a>. However, it also shows programs remain dominated by white, middle-class, anglophone students with few learning exceptionalities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black student seen sitting and reading between two white students." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566494/original/file-20231219-29-8mt8ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">French immersion programs in the Toronto District School Board are still dominated by white students with few learning exceptionalities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Documenting student experiences</h2>
<p>French immersion is a heavily researched program; however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/glottopol.4039">research has largely ignored racial identity and racism</a>. </p>
<p>I invited French immersion stakeholders (like teachers, parents, staff and professors in teacher education programs) to engage with stories of racial minority students in Ontario French immersion programs, and my own experiences as a racialized French immersion teacher.</p>
<p>Firstly, my online study recruited two Black and one South Asian French immersion students from Ontario, aged 16–20. Over the course of two weeks, participants created monologues and wrote stories about their experiences as racial minority students in French immersion programs. Stories and monologues are <a href="https://mkunnas.wixsite.com/race-in-fi">available on our website</a>.</p>
<p>In the second stage of research, 39 French immersion stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, staff and professors in teacher education programs) viewed our website and responded to an online survey reacting to stories and suggestions for improving immersion. The findings from stage two support the findings from stage one.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A brown girl teen seen in discussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566682/original/file-20231219-29-bpakcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students wrote stories about their experiences as racial minority students in French immersion programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley for EDU images)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cultural learning and representation</h2>
<p>Cultural learning is required by the <a href="https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/fsl18-2013curr.pdf">French as a second language (including French immersion) curriculum</a>. Each grade focuses on different local or global cultures to help develop students’ intercultural competence. </p>
<p>For example, Grade 1 French immersion focuses on local francophone communities, Grade 8 focuses on France and Grade 10 focuses on French-speaking Africa and Asia. No matter the cultural focus, the curriculum calls for the inclusion of “diverse French speaking communities” in every grade.</p>
<p>Students in my study recounted that they did not learn about diverse French cultures. In some cases, they were not discussing culture at all. Students’ own cultures and races were also absent from their learning. </p>
<p>The representation in students’ learning was overwhelmingly white and European or Québécois. The lack of diversity is not representative of the curriculum or the reality of the French speaking world, which is <a href="http://observatoire.francophonie.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/LFDM-Synthese-Anglais.pdf">over 50 per cent people of colour</a>. </p>
<h2>Unchecked racism</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-critical-race-theory-make-people-so-uncomfortable-176125">In a racially structured and racist society</a>, the presence of racism in immersion programs is hardly shocking. However, the participants revealed many instances where racism could have been interrupted and was not.</p>
<p>In general, participants’ schools had a culture of racism where racist acts and speech (committed by students, teachers and administrators) were allowed to continue unchecked. </p>
<p>In many cases, teachers were not willing to intervene when racist incidents occurred in their French classes. In one case, a teacher even let a student use a racist French term repeatedly. </p>
<p>A few participants expressed that some teachers and administrators interrupt racism. However, even these teachers were not integrating anti-racist teaching (that is, integrating diverse racial representations and empowering students to combat racism and oppression).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-youth-yearn-for-black-teachers-to-disrupt-the-daily-silencing-of-their-experiences-177279">Black youth yearn for Black teachers to disrupt the daily silencing of their experiences</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566505/original/file-20231219-27-w516e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Educators have important roles in integrating diverse racial representations and empowering students to combat racism and oppression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley for EDU Images)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Call for change</h2>
<p>Students should not be subjected to racism and should be learning about the diverse realities of the French-speaking world so they can see themselves as legitimate French speakers. </p>
<p>Listening to the voices of racial minority students in French immersion programs in dialogue with research documenting program inequities is an important step towards creating more inclusive French immersion programs and schools. </p>
<p>The preliminary findings of my study, in conjunction with earlier research documenting a Eurocentric focus and colonial lens in Ontario and Toronto immersion programs, point to the need for <a href="https://omlta.org/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-educator-series">supporting anti-racist</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikFP9lnIcQ">culturally responsive teaching and intercultural awareness</a> to make programs more welcoming to all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marika Kunnas receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Listening to voices of racialized students in French immersion matters for creating more inclusive schooling.Marika Kunnas, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207992024-01-19T13:03:14Z2024-01-19T13:03:14ZEmotional problems in young people were rising rapidly even before the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569863/original/file-20240117-27-ejuhzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Adolescence is an age when people are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/depression-anxiety-concept-woman-fetal-position-773688718">Thomas Andre Fure/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It wasn’t just the virus that spread during the pandemic – anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns saw a worrying rise as well. But <a href="https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.13924">new research</a> from my colleagues and I confirms there had already been a substantial increase in emotional problems among young people even before COVID-19. </p>
<p>Adolescence is an age when people are particularly <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)31013-X/fulltext">vulnerable</a> to mental health problems, which may then continue <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02202-z">into adulthood</a>. Studies have highlighted concerning trends showing a <a href="https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00646-7/fulltext">steep rise</a> in mental health issues in recent decades. </p>
<p>However, the reasons most frequently given for this rise, such as changes in family life, school factors and social media, do not fully explain all <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_9-1">the issues</a>. </p>
<p>We wanted to know if rates of emotional problems had increased in young people in Wales between 2013 and 2019 – and if any trends varied between groups of young people, such as boys and girls or richer or poorer families. We also wanted to determine whether changes in friendship quality and the prevalence of bullying over time mirrored any increase in adolescent emotional problems, and whether these factors could explain a part of this rise.</p>
<p>Good quality friendships are associated with <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153715">better</a> self-esteem and mental health, whereas bullying is linked with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30475016/">poorer</a> mental health.</p>
<p>We used data from secondary school children which is collected every two years via the <a href="https://www.shrn.org.uk/">School Health Research Network</a>. This is used to increase our understanding of risk factors for health, and to help schools and other organisations improve the lives of young people in Wales. </p>
<p>Students answered questions about emotional problems, including how often they felt low, irritable, nervous and had sleep difficulties. They also answered questions about friendship quality and bullying, both in person and online. In total, we looked at data from more than 200,000 students aged between 11 and 16 from three surveys of Welsh secondary schools in 2013, 2017 and 2019. </p>
<h2>Rise in emotional problems</h2>
<p>We found a substantial increase in emotional problems among young people in Wales between 2013 and 2019. The proportion of young people with high numbers of emotional problems rose from 23% to 38%. Our findings are in line with <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2017/2017">increasing rates</a> of emotional disorders, <a href="https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/improving-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-services">referrals</a> to child and adolescent mental health services, and youth <a href="https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-021-03235-w">self-harm and suicide</a> during this period. </p>
<p>Our study highlights that existing mental health inequalities were getting worse even before 2020. This is a particularly concerning trend as it predates COVID, which is known to have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9373888/">exacerbated</a> mental health problems. Girls and those from poorer families experienced steeper increases in emotional problems. </p>
<p>The reasons for this finding are complex. While our study doesn’t examine potential reasons, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wps.21160#:%7E:text=These%20structural%20conditions%20include%20factors,to%20access%20acceptable%20and%20affordable">other research</a> suggests that being richer allows families to access better housing, adequate food, better healthcare and less stressors more generally. </p>
<p>There are several <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(16)30348-0/fulltext">possible reasons</a> for worse mental health among girls, including sex hormones, lower self-esteem, more interpersonal stressors, gender-based violence and – on a societal level – a lack of gender equality and discrimination. But not enough research has been conducted in this field.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl in the foreground looks at her phone while a group of girls behind her laugh." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569867/original/file-20240117-29-bx3ipk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls and those from poorer families experienced steeper increases in emotional problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pre-teen-girl-being-bullied-by-636363332">Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The proportion of students experiencing bullying increased slightly between 2013 and 2019, and friendship quality decreased slightly. However, while we found a strong association between the quality of adolescent social relationships and emotional problems, social relationships such as friendship quality and bullying did not appear to explain these population-level increases in mental health problems. </p>
<h2>Mental health support</h2>
<p>Our findings highlight a growing need for mental health support for young people to address the steep increase in their emotional problems over the past decade, particularly among poorer families. Currently, <a href="https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Local-child-poverty-indicators-report-2022_FINAL.pdf">one in three</a> Welsh children live below the poverty line. We need to pay particular attention to supporting these young people, and others <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-019-01305-9">across the UK</a>, who are at greater risk of emotional problems.</p>
<p>While social relationship measures didn’t follow the same steep trend as emotional symptoms, improving the quality of young people’s social relationships and reducing bullying are still important priorities. There is currently a move towards a <a href="https://www.gov.wales/framework-embedding-whole-school-approach-emotional-and-mental-wellbeing">whole school approach</a> in Wales, which involves providing a supportive context for healthy relationships in schools more generally. </p>
<p>The growing needs of young people with mental health issues are adding to our already <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8353214/">significantly strained</a> child and adolescent mental health services. Much more investment needs to be made to support our young and most vulnerable people. </p>
<p>Policy-makers, schools and practitioners should pay particular attention to this steep rise in emotional problems, particularly among girls and young people from less-affluent families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca E Anthony receives funding from the Wolfson Foundation</span></em></p>New research looking at data from 200,000 children in Wales has found a substantial increase in mental health issues.Rebecca E Anthony, Research Associate at the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement and Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2210952024-01-16T17:45:20Z2024-01-16T17:45:20ZSaskatchewan teacher strike: It’s about bargaining for the common good<p>For the first time in more than a decade and for only the <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/explainer-a-brief-history-of-teachers-strikes-in-saskatchewan">fourth time since 1973</a>, people in Saskatchewan are facing interruptions to schooling due to teacher labour unrest.</p>
<p>While a <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/teachers-hit-the-picket-line-as-saskatchewan-deep-freeze-continues-1.6726764">Jan. 16 province-wide teachers’ strike</a> means only <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/no-teacher-wanted-this-stf-president-says-5-day-strike-notice-was-about-giving-sask-parents-time-1.6723525">a single day</a> of job action, there is a real possibility strike actions could escalate over the next few weeks. </p>
<p>That’s particularly the case with 90 per cent of Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) members having participated in an October vote about job action against the government — and
<a href="https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/buckle-up-sask-teachers-union-votes-95-in-favour-of-potential-job-action-1.6619971">95 per cent of those voting teachers</a> backing job action. </p>
<p>The strike follows early December news that conciliation talks between the STF and the Government of Saskatchewan had broken off. </p>
<p>According to the teachers’ union, the <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12-13-2023_STF-Message-to-Saskatchewan-Parents-and-Students.pdf">central issues</a> in this dispute are <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/teachers-union-frustrated-with-province-not-addressing-growing-class-sizes">class size</a>, “classroom complexity” (<a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/what-is-classroom-complexity-and-why-does-it-matter-to-the-stf">the diversity of student needs in any one classroom,</a>), <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/stf-bargaining-update">related support for students</a>, <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/stf-says-job-action-virtually-inevitable-after-failed-talks-with-province">workplace violence</a>, meaningful actions to <a href="https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/sask-teachers-union-province-at-odds-on-key-issues-as-contract-talks-languish-1.6672626">reconciliation education</a> and other in-class issues. </p>
<p>For their part, teachers have not made their wage demands public, suggesting that for them, wages are not the central issue in this round of bargaining.</p>
<p>Both <a href="https://x.com/evanbrayshow/status/1735045295543669098?s=20">conservative commentators</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10180136/saskatchewan-premier-scott-moe-state-of-education/">and the premier</a> have argued the bargaining table is not the place for teachers to negotiate concerns about classroom issues. </p>
<p>The province, focused on wages, has tabled an offer that keeps wages at below inflation <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2023/june/29/government-trustee-bargaining-committee-tables-fair-deal-for-teachers">levels for the next three years</a>. </p>
<p>In other provinces, teachers’ unions have successfully argued that classroom size is directly related to workload, which has always been a collective bargaining matter. </p>
<p>Although bargaining is sometimes interpreted narrowly as a discussion over wages and benefits it is not, by its nature, limited to that. Bargaining can — and has — acted as a democratic tool to expand public resources to areas beyond workplace compensation.</p>
<h2>Bargaining classroom size</h2>
<p>In Ontario, the <a href="https://www.pssbp.ca/wp-content/uploads/Teachers-Meshed-Agreement-2019-2022-FINAL-emailed-for-signatures-March-1-2021-PDF.pdf">Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario</a> has negotiated that the boards and government provide ongoing classroom size data to the union in order to determine future classroom ratios. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://osstftoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HotLinked-2019-2022-OSSTF-Collective-Agreement-Finalised-with-All-Signatures-1.pdf">Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation</a> has language on class size in its collective agreements with specific classroom ratios. </p>
<p>Similar negotiations have occurred in Québec over <a href="https://cpn.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/03/CPNCA_APEQ_E5_CC-ang_consolide_2023-03-15_V2.pdf">workload issues</a>. </p>
<p>The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation won a <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/16241/index.do">dramatic ruling</a> before the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016. The court ruled the government’s decision to unilaterally prevent teachers <a href="https://canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/44636">from bargaining classroom size and composition</a> was a violation of their constitutional rights to bargaining collectively. </p>
<p>The decision resulted in hiring hundreds of new teachers to address chronically underfunded classrooms in that province.</p>
<h2>Cuts to education</h2>
<p>The dispute in Saskatchewan did not come out of nowhere. </p>
<p>There has been a 10 per cent drop in <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Education-in-Saskatchewan-Facts-and-Statistics_11-Oct-2023.pdf">per-student funding since 2012-2013</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, the Saskatchewan Party government <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-government-decides-not-to-amalgamate-school-boards-1.4035499">cut funding to public education</a> by $22 million from the previous fiscal year. In the same period, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10027832/saskatoon-schools-enrolment-spikes/#">enrolments have risen to record numbers</a>. </p>
<p>These issues pushed teachers to a collective bargaining dispute in <a href="https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/top-stories-of-2020-teachers-strike-avoided-as-pandemic-surged-into-saskatchewan">2019, but it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. </p>
<h2>Staffing crises</h2>
<p>Post-pandemic, teacher morale and turnover have reached crisis levels. </p>
<p>Samantha Becotte, the STF’s president, noted there has been a general crisis in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9940451/canada-teacher-shortage">education across the country</a> evident in teacher shortages, with <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9848620/saskatchewan-teachers-contract-talks/#">an attrition rate of about 40 per cent among educators in the first five years of their careers</a>.</p>
<p>Becotte’s comments align with research showing attrition rates have hovered <a href="https://archipel.uqam.ca/12263/1/2013_Karsenti%2C%20T%20et%20Collin%2C%20S_Education.pdf">at close to 50 per cent</a> over about the last decade. </p>
<p>Government underfunding has also led to creeping <a href="https://leaderpost.com/opinion/heather-ganshorn-medeana-moussa-beware-privatization-creep-in-education-system">privatization</a>. </p>
<p>Squeezed board budgets have meant an increase in fees to some Saskatoon and Regina parents <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/upped-lunch-hour-supervision-fees-for-sask-parents-as-school-resumes">for lunch-time supervision</a>.</p>
<p>These cuts have also resulted in <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/about-stf/news/bargaining-impasse-declared-teachers-to-hold-sanctions-vote/#">dramatic declines in classroom supports</a>. Numbers have dropped for many educational roles, including for <a href="https://pubsaskdev.blob.core.windows.net/pubsask-prod/90049/2022-23%252BEducation%252BSector%252BStaffing%252BProfile%252B-%252Bprov.pdf">educational assistants, English as an additional language teachers, counsellors, librarians, psychologists and other pathologists</a>. </p>
<h2>‘Parents rights’ issues</h2>
<p>On top of this, the government called a special session of the legislature in September 2023 to bring in a hastily drafted bill to <a href="https://theconversation.com/saskatchewan-naming-and-pronoun-policy-the-best-interests-of-children-must-guide-provincial-parental-consent-rules-212431">restrict the ability of transgender and gender-diverse children from</a> being able to identify with their preferred pronouns at school. </p>
<p>The government said this was an issue <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/parents-bill-of-rights-officially-introduced-in-sask-legislature-beginning-pronoun-policy-s-push-into-law-1.6598701">of parents’ rights</a>. Yet many others interpreted it as an attack on the ability of teachers to provide necessary support and guidance to kids in a safe and supportive environment. </p>
<p>For some, it speaks to a hostile position of the government towards teachers, since the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-name-pronoun-policy-new-school-year-1.6956559">STF has opposed the policy and pledged support for teachers who refuse to abide by it</a>.</p>
<h2>Bargaining as important tool</h2>
<p>Trying to prevent teachers from including issues surrounding unmet student needs in bargaining is to effectively leave the public in the dark on the conditions of our schools and render governments largely unaccountable. </p>
<p>The most important tool that all unionized workers have at their disposal is their ability to collectively bargain. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-union-activism-helped-shift-the-u-s-election-debate-on-education-147620">How teachers' union activism helped shift the U.S. election debate on education</a>
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<p>As researchers with the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University have documented, unions across North America have leveraged broad public support to <a href="https://smlr.rutgers.edu/faculty-research-engagement/center-innovation-worker-organization-ciwo/bargaining-common-good">bargain for issues related to the common good</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://smlr.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/Centers/CIWO/ciwo_bcg-memo.pdf">Many of these campaigns</a> have been waged by teachers’ unions. Unions have bargained for many things, including linguistic and cultural resources for teachers, more diverse staffing, anti-racism education, green education — and importantly for teachers in Saskatchewan — smaller classroom sizes. </p>
<h2>Unions driving change</h2>
<p>Unions beyond the education sector <a href="https://archives.nupge.ca/sites/default/files/documents/New-Forms-of-Privatization-2016.pdf">in Canada</a> have <a href="https://cupe.ca/sites/cupe/files/bargaining_and_privatization_guide_en.pdf">made similar gains</a>. </p>
<p>For example, in 1981-1982, the <a href="http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume19/pdfs/04_nichols_press.pdf">Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)</a> waged a strike to extend paid maternity leave benefits to workers. CUPW’s success encouraged other unions to take a similar position and today public maternity/paternity leave is a universal <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html">public program</a>. </p>
<p>Unions and their members have real power when they use the tools available to them to seek real workplace and community change.</p>
<h2>Bargaining about trade-offs</h2>
<p>To be sure, bargaining is about trade-offs. Prioritizing issues related to what unions identify as key “common good” themes might mean that other issues cannot be highlighted. </p>
<p>Workers might forego larger wage increases for smaller classroom sizes or for increased resources for issues like reconciliation with Indigenous nations.</p>
<p>But that is a choice workers will democratically make through their union. In the case of Saskatchewan teachers, the numbers do not lie. While salaries and benefits will always be an issue, there is overwhelming teacher support for existing bargaining proposals. </p>
<p>We believe this democratic mandate is significant — and one that could lead to safer and more just educational experiences for workers and students across the province.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Enoch is a member of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chronically underfunded classrooms with fewer supports to meet student needs is a core issue for Saskatchewan teachers.Charles Smith, Associate Professor, Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanSimon Enoch, Adjunct professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203602024-01-08T17:12:29Z2024-01-08T17:12:29ZConcerned about student mental health? How wellness is related to academic achievement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568050/original/file-20240105-27-xj485x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C163%2C5464%2C3449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We can and should support both student mental health and student academic achievement, because they affect each other. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/concerned-about-student-mental-health-how-wellness-is-related-to-academic-achievement" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Supporting student mental health and well-being has become a priority for schools. This was the case even prior to the increased <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-and-youth-mental-health-problems-have-doubled-during-covid-19-162750">signs of child and youth mental health adversity</a> in and after the pandemic. </p>
<p>Supporting student mental health is important because students of all ages can experience stressors that negatively affect their well-being and sometimes lead to mental health diagnoses.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.10.005">some have suggested</a> we can either <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/20/stop-stressing-out-our-kids-why-childrens-mental-health-is-as-important-as-academic-achievement-7084383/">support academic success or mental health</a> — and that mental health is <a href="https://www.connectedforlife.co.uk/blog/2017/11/22/childrens-mental-health-is-more-important-than-academic-achievement">more important than academic achievement</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878520980197">we can and should support both</a> academic success and mental health — because they affect each other. </p>
<p>As a researcher who examines school-based mental health and also as a former school psychologist, it’s clear to me that one of the best ways to support mental health is to support academic development, especially early in children’s education.</p>
<h2>Well-being in education</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264273856-en">Well-being in educational</a> settings involves all aspects of students’ lives: physical, cognitive, social and psychological functioning. </p>
<p>Education policymakers, schools and educators must attend to student well-being holistically rather than targeting one area at the expense of other areas. </p>
<p>A great deal of research shows that early academic performance predicts mental health and well-being. Most of the research showing this relationship between well-being and academic success is in the area of reading. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen working together at desks in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568047/original/file-20240105-29-gqgax9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A great deal of research shows that early academic performance predicts mental health and well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.all4ed.org/female-elementary-students-work-on-poster">(Allison Shelley/ EDUimages)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Recent reports <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-to-read-inquiry-report/experience-students-and-families">from both Ontario</a> and Saskatchewan <a href="https://saskatchewanhumanrights.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Equitable-Education-for-Students-with-Reading-Disabilities-report.pdf">human rights commissions</a> highlighted the important role of strong reading instruction for student well-being, confidence and academic engagement. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-disabilities-are-a-human-rights-issue-saskatchewan-joins-calls-to-address-barriers-214129">Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers</a>
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<h2>Stronger reading abilities, positive outcomes</h2>
<p>In the example of reading and mental health, gaining reading skills increases positive student outcomes. Good readers report being more <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593894.pdf">satisfied with their lives</a>. </p>
<p>Later, they have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.socscimed.2020.112971">fewer symptoms</a> of anxiety and depression. Teachers rate students with strong reading skills as more prosocial and as having fewer behaviour problems. </p>
<p>These students are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v9i1.5053">more confident, have higher emotional intelligence and demonstrate more empathy</a>. These positive outcomes are related to reading skill development, an important early indicator of academic success.</p>
<h2>Poorer reading skills, worse outcomes</h2>
<p>Being a poor reader, however, increases the risk for poor outcomes. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022219408321123#">Weak readers</a> in early grades are more likely to have behavioural problems later. They also have <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26097274/">poorer self-concept and self control, difficulty with relationships</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v9i1.5053">shame, anxiety</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2018.09.002">depression</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000242241.77302.f4">suicidality and delinquency</a>. </p>
<p>Students who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194060390060301">drop out of school</a> are more likely to be poor readers, and poor readers are more likely to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000242241.77302.f4">involved with the criminal justice system</a>. It is particularly telling that one of the best ways to keep youth from re-offending is to <a href="https://richardfelson.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/acaddel.pdf">teach them to read</a>.</p>
<h2>Students with dyslexia</h2>
<p>The relationship between dyslexia and poor well-being and mental health further reveals the interaction between academic success and mental health. Students with dyslexia, which is characterized by difficulties gaining reading skills, have more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2018.1479975">difficulty making friends</a>, and having friends is an integral part of mental health.</p>
<p>They are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00366.x">more likely to be bullied</a> and to have low self-esteem. More specifically, having dyslexia increases the risk for also having <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-009-0049-7">anxiety, depression</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194211056297">behavioural problems</a>.</p>
<h2>Equity, reading instruction and well-being</h2>
<p>Further, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01015.x">students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds</a> are at greater risk both of not gaining adequate reading skills and of worse mental-health outcomes.</p>
<p>Language and literacy researchers <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/EdCan-2006-v46-n2-Beswick.pdf">Joan F. Beswick and Elizabeth A. Sloat</a> contend that adequate access to strong reading instruction is a social justice issue. Their research, and <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/FINAL%20R2R%20REPORT%20DESIGNED%20April%2012.pdf">other findings</a>, document how students from poorer neighbourhoods are less likely to receive adequate reading instruction. This disproportionately puts them at risk for mental health problems that reduce their well-being.</p>
<p>The relationship between academic success and well-being is not limited to elementary school reading. High-school students who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.02.007">achieve academically</a> also have <a href="https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2020/20975/pdf/JERO_2020_2_Kleinkorres_Stang_McElvany_A_longitudinal_analysis.pdf">better mental health</a>. </p>
<h2>A two-way relationship</h2>
<p>It is important to note, nevertheless, that the relationship between academic achievement and mental health is bidirectional. </p>
<p>Some research shows that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29150840/;%20%22%22">poor mental health, including behaviour problems, affect academic outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>The relationship between academic success and mental health is complex and likely interactive with both <a href="https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2020/20975/pdf/JERO_2020_2_Kleinkorres_Stang_McElvany_A_longitudinal_analysis.pdf">poor achievement and excessive competition for high marks contributing to poor mental health</a>. Academic performance and mental health each affect the other — either supportively or adversely.</p>
<h2>Unhealthy academic competition</h2>
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<img alt="A boy at a desk writing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568053/original/file-20240105-23-q4jp9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A focus on academic competition negatively impacts mental health and well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Strong academic performance supports mental health and well-being, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.10.005">unhealthy levels of academic competition negatively impact mental health and well-being</a>. Reining in this unhealthy focus on intense academic competition is important. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/classdojo-raises-concerns-about-childrens-rights-111033">ClassDojo raises concerns about children's rights</a>
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<p>But only focusing on stressors of classroom competition in the relationship between academic performance and mental health could have adverse effects in the short- and longer term: It could reduce the mental health of students by not supporting healthy academic growth that promotes mental health and well-being. </p>
<p>It could also fail to teach students practices or habits required to navigate challenges with resiliency.</p>
<h2>Need to support both</h2>
<p>If we want to support student well-being and mental health, we need to support mental health directly by developing healthy school climates, teaching social emotional learning, and providing psychological services in schools. </p>
<p>But we also must support student academic success. This is the case especially as our most vulnerable students are at risk of both academic difficulty and mental health problems. </p>
<p>We don’t have to choose: we can and should support students’ academic success and mental health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabrielle Wilcox is affiliated with Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta and the Learning Disabilities & ADHD Network Calgary Region. </span></em></p>A key way to support mental health and well-being is to support strong reading instruction especially early in children’s education.Gabrielle Wilcox, Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182502023-12-20T19:05:47Z2023-12-20T19:05:47ZHow many people need to be in a room for two to share a birthday? It’s fewer than you think. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560653/original/file-20231121-4807-e2cxhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3994%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A veridical paradox with practical uses. Cottonbro Studio/Pexels</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever bumped into someone with the same birthday as you? What about someone sharing a birthday in your workplace? How common is a shared birthday, anyway?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-probability-birthday-paradox/">birthday problem</a>, as it’s called by mathematicians, reveals problems with our understanding of number theory, probabilities and our assumptions of how the world works. It comes back to how counter-intuitive maths is for a lot of people.</p>
<p>In the birthday problem you are asked “what’s the minimum number of people in a room to get better than 50% chance of two people having the same birthday?” A simple question with a puzzling answer.</p>
<p>To get a more intuitive understanding of this problem we’ve created an interactive simulation, below. It arranges birthdays along a line, with January on the left and December on the right.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-982" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/982/2b47006750b0481a7781fede8a7655f3bf3b387a/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The intuitive answer is the wrong one</h2>
<p>When the birthday problem is described to maths students for the first time, the majority of responses are that a group of 183 people is needed to have a better than even chance of two people having the same birthday.</p>
<p>The thinking here is: 183 is half of 365 (number of days in the year). Students assume they only need to compare others against a single person – themselves, and then <a href="https://betterexplained.com/articles/understanding-the-birthday-paradox/">try to match their birthday</a> with other people.</p>
<p>If you use this assumption, you need to find 183 people to have an even chance of finding a person matching with you. However, when students understand that not every combination has to be with yourself – for example, person 2 and person 5 might be the right combination – it becomes clearer the number needed is lower than 183.</p>
<h2>Combinations do not scale linearly</h2>
<p>If you’ve been playing with the interactive above you may have come across the answer to the birthday problem: only about 23 people are needed for a greater than 50% chance of a shared birthday. But how can this be if there are 15 times more days in the year?</p>
<p>We’ve created another interactive below to visualise how the connections between people in a room do not scale linearly as you add more people. Play around with adding a node and see if you can guess how many connections should be added.</p>
<p>It should give you a better grasp of factorial growth through multiplication, which is the area of number theory that underpins the birthday problem.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-995" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/995/9c3076a412616df132bae72eb5e4448ad50520ed/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Large numbers are hard to comprehend</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic showed the world most of us have a limited understanding of exponential growth when presented with models of what could occur if the pandemic were left unchecked. </p>
<p>There are many great examples of the ill-understood power of exponential growth, but one I often use is asking this question: would you take $1 million on the first day of the month only, or one cent on the first day of the month, doubled each day until the end of the month (30 days)?</p>
<p>Nearly all people choose the $1 million lump sum. However, if you choose the one cent option, you end the month with approximately 10 times more money due to the effect of exponential growth.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@axiomalpha/video/7056421079149202734"}"></div></p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/11/17/the-seduction-of-the-exponential-curve/?sh=52448f7d2480">similar tale</a>, the supposed inventor of chess requested to sell their game to a king for some rice. They proposed placing a single grain on the first tile and doubling it each tile. The amount of rice on the final tile would be the sale price.</p>
<p>As you can see below, that number can very quickly become larger than the entire world’s rice supply.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1004" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1004/bc0ac6dafe6f7260f7180b9cfb39a15b1c270f70/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Asking ‘what comes next’ is seldom simple</h2>
<p>Another real world example of counter-intuitive mathematics was on the <a href="https://www.elderresearch.com/blog/gamblers-fallacy/">roulette wheels in Monte Carlo in 1913</a>. There was a run of 26 straight black results, which is improbable but not impossible. </p>
<p>One striking aspect of the story is that gamblers increasingly bet on red as the run of blacks continued, thinking red was “due”. However, the mathematics says otherwise. Each spin of the roulette wheel has no memory of what happened before, so the chance of red appearing does not increase as time goes on. In short, lots of people lost money that night!</p>
<p>However, some situations do rely on the probabilities of what came before. For example, in the Monty Hall problem you are trying to win a car, which is hidden behind one of three doors (the others have goats). You are given the option to pick a door, then shown a different door with a goat.</p>
<p>The question is: should you stay with your first pick or switch doors? Try it out with the game below.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1000" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1000/c55c43cd1b856a9237b1add3d624f68fad7bdcc1/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The assumption here is that after Monty shows you the goat then the odds of winning a car if you switch or stay are 50/50 – there are only two doors left and one of them has a car.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t take into account the likelihood that you originally picked a goat to begin with. Thus the chances of your next choice are informed by your previous choice.</p>
<h2>Becoming numerate is important</h2>
<p>These examples demonstrate the importance of being “numerate”, defined as <a href="http://www.ncesd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/WaKids.preschool-box-powerpoint.pdf">being able to reason with numbers</a> and being able to apply this reasoning in a range of contexts. The importance of developed numeracy skills cannot be understated, with correlations to <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/discover/article/the-importance-of-measuring-adult-literacy-and-numeracy">better overall life outcomes</a> such as employment, income, health and well being.</p>
<p>If people are highly numerate, they can understand how our world works at a deeper level, even if it doesn’t feel like it should work that way. Also, they are likely to have a better idea of what actions will yield the desired results in certain situations.</p>
<p>So, keep turning your mind to mathematical and numerical problems, they may just come in handy one day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Zunica does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The logic of shared birthdays is stranger than you might think, but learning to understand counter-intuitive mathematics is key to seeing the world clearly.Ben Zunica, Lecturer in Secondary Maths Education, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188742023-12-18T13:20:32Z2023-12-18T13:20:32ZStudents could get more sleep and learn better if school started a little later<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564471/original/file-20231208-27-k39utf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C11%2C3916%2C2280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 58% of middle schoolers and 73% of high schoolers do not get enough sleep.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-is-tired-and-sleeping-at-the-desk-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/1503343198?phrase=students+sleeping+in+class">JackF via iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly three-quarters of high school students do not get enough sleep on school nights, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/students-sleep.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>.</p>
<p>The National Sleep Foundation recommends that teens sleep for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2014.12.010">eight to 10 hours per night</a>. But various factors hinder this, including early school start times and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/16.3.258">shifts in adolescents’ circadian rhythms</a> – the biological internal clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-start-times-and-screen-time-late-in-the-evening-exacerbate-sleep-deprivation-in-us-teenagers-179178">Healthy sleep is crucial</a> for teens’ physical, cognitive and emotional development. When teens don’t get enough sleep, it can have lifelong impacts. They range from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00934.x">poor mental health</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.10156">lower attendance and graduation rates</a>.</p>
<p>As a neurologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sTqquL0AAAAJ&hl=en">specializing in sleep disorders</a>, I have studied the profound importance of sleep in optimizing the body and mind. I believe insufficient sleep among adolescents is a public health crisis. This is why I reached out to my local state representative in Pennsylvania, <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=1951">Rep. Jill Cooper</a>, a member of the House Education Committee, in October 2023 and pushed for legislative change. The resulting <a href="https://legiscan.com/PA/bill/HB1848/2023">proposed bill</a> would mandate that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:15 a.m. by the 2026-27 school year.</p>
<p>While parents, educators and school administrators cannot alter biology, they can change school start times to allow students to obtain sufficient sleep for academic success and physical and mental well-being. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1697">recommends pushing back school start times</a> to 8:30 a.m. or later.</p>
<p>Around the world, <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-school-day-length-by-country">school start times vary considerably</a>, from 7 a.m. in Brazil to 9 a.m. in Finland. While I’m not aware of any global dataset or research on the relationship between school start times and academic performance, Finland was ranked No. 2 on the list of <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country">best educational systems</a> in the Global Citizens for Human Rights report in 2020. Canada, where the average school day begins at 8:30 a.m., was ranked No. 4.</p>
<h2>Sleep and the teenage brain</h2>
<p>Parents may notice that their kids, who were once early birds, start to sleep later and later as they hit their teen years. This is not just due to typical teen behavior like playing video games late at night, but rather it’s a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/16.3.258">biological response</a>.</p>
<p>During adolescence, changes in hormone levels, along with physical and brain maturation, lead to natural shifts in the circadian rhythm. The body tends to delay the release of melatonin, the hormone responsible for bringing on drowsiness at night. </p>
<p>Consequently, teens often find it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2011.03.003">challenging to fall asleep early</a>, leading to a later bedtime. This delayed circadian rhythm also results in a preference for waking up later in the morning. These changes clash with societal and cultural expectations such as early school start times, often contributing to sleep deprivation among teenagers.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Changes in hormones and the circadian rhythm make it difficult for teens to fall asleep and wake up early. Healthy Hours via Vimeo</span></figcaption>
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<p>More than 80% of public middle and high schools across the United States <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020006/index.asp">start before 8:30 a.m.</a>, with 42% starting before 8 and 10% before 7:30. Consequently, bus pickup for some children can be as early as <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2015/04/18/5-am-bus-rides-630-walks-to-school-all-too-early/">5 a.m. in some districts</a>. What follow are four negative outcomes associated with early school start times.</p>
<h2>Hindered academic success</h2>
<p>Numerous studies have linked early school start times to poorer performance on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1697">academic tests</a>. </p>
<p>One study looked at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.10156">school start times, graduation rates and attendance rates</a> for 30,000 students in 29 high schools across seven states. It found a significant improvement in attendance rates, from 90% to 93%, and graduation rates, from 80% to 90%, four years after delaying school start times to 8:30.</p>
<p>Sleep deprivation has been shown to worsen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab051">memory, learning ability, attention span</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5">creativity</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/019263650208663302">school attendance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.96">first-period tardiness</a> – a perfect storm for poor academic performance. </p>
<h2>Poorer mental health</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf">advisory from the U.S. surgeon general</a> raised the alarm on the harmful impacts of social media on youth mental health. Researchers have unearthed mounds of evidence on the negative effects, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-documents-the-harmful-effects-of-social-media-use-on-mental-health-including-body-image-and-development-of-eating-disorders-206170">poor body image</a>. In these discussions, however, a simple yet powerful solution for improving mental well-being is often overlooked – the profound impact of sleep. </p>
<p>During REM sleep – or the dream state – our memories consolidate and we process emotions. Insufficient sleep increases the risk of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00934.x">depression</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1696">anxiety</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/27.7.1351">suicide</a> among adolescents. One study showed that for every extra hour of sleep among adolescents, their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2018.07.003">risk of suicide decreased</a> by 11%. </p>
<h2>Impaired physical health and social behavior</h2>
<p>Sleep is fundamental for physical well-being. For both children and adults, it plays a key role in essential bodily functions. During slow-wave sleep – or deep sleep – our bodies restore themselves: Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-011-1044-0">immune system strengthens</a> to keep us healthy. And our waste-clearing glymphatic system <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.639140">eradicates neurotoxic proteins</a>, which are linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s. </p>
<p>Sleep deprivation is associated with higher rates of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/476914">obesity</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6288">diabetes, cardiovascular problems, chronic health conditions</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2019.03.008">physical injuries</a> and weakened immune function. Sleep-deprived students are more likely to fall asleep when sedentary, such as when driving a car. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603528/">Motor vehicle accidents</a> related to driving while drowsy are especially prevalent among teen drivers.</p>
<p>Sleep-deprived students are also more likely to demonstrate aggression, struggle with social communication and engage in risk-taking behaviors. One study found that the amount of sleep that high school students get is directly related to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2777">engagement in unsafe behaviors</a>, such as substance abuse, risky driving, aggressive behavior and tendency toward self-harm. </p>
<h2>An economic cost</h2>
<p>The economic ramifications of this crisis may not be immediately obvious, but they are undeniable. Contrary to <a href="https://lacomadre.org/2019/10/beyond-students-late-school-start-times-could-impact-parents-and-transportation-budgets/">concerns that delayed school start times might increase transportation costs</a> by changing bus schedules, a 2017 study conducted by the nonprofit RAND Corp. found that the economic benefits <a href="https://doi.org/10.7249/RR2109">far outweigh the expenses</a>. </p>
<p>The study showed that a universal shift to 8:30 a.m. school start times would result in an $8.6 billion gain in the U.S. economy over two years. Investing in delayed school start times, therefore, isn’t a drain on resources. Instead, it contributes to a healthier future for generations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most teens aren’t getting enough sleep, leading to poorer academic performance. Early school start times combined with natural changes in hormones and the circadian rhythm could be to blame.Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178972023-12-14T20:51:07Z2023-12-14T20:51:07ZWhy universities warrant public investment: Preparing students for living together well<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565333/original/file-20231212-19-furxds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C545%2C7927%2C4544&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University funding quickly raises the question of value: what is it that universities offer that warrants public investment?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-universities-warrant-public-investment-preparing-students-for-living-together-well" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/mcu-ensuring-financial-sustainability-for-ontarios-postsecondary-sector-en-2023-11-14.pdf">recent report</a> noting that funding for Ontario’s universities is “low when compared with support in other provinces” points to <a href="https://higheredstrategy.com/whats-in-ontarios-blue-ribbon-panel-report/">underfunding as a serious problem</a> in the province’s post-secondary sector. </p>
<p>Funding quickly raises the question of value: what is it that <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487509446/nothing-less-than-great/">universities offer</a> that warrants public investment? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1725520012545270079"}"></div></p>
<p>Much of my own research has posited that universities have a <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9780802096708/longing-for-justice/">responsibility to contribute</a> to the public good and to equity. </p>
<h2>Universities’ obligations to public life</h2>
<p>Academic research and reports authored by <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/higher-education-playbook-strengthening-democracy-what-institutions-can-do">educational</a>, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707.locale=en">not-for-profit</a> and <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/higher-education-and-research/democratic-mission-of-higher-education">governmental</a> organizations confirm that universities are integral to democratic societies. </p>
<p><a href="https://torontostar.pressreader.com/article/281612425180566">The question of the purposes of universities</a> is both long-standing and one that has elicited many perspectives. Recent global attention to both systemic forms of injustice and increasingly urgent climate crises underscore the complexity of considering universities’ obligations to public life. </p>
<p>I contend that the central contribution of post-secondary institutions, related to graduate and undergraduate education, is to prepare students to attend to the practices of living together well — with the capacities to recognize inequity and advance equity, in field-specific settings and a range of communities.</p>
<h2>Contested conversation about purpose</h2>
<p>While many faculty members might agree <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-017-0001-8">with the idea that a university education will ideally respond to</a> professional, intellectual and public and equity-related priorities, the conversation can quickly become contested. </p>
<p>Indeed, implementation of this idea does present challenges. And yet — graduates will enter a world in which systemic forms of inequity are present in a variety of settings and sectors. The likelihood of a university graduate encountering inequity in their chosen profession or field is less a question of if than when and how. </p>
<p>Likewise, the view that universities can educate students who can contribute to a more equitable future offers a constructive and bold response to the question of what a university education is for.</p>
<p>Universities can and do prepare graduates to contribute to their professions, to economic interests, and to the public good. The economic, civic and intellectual ends of a university education do not need to be placed in opposition to one another, or set up as binary or discreet. </p>
<h2>The ends of a university education</h2>
<p>Increasingly, universities and accreditation bodies alike are affirming the multiple and overlapping interests a university degree supports, including the importance of curricular attention to <a href="https://www.queensu.ca/provost/Quality-Assurance/DLEs">diversity and equity</a>.</p>
<p>One obvious concrete end of a university education is the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691618/the-real-world-of-college-by-wendy-fischman-and-howard-gardner/">intellectual endeavour</a>, which typically includes the acquisition of knowledge and the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/blogs/benefits-intellectual-open-mindedness">life of the mind</a>. </p>
<p>Civic ends constitute a second purpose of a university education: ideally, students will be able to consider how a degree prepares them to think and <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/dont-just-publish-another-paper-lets-do-something-says-scholar-advocate-cindy-blackstock/">act as citizens</a> and participate in key public decisions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadian-engineers-call-for-change-to-their-private-iron-ring-ceremony-steeped-in-colonialism-194897">Canadian engineers call for change to their private 'iron ring' ceremony steeped in colonialism</a>
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<p>Those in industry, provincial and federal governments, and the post-secondary sector stress the importance of preparing students for the <a href="https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/bridging-the-gap-what-liberal-arts-grads-need-to-know-about-their-future/">labour market</a> and for <a href="https://ontariosuniversities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Partnering-to-Drive-Jobs-and-Growth-2023.pdf">employment</a>. </p>
<p>Studies have demonstrated that students, whether in professional disciplines (such as nursing or engineering) or those not governed by accreditation bodies (like philosophy or film) <a href="https://www.aplu.org/our-work/4-policy-and-advocacy/publicuvalues/societal-benefits">will make significant economic</a> <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/education-pays-2019-full-report.pdf">and civic contributions</a>, whether in the public sector or other industries. </p>
<h2>All education is consequential</h2>
<p>Directly asserting that universities have an obligation to contribute to the practices of living together well with an eye toward equity can quickly raise objections from within and outside of higher education. </p>
<p>There are many who are most comfortable with the belief <a href="https://lab.cccb.org/en/henry-giroux-those-arguing-that-education-should-be-neutral-are-really-arguing-for-a-version-of-education-in-which-nobody-is-accountable">that universities are neutral institutions</a> and that academic programs ought to <a href="https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/education-political-neutrality-classroom-shortchanges-students">maintain this neutrality</a> via a clear and often specific reliance on rational, discipline-specific thought or methods. In fact, in providing content in academic programs and specific courses, faculty <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1508">members endorse a way of seeing the world</a>. </p>
<p>Faculty members teach in ways that, implicitly or explicitly and intentionally or not, variously endorse the status quo and existing forms of injustice, or call attention to the need for equity and provide an education that speaks to this need. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-times-of-racial-injustice-university-education-should-not-be-neutral-158352">In times of racial injustice, university education should not be 'neutral'</a>
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<h2>Orienting students toward what is possible</h2>
<p>Time in the classroom and in conversation with faculty members and other students will shape habits, inform priorities and orient students toward what is possible and desirable. </p>
<p>Graduates’ choices and actions will nearly always have a bearing on how people live. Whether in sociology or biology or mathematics, courses will orient students in <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/we-need-infuse-civic-and-public-purpose-college-education">how to understand the world</a> in which they live, and also in regard to what their responsibilities are to that world in the context of their chosen fields. </p>
<p>We can do so in ways that underscore the hallmarks of intellectual engagement: curiosity, openness to various perspectives, attention to context, and listening to those with whom we disagree.</p>
<h2>The practices of living together well</h2>
<p>Universities are places for deliberation, inquiry, curiosity and investigation. In teaching students, university faculty have the privilege of asking why, how and what for in regard to numerous settings and situations, and the pleasure of bringing knowledge and different perspectives to bear on how classroom learning affects our society.</p>
<p>We live in a world in which systemic forms of inequity persist. In designing courses and academic programs, faculty have an opportunity to engage students with field-specific knowledge and to attend to the practical and ethical uses of that knowledge once students graduate.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, a university education at its best will be attentive to the public good and to equity, and to civic, intellectual and employment ends.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217897/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer S Simpson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The economic, civic and intellectual ends of a university education do not need to be placed in opposition to one another. A university education at its best will be attentive to all these ends.Jennifer S Simpson, Special Adviser to the President, EDID (Curriculum Transformation) and Professor, School of Professional Communication, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125172023-12-01T13:38:43Z2023-12-01T13:38:43ZThese programs make college possible for students with developmental disabilities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560916/original/file-20231121-24-bz6l3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C35%2C5832%2C3838&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employment prospects are greatly enhanced for students with developmental delays if they acquired postsecondary education.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-with-down-syndrome-graduating-royalty-free-image/1346470556?phrase=college+graduation+and+intellectual+disability+&adppopup=true">Drs Producoes via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, opportunities to attend college may appear few and far between. But this is changing, thanks to <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/increasing-postsecondary-opportunities-and-success-09-17-2019.pdf">inclusive postsecondary education</a> – known as IPSE – programs at colleges across the United States. Here are some important things to know about these programs.</p>
<h2>What is inclusive postsecondary education?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/increasing-postsecondary-opportunities-and-success-09-17-2019.pdf">Inclusive postsecondary education</a> refers to programs at colleges and technical schools that provide career and transitional training to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Transitional training helps these individuals move into adulthood, teaching them skills like how to set up a bank account, do laundry or cook for themselves.</p>
<h2>How many of these programs exist nationwide?</h2>
<p>Today, only <a href="https://thinkcollege.net/resource/advocacy-outreach/my-college-life-students-with-intellectual-disability-share-their-lived">about 2%</a> of the approximately 420,000 eligible children with intellectual disabilities attend an IPSE program after high school. But the number of these programs at U.S. colleges and universities has more than doubled since 2009, <a href="https://gcdd.org/about/105-general-content/3056-inclusive-post-secondary-education-ipse.html">from 148 to 328</a>. Every state <a href="https://thinkcollege.net/college-search">except for Wyoming</a> has at least one such program, while states like California, Texas, New York, Florida and Massachusetts have numerous programs.</p>
<h2>How did inclusive postsecondary education become important?</h2>
<p>As recently as the 1970s, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities did not have equal access to public primary and secondary schools. The disparity was so glaring, <a href="https://thinkcollege.net/sites/default/files/files/resources/Insight_12_R.pdf">parents in 26 states filed lawsuits</a> to assert their children’s right to a public education.</p>
<p>In 1975, <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History#:%7E:text=On%20November%2029%2C%201975%2C%20President,and%20locality%20across%20the%20country">Congress passed a law</a> now known as the <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/idea/">Individuals with Disabilities Education Act</a> – or IDEA – which makes a free public education available to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. From 1975 through 2021, the U.S. education system went from excluding 1.8 million children with disabilities to <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea/#IDEA-History">providing more than 7.5 million children</a> with an education.</p>
<p>Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, most disabled students are <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/postsecondary-transition-guide-august-2020.pdf">required to have a detailed plan</a> in place, no later than the age of 16, for how they will transition to adulthood. These plans must describe any resources needed for the transition period. Inclusive postsecondary education programs are considered one of the available resources.</p>
<h2>How do inclusive postsecondary education programs work?</h2>
<p>These programs focus on academic access, career development, campus membership and self-determination. Many programs use person-centered planning. This allows students to guide their own education. Students may work toward a certificate. However, inclusive postsecondary education programs do not lead to a college degree.</p>
<p>I teach at Kennesaw State University, where I serve as executive director of the oldest and largest of nine IPSE programs in Georgia: <a href="https://wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu/academy/index.php">the Academy for Inclusive Learning and Social Growth</a>. The academy currently enrolls 48 students.</p>
<p>Students may attend the academy for two years or four. Years one and two constitute the <a href="https://wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu/academy/certifications/details-asce.php">Academic, Social, and Career Enrichment Program</a>. Years three and four are known as the <a href="https://wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu/academy/certifications/details-alcd.php">Advanced Leadership and Career Development Program</a>. After successfully completing the first two years, students may be invited back for the second two years. Students in each program earn a certificate that is recognized by the Georgia Board of Regents. </p>
<p>To complete a certificate, students must take 16 courses over four semesters. They must also successfully complete an internship and register social interaction hours. Each semester, students audit at least one course alongside their neurotypical peers. To graduate, students also must complete at least two additional trainings in the areas of culinary skills, computer technology, customer service or social media.</p>
<p>The academy provides extensive student support. Program advisers make sure that students excel and have their academic and social needs met. Course accommodations are made based on each student’s reading level and retention. Every student is assigned a <a href="https://wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu/academy/mentor.php">peer mentor</a>. The mentor accompanies them to classes and social gatherings. </p>
<h2>Who is eligible for inclusive postsecondary education programs?</h2>
<p>Admission requirements vary between different programs. For example, the academy where I work requires a minimum of a third grade reading level and the absence of significant behavioral problems. The academy also requires the completion of a psychological exam, a copy of any individualized education plan and an academic transcript. Most important, though, is the student’s desire to participate and complete all of the academic, social and career <a href="https://wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu/academy/admission/criteria-process.php">requirements for the certificate</a>.</p>
<h2>Do inclusive postsecondary education programs make a difference?</h2>
<p>As a program director, one of the biggest benefits that I see is that students develop friend groups, often for the first time, and are able, depending upon the program, to live independent of their parents. At Kennesaw State University, about 75% of our 48 students reside on campus in university housing with a roommate. </p>
<p>There are a number of other <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00224669211013354">benefits</a> of inclusive postsecondary education programs. Research by Think College, a national research and evaluation center, indicates that a student who completes an inclusive postsecondary education program has a <a href="https://thinkcollege.net/sites/default/files/files/resources/teachers_can_F_918.pdf">65% chance of being employed within one year</a>. This is compared with the 17% national employment rate for adults with a developmental or intellectual disability. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students in these programs have high rates of attendance and graduation. For example, the Academy for Inclusive Learning and Social Growth has an 85% graduation rate for students in our two-year program.</p>
<p>Despite all the benefits I’ve observed in my role, <a href="https://www.centre-ipse.org/uploads/6/2/0/8/62081869/mossoff_j_greenholt_j_hurtado_t_2009_assesment_ipse_young_adlts_with_dd.pdf">assessing all the elements of success</a> across the field is still a challenge. That’s because these programs are complex, relatively new, and every program is different.</p>
<h2>How do I learn more?</h2>
<p>Families can learn more about IPSE programs by viewing the <a href="https://thinkcollege.net/college-search">Think College</a> website and also by contacting the disability and <a href="https://rsa.ed.gov/about/states">vocational rehabilitation agencies</a> in their states.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Edwin Duchac II- The Academy for Inclusive Learning and Social Growth receives funding from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities.</span></em></p>Inclusive postsecondary education programs help students with intellectual disabilities make friends and become independent adults.Neil Edwin Duchac II, Associate Professor of Social Work and Human Services, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108442023-11-21T22:25:18Z2023-11-21T22:25:18ZWhy student experiments with Generative AI matter for our collective learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557547/original/file-20231103-21-ejdzmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=92%2C277%2C5515%2C3144&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities are ideal spaces to forge co-operation across research fields, an imperative of developing responsible AI.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-student-experiments-with-generative-ai-matter-for-our-collective-learning" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT based on Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing the ways we think, learn and work. </p>
<p>But, like some other forms of AI, GenAI technologies have a <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/can-we-open-the-black-box-of-ai-1.20731">black box nature</a> — meaning it’s hard to explain and understand how mathematical models compute their output. </p>
<p>If we as a society are to employ this new technology on a broad scale, we will need to engage in a collective discovery process to better understand how it works and what it is capable of. </p>
<p>As AI experts work on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TAI.2021.3133846">making AI systems more comprehensible to end users</a>, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67481548">as OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT</a>, navigates leadership shakeups and questions <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-conflict-at-the-heart-of-openai/">about its strategic direction</a>, post-secondary institutions have a critical role to play in enabling collective learning about GenAI.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/openais-board-is-facing-backlash-for-firing-ceo-sam-altman-but-its-good-it-had-the-power-to-218154">OpenAI’s board is facing backlash for firing CEO Sam Altman – but it’s good it had the power to</a>
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<h2>Difficult to understand</h2>
<p>For AI systems based on large neural networks with a black box nature, like GenAI, a lack of transparency makes it <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-021-00477-0">difficult for people to trust</a> the AI and to rely on it for sensitive applications.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University professor Elizabeth A. Holm <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aax0162">has argued</a> that black box AIs can still be valuable if they produce better results than alternatives, if the cost of wrong answers is low or if they inspire new ideas. </p>
<p>Still, cases of matters gone horribly wrong erode trust, such as when ChatGPT <a href="https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2023/-chatgpt--help-me-make-a-bomb-.html">got tricked into giving instructions to make a bomb</a>, or when it <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/chatgpt-sexual-harassment-law-professor-b2315160.html">accused a law professor of a serious crime he didn’t commit</a>. </p>
<p>This is why researchers working on <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9645355">AI explainability</a> have tried to devise techniques to see into the black box of neural networks. However, the LLMs behind many GenAI tools are just too large and too complex for these methods to work.</p>
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<img alt="A woman sitting at a keyboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557527/original/file-20231103-17-4jqof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Universities should lead learning about different ways to use GenAI.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Fortunately, LLMs like ChatGPT have an interesting feature that previous black box neural networks did not have: they are interactive. Think of it this way: we cannot understand what a person is thinking by looking at a map of the neurons in their brain, but we can talk to them. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-chatbots-can-help-us-rediscover-the-rich-history-of-dialogue-197329">ChatGPT: Chatbots can help us rediscover the rich history of dialogue</a>
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<h2>‘Machine psychology’</h2>
<p>A new field of science is emerging under the label of “machine psychology” to understand how LLMs actually “think.” </p>
<p>New research, yet to be peer reviewed, is examining how these models can surprise us with their emergent capabilities. For example, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.11903">researchers surmised</a> that because with LLMs every new word generated depends on the sequence of words that came before it, asking an LLM to work through a problem step by step may produce better results. </p>
<p><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03262">New studies</a>, not yet peer reviewed, on this “chain of thought” technique and variations of it have shown they improve outcomes. Others suggest LLMs <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.11760">can be “emotionally manipulated”</a> by including phrases like “are you sure?” or “believe in your abilities” in prompting. </p>
<p>In an interesting combination of these two methods, Google DeepMind researchers <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.03409">recently found</a> that for a series of math problems, one LLM improved its accuracy significantly when it was prompted with “take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpts-greatest-achievement-might-just-be-its-ability-to-trick-us-into-thinking-that-its-honest-202694">ChatGPT's greatest achievement might just be its ability to trick us into thinking that it's honest</a>
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<h2>Collective discovery</h2>
<p>Understanding GenAI is not something only researchers are doing, and that’s a good thing. New discoveries that users have made have surprised even the makers of those tools, in both delightful and alarming ways.</p>
<p>Users are sharing their discoveries and prompts in online communities such as Reddit, Discord and dedicated platforms such as <a href="https://flowgpt.com/">FlowGPT</a>. </p>
<p>These prompts often include “jailbreak” prompts that succeed in getting GenAI tools to behave in ways they are not supposed to. People can trick AI <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-jailbreak-generative-ai-hacking">into bypassing built-in rules</a> — for example, producing hateful content — or <a href="https://asianews.network/chatgpt-can-be-tricked-into-generating-malware-bomb-making-instructions">creating malware</a>. </p>
<p>These rapid advances and surprising outcomes are why some AI leaders <a href="https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/">called for a six-month moratorium</a> on AI development earlier this year.</p>
<h2>AI and learning</h2>
<p>In higher education, an overly defensive approach emphasizing flaws and weaknesses of GenAI or how it allows students to cheat is ill-advised. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-cheating-5-ways-to-change-how-students-are-graded-200248">ChatGPT and cheating: 5 ways to change how students are graded</a>
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<p>On the contrary, as <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier">workplaces start to see the benefits of GenAI-powered employees or workplace productivity</a>, they will expect higher education to prepare students. Students’ education needs to be relevant. </p>
<p>Universities are ideal spaces to forge co-operation across research fields, an imperative of developing responsible AI. Universities, in contrast to the private sector, are best positioned to embed their GenAI practices and content within a framework of ethical and responsible practice.</p>
<p>One thing this entails is understanding of GenAI as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13337">an augment, not a substitute, for human judgement</a> and discerning when relying on this is permissable and acceptable. </p>
<p>Educating for GenAI involves developing critical thinking and fact-checking skills, and ethical prompt engineering. It also involves understanding that GenAI tools do not just repeat their training data, and can <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-chatgpt-a-better-entrepreneur-than-most">generate new, and high-quality ideas</a> based on patterns in that data.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ChatGPT-and-Artificial-Intelligence-in-higher-education-Quick-Start-guide_EN_FINAL.pdf">ChatGPT and AI for Higher Education UNESCO Quick Guide</a> is a helpful starting point.</p>
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<p>Including GenAI in the curriculum cannot be treated as top-down teaching. Given the rapid development and newness of the technology, many students are already ahead of the professors in their GenAI knowledge and skills. We must recognize this as an era of collective discovery, where we are all learning from each other. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/artificial-intelligence-course-learning-ai-tools-1.6952634">“Generative AI and Prompting” course</a> offered at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, a portion of grades are allocated to posting, commenting and voting on an online “discovery forum” to share their discoveries and experiments.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-using-ai-tools-like-chatgpt-in-my-mba-innovation-course-is-expected-and-not-cheating-198957">Why using AI tools like ChatGPT in my MBA innovation course is expected and not cheating</a>
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<h2>Learning by doing and experimenting</h2>
<p>Lastly, we should be learning how to use GenAI for tackling humanity’s greatest challenges, such as climate change, poverty, disease, international conflict and systemic injustice.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/publications/initial-policy-considerations-for-generative-artificial-intelligence-fae2d1e6-en.htm">powerful nature of this technology</a>, and the fact that we do not fully understand it due to its black box nature, we should do what we can to understand it through interaction and learning by doing and experimenting.</p>
<p>This is not an effort that can be confined to the works of specialized researchers or AI companies. It requires broad participation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohammad Keyhani receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the University of Calgary. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hadi Hemmati receives funding from NSERC, Alberta Innovates and York University. He consults and owns shares in an startup company called NexusDNN. He is an adjunct professor at University of Calgary. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Salgado Arzuaga receives funding from the University of Calgary Eyes High Doctoral Scholarship.</span></em></p>Learning about Generative AI should include supporting collaborative interdisciplinary research and writing ethical prompts to help discover what it can do.Mohammad Keyhani, Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of CalgaryHadi Hemmati, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, CanadaLeslie Salgado, PhD Candidate, Communication, Media and Film, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112552023-11-21T19:45:05Z2023-11-21T19:45:05ZHow universities relate with students changed in the past century, but a duty of care remains<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-universities-relate-with-students-changed-in-the-past-century-but-a-duty-of-care-remains" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Universities have existed for over 1,000 years, and their institutional mission <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Governance-of-Higher-Education-Global-Perspectives-Theories-and-Practices/Austin-Jones/p/book/9780415739757">of teaching the next leaders and members of society has remained remarkably constant</a>. </p>
<p>One significant change, though, has been the student population and their relationship to the university. </p>
<p>Especially since <a href="https://doi.org/10.47678/cjhe.v14i2.182933">the end of the Second World War</a> and in the last four decades, <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/serving-diverse-students-in-canadian-higher-education-products-9780773547513.php">university populations in Canada have become increasingly diverse</a>. </p>
<p>Mature adult learners, students who are parents, students requiring accommodations, and first generation students have all been recognized as non-traditional university students — as have <a href="https://www.univcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/trends-vol1-enrolment-june-2011.pdf">women, who only outpaced men in university enrolment in 1987</a> in Canada.</p>
<p>The proportion <a href="https://higheredstrategy.com/visible-minority-students-in-canadian-post-secondary-education">of racialized students</a> and international students has grown significantly. </p>
<p>In the past 20 years in particular, university policy has examined how welcoming groups marginalized or historically excluded from <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/serving-diverse-students-in-canadian-higher-education-products-9780773547513.php">universities, such as Indigenous, Black and gender-diverse students</a>, relates to different aspects of university life. Since the 1980s, <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/development-of-postsecondary-education-systems-in-canada--the-products-9780773543089.php">accessibility has been a major policy priority</a> for universities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recognizing-history-of-black-nurses-a-first-step-to-addressing-racism-and-discrimination-in-nursing-125538">Recognizing history of Black nurses a first step to addressing racism and discrimination in nursing</a>
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<p>How universities <a href="https://higheredstrategy.com/canadas-internationalization-strategy">interact with and serve international students</a> in higher education is coming under increasing scrutiny. </p>
<p>Importantly, these changes have taken place within the context of shifting social values and advocacy for student rights. These transformations have had significant effects on how universities understand a duty of care for students, and what this implies for student services.</p>
<h2>Moral regulation</h2>
<p>Historically, universities in Canada served the elite and privileged of society, as well as, at some universities, students who were going to <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/university-governance-in-canada-products-9780228011453.php">be priests and members of other religious orders</a>. </p>
<p>Universities (and these standards) were <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/long-eclipse--a-products-9780773528055.php">influenced by a moral vision heavily shaped by Christian religion</a>, and also by ideals of participation <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/5801/3235">in a colonial enterprise</a>.</p>
<p>Students were expected to be upstanding citizens, and universities imposed strict behavioural and moral regulation on men to ensure they developed a strong moral character. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/feature-50-little-known-facts-canadian-universities-text/#">first English-language university in Canada</a>, the Provincial Academy of Arts and Sciences (later <a href="https://www.unb.ca/aboutunb/history/index.html">changed to University of New Brunswick</a>) <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315816401">was established in 1785</a>. Université Laval was established in 1852, becoming the <a href="https://www.ulaval.ca/en/about-us/origin-and-history#">first North American French-language university</a>, growing out of the Séminaire de Québec.</p>
<p>Increased governmental involvement and several legislative acts promoted expansion of post-secondary institutions as Canada grew as a colony and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/British-North-America-Act">British North America Act was passed in 1867</a>. </p>
<h2>Early 20th century</h2>
<p>As more <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/university-women-products-9780228008644.php">women started attending university</a>, and particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.32316/hse-rhe.v34i2.5099">after the First World War</a>, senior leaders on campus recognized the need for differentiated residences and services. </p>
<p>Behavioural standards could include everything from appropriate dress to curfews and even to <a href="https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NQ69374&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=56108577">approval of off-campus residences for women</a>.</p>
<p>Many campuses appointed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575721">a dean of men and a dean of women whose roles focused on</a> upholding strict moral standards. With regards to student behaviour, violations of these standards could be treated harshly with suspensions and expulsions, often with the student having no recourse. </p>
<p>Philip Lee, an expert in education and law, chronicles how, in the United States, courts supported these stances and referred to universities <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/higheredinreview/2011/02/14/the-curious-life-of-in-loco-parentis-at-american-universities">acting in the place of a father administering discipline in his home or acting <em>in loco parentis</em></a> (in the place of a parent).</p>
<p>Writing of Canadian university history, legal scholar Clive B. Lewis <a href="https://rdo-olr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/olr_15.2_lewis.pdf">notes a high degree of paternalism</a> in how Canadian universities related with students.</p>
<p>The phrase <em>in loco parentis</em> is still sometimes used to argue <a href="https://macleans.ca/opinion/canadas-universities-and-colleges-are-failing-science/">for universities’ duty of care</a> for students.</p>
<h2>Response to veterans, rise in services</h2>
<p>Over the first four decades of the 20th century, the campus view of students needing “parental oversight” remained unchanged. The end of the Second World War saw immense shifts. With the <a href="https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/classroom/fact-sheets/civvy">Veterans’ Rehabilitation Act (1945)</a>, war veterans were provided with tuition, and family and living allowance. </p>
<p>Soon nearly a quarter of all university <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575721">students were war veterans</a>. The vets were usually older and had families; they were more focused on long-term learning and career goals and some had suffered immense trauma during the war. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-have-thrived-despite-past-disruptions-and-could-grow-even-stronger-after-covid-19-150346">Universities have thrived despite past disruptions and could grow even stronger after COVID-19</a>
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<p>University Advisory Service (UAS) was established to represent counsellors who gave <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575721">veterans personal and financial advice as well as placement advice</a>. Additionally, as these students were parents themselves and lived in their own homes, they did not require the oversight and monitoring that prior university students had needed. This successful implementation led to demand for these kinds of services for all students in the late 1940s and through the 1950s. </p>
<p>Services were increasingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575721">professionalized and organized within the umbrella of student services</a>. </p>
<p>A dramatic change was the shift from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558408326914">men’s and women’s separate residences to co-educational residences</a>.</p>
<h2>Agitation for civil, student rights</h2>
<p>The real end of universities acting in a similar capacities as parents began as society started to embrace different styles of music, dress and social norms, causing tension between these increasing freedoms and the stifling campus regulations. </p>
<p>At the same time, students were increasingly vocal about the strict codes of conduct imposed on them as students. Within the larger community, there was increasing agitation for <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/student-rights">the recognition of students’ rights</a>. </p>
<p>Multiple lawsuits in the United States were launched by college students, protesting against the university’s use of <em>in loco parentis</em> as a means of enforcing moral standards, and they demanded that their civil rights were restored.</p>
<h2>Universities as bystanders?</h2>
<p>As Lee details, at first, the pendulum swung too far in the other direction, and a <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/higheredinreview/2011/02/14/the-curious-life-of-in-loco-parentis-at-american-universities">“bystander era” was ushered in where universities were believed to have no involvement in students’ lives</a> outside of academic matters.</p>
<p>After subsequent court cases regarding student non-academic misconduct causing harm, students successfully argued that universities had a duty of care and needed to protect student safety. </p>
<p>Universities now <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-colleges-are-keeping-a-closer-eye-on-their-students-lives">mitigate risk by addressing incidents immediately and putting proactive measures in place</a>. </p>
<p>Several writers have named this the <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/higheredinreview/2011/02/14/the-curious-life-of-in-loco-parentis-at-american-universities">“facilitator era”</a> as universities explore <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-colleges-are-keeping-a-closer-eye-on-their-students-lives">different ways they should be involved</a> in student lives.</p>
<h2>Duty of care for ‘responsible adults’</h2>
<p>As universities open access more broadly, the duty of care principle moves into a grey area. Today, universities respond to growing requests for accommodation and support for specific needs, growing financial stress and growing mental-health issues among students. </p>
<p>Campuses have to balance duty of care with treating their students as responsible young adults. Moreover, campuses must step back from a paternalistic role and treat students as <a href="https://doi.org/10.24085/jsaa.v6i2.3318">active collaborators in addressing their own needs</a>. </p>
<p>The question remains: can campuses navigate facilitating student development, identity formation and academic success while ensuring the duty of care is upheld?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vicki Squires does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Especially since the Second World War, an increasingly diverse university student body and advocacy for student rights have affected how universities understand a duty of care for students.Vicki Squires, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143102023-11-13T19:19:42Z2023-11-13T19:19:42ZSchool portables aren’t a solution to student overcrowding, but a symptom of it<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/school-portables-arent-a-solution-to-student-overcrowding-but-a-symptom-of-it" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Portable classrooms, also known as mobile classrooms, are stand-alone modular structures used when schools cannot accommodate growing student populations.
They can provide relief in overcrowded schools while permanent accommodations are built, but there are concerns about their use. </p>
<p>Parents in Moncton, N.B., recently signed an open letter about <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10036638/parents-sign-open-letter-action-overcrowded-moncton-school/">how long an overcrowded</a> school is expected to make due with apparently temporary portables, citing cold temperatures and students needing to change buildings to use the washroom. In B.C., The Surrey Teachers Association has complained <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10066976/surrey-portables-no-heat/">about portables lacking heating</a>.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.5909">research has investigated</a> how long schools in the largest school boards in Ontario keep portables on site, as well as the average number of portables per school. My findings indicate that in many cases, portable classrooms are far from being temporary accommodations, and instead, are used as permanent instructional structures.</p>
<h2>Low cost</h2>
<p>Many school districts in Canada and the United States rely on portables as prefabricated facilities when the need for classroom space increases and the budget for school construction is limited. </p>
<p>Portables are preferred for their <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/industry-news/property-report/article-is-it-time-to-reimagine-the-school-portable/#%22%22">fast deployment and low upfront cost</a>. </p>
<p>But studies on <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/california-portable-classrooms-study">environmental conditions</a> of portable classrooms have reported concerns with <a href="https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/maintain-portable-classrooms-part-indoor-air-quality-design-tools-schools">indoor air quality, temperature control, noise levels, water leaks and mould</a>. </p>
<p>Having high numbers of portables at a school has also been associated with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42955986">congestion in common learning spaces</a>, <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-research-links-higher-portable-count-lower-test-scores-at-schools">declines in academic achievement</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/311103104#%22%22">absenteeism</a>.</p>
<p>Portables are <a href="https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/321490/portables-fill-playground-from-the-roof-of-st-roch-separat">not new</a> and have been <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED539480">part of kindergarten to Grade 12 education</a> since the <a href="https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/308333/makeshift-high-school-consisting-of-15-portable-classrooms">mid-20th</a> century. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A portable classroom seen against a grey sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School boards turn to portables because of their low upfront cost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portables_at_peirre_trudeau.JPG">(Wikimedia Commons)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Examining 10 years of portables</h2>
<p>I collected 10 years of portable use records (2010-2020) from approximately 2,700 schools in the 27 largest school boards in Ontario. This sample represents about 55 per cent of the schools in the province, serving nearly 63 per cent of the student population. </p>
<p>On average, school boards in the sample used nearly 5,300 portables per year between 2010 and 2020. Two-thirds of the schools in the sample had at least one portable classroom during the 10-year period, with an average of three portables per school. Half of the schools had between one and four portables. In contrast, 35 per cent did not use portables in this period.</p>
<p>While there are no specific criteria to determine what “temporary” means in relation to portable classroom use, it can be argued that portables are needed until a permanent facility is built, or until overcrowding is resolved. </p>
<p>In Ontario, it typically takes between <a href="https://www.hdsb.ca/schools/Pages/HDSB-Builds.aspx#">two and four years</a> to <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario-education">build a new school</a>. Therefore, using a portable classroom for more than four years surpasses the expected time frame for temporary accommodation. </p>
<h2>Lack of planning for student growth</h2>
<p>My analysis revealed that 20 per cent of the sampled schools used portables for one to four years and 45 per cent had portables for five to 10 years. </p>
<p>In addition to revealing that portables tend to become permanent, the study showed the average number of portables remained stable over the 10-year period. This suggests school boards in Ontario, and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-portables-schools-feature-1.6967543">likely in other provinces</a>, have become dependent on temporary facilities to address overcrowding. </p>
<p>Several interrelated factors could help explain this situation. First, there is the issue of lack of planning. <a href="https://collections.ola.org/mon/23003/290842.pdf">In 2009, a working group with the Ministry of Education projected</a> that school boards in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) would see enrolment growth. <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/5909">This study</a> confirmed that urban areas in Ontario, including the GTA, experienced a 10 per cent average enrolment increase, yet despite the rise in enrolment, the average number of portables remained stable. </p>
<h2>Tensions with urban planning</h2>
<p>Second, there is the effect of urban sprawl on school planning. As <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-x/2021001/98-200-x2021001-eng.cfm">more families move to suburban neighbourhoods</a>, local schools need to rely on portables to alleviate overcrowding. </p>
<p>Inner-city schools, <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/58375">which often serve minoritized students</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-school-closures-doug-ford-pc-government-1.6758142">experience enrolment decline, which puts them at risk of closure</a>. </p>
<p>Third, there is a tension between urban planning and school planning. Undergoing processes of urban change, like <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-x/2021001/98-200-x2021001-eng.cfm">urban sprawl</a> and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2021005/article/00002-eng.htm">gentrification</a>, forces school boards to stretch out resources that otherwise could be concentrated in fewer areas.</p>
<p>School boards are forced to play catch up to city development, making planning a more difficult and less predictable task. The absence of formal mechanisms for school boards to have a say on urban growth makes school planning an afterthought to municipal planning.</p>
<p>Finally, there is the issue of funding. <a href="https://monitormag.ca/articles/inflation-adjusted-school-funding-is-down-1-200-per-student-since-the-ford-government-came-to-power/">Funding cuts</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-education-spending-gap-1.6047233">austerity in Ontario public education</a> are not new. For instance, in 2019, the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/repair-backlog-in-ontario-schools-hits-16-3-billion/article_29d2809a-470a-503e-aa79-9688795b11c2.html">province reported a $16.3 billion</a> backlog in <a href="https://fixourschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Hugh_MacKenzie_Report_Ontarios_deteriorating_schools.pdf">school repairs</a>. </p>
<h2>More proactive approach needed</h2>
<p>Since only the most <a href="https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2022/B01_EN.pdf">urgent cases of overcrowding are selected for funding,</a> school boards can <a href="https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/busting-at-the-seams-16m-for-portables-at-holy-trinity-school-7727588#">wait for several years</a> until requests for new schools are approved. </p>
<p>The process to fund new schools is so slow and reactive, that it is common for <a href="https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/new-public-school-in-tecumseh-satisfies-need-while-preparing-for-future-growth-1.6328320#%22%22">new schools</a> to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/arthur-currie-school-portables-1.6040904">receive portables shortly after opening</a>.</p>
<p>Normalizing temporary structures as permanent educational facilities undermines the goal of providing quality public education to all children. </p>
<p>Portables are not a solution, but a symptom of overcrowding. A more proactive approach to school planning is required.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Augusto Riveros has received funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>Normalizing temporary structures as permanent educational facilities undermines the goal of providing quality public education to all children.Augusto Riveros, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108742023-11-06T21:04:35Z2023-11-06T21:04:35ZTrolling and doxxing: Graduate students sharing their research online speak out about hate<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/trolling-and-doxxing-graduate-students-sharing-their-research-online-speak-out-about-hate" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>An <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/01/13/the-state-of-online-harassment/">increasingly volatile online environment</a> is affecting our society, including members of the academic community and research they pursue.</p>
<p>Graduate students are especially vulnerable to online hate, because cultivating a visible social media presence is <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/guest-post-grad-students-need-social-media/">considered essential</a> for mobilizing their research, gaining credibility and finding opportunities as they prepare to compete in an <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/the-mismatch-continues-between-phd-holders-and-their-career-prospects/">over-saturated job market</a>. </p>
<p>Our research <a href="https://bearingwitness.site">has examined the experiences of graduate students</a> who have encountered online hate while conducting their research or disseminating it online, and a wider landscape of university protocol and policies.</p>
<p>This research suggests faculty supervisors and university staff responsible for students’ development and well-being are often ill-prepared to support students through online harassment experiences. This means graduate students are left frightened, discouraged and with nowhere to turn for help.</p>
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/876457075" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Documentary ‘Bearing Witness: Hate, Harassment and Online Public Scholarship.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New policies needed to support researchers</h2>
<p>Research by communications scholars George Veletsianos and Jaigris Hodson, who are part of the <a href="https://harassment.thedlrgroup.com/team/">Public Scholarship and Online Abuse</a> research group, finds that scholars online may be targeted for a range of reasons, but “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/29/dealing-social-media-harassment-opinion">women in particular are harassed partly because they happen to be women who dare to be public online</a>.”</p>
<p>Online hatred <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/cyberviolence/cyberviolence-against-women">disproportionately affects</a> women, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2021/03/report-online-hate-increasing-against-minorities-says-expert">Black, Indigenous, racialized</a>, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/lgbtq-community-facing-increased-social-media-bias-author/story?id=85463533">queer, trans and</a> other marginalized scholars.</p>
<p>New frameworks and policies are required that protect and care <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-speech-on-campus-means-universities-must-protect-the-dignity-of-all-students-124526">for increasingly diverse academic communities</a> to foster equity and diversity.</p>
<h2>Impacts and inadequate support</h2>
<p>Nearly any discipline or research topic can become a target for harassment: from <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-growing-problem-of-online-harassment-in-academe/">English literature to game studies</a> to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct369y">virology</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5ybw3/climate-scientists-online-abuse">climate science</a>. </p>
<p>Online harassment restricts which research projects are able to proceed and who is able to pursue them. It affects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2021.1878218">not only researchers’ well-being</a> and career prospects, but by extention, their fields of study and members of the public served by it.</p>
<p>Institutions have yet to develop adequate supports for both faculty and students, even as the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/06/13/its-as-if-it-didnt-exist-is-cyberbullying-of-university-professors-taken-seriously/">pervasiveness of online harassment in academic life</a> has begun to receive greater attention. </p>
<p>Research by Hodson and Veletsianos with Chandell Gosse finds university policies designed to protect community members <a href="https://theconversation.com/post-secondary-workplace-harassment-policies-need-to-adapt-to-digital-life-161325">have not evolved to address the complex forms of harassment that unfold via social media</a>. </p>
<h2>Lack of clear and accessible structures, procedures</h2>
<p>Research from 2020 by Alex Ketchum of McGill University’s Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies on <a href="https://publicscholarshipandmediawork.blogspot.com/p/report.html">resources provided by media relations offices at Canadian universities</a> indicates that universities’ publicly accessible information about doxxing, trolling and scholarship is scarce. Ketchum addresses challenges related to public scholarship in her book <em><a href="https://www.concordia.ca/press/engage.html#order">Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication</a></em>.</p>
<p>Without clear structures and procedures for reporting harassment and supporting community members at an institutional level, harassment is treated by universities as isolated incidents without grasping the scale of the issue.</p>
<h2>‘Bearing Witness’</h2>
<p>We have facilitated a number of <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/laps/events/laps-research-to-impact-workshop-confronting-online-hate-and-harassment-of-academic-researchers">workshops</a> and <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/research/robarts/events/emerging-scholar-online/?fbclid=IwAR0rlJdnD-2um6XWzQzWpC5vvnJMvHHMW-DFZwbJwEx0v5LxoOJqMWbk0Y4">events</a> that foreground experiences of online harassment among graduate students. This work has been done with support from the <a href="https://irdl.info.yorku.ca/">Institute for Research on Digital Literacies</a>, under the direction of Natalie Coulter. </p>
<p>As part of a multi-stage project titled <a href="https://bearingwitness.site/">Bearing Witness</a>, we conducted one-on-one interviews with seven York University students who have encountered hatred in response to sharing or conducting their research online. </p>
<p>To protect participants from further harassment, we invited student artist-researchers to interpret the anonymized interview transcripts and create original artworks that reflected upon and echoed the stories of their peers. </p>
<p>These stories formed the basis of an exhibition and panel discussion at <a href="https://www.federationhss.ca/en/congress/bearing-witness-hate-harassment-and-public-scholarship">Congress 2023</a>, a national conference of academic researchers held at the end of May and beginning of June 2023, and will inform <a href="https://bearingwitness.site/symposium/">a symposium</a> on Nov. 7 and a <a href="https://irdl.info.yorku.ca/events/">a pop-up exhibition</a> in the Media Creation Lab in the Scott Library at York University.</p>
<h2>Researcher experiences of harassment</h2>
<p>In our study, participants described receiving threats of physical and sexual violence, directed not only towards them, but to their families and research participants. These encounters severely impacted students’ mental health and led them to fear for their physical well-being on campus and at conferences. </p>
<p>Each student we spoke with described feeling under-supported by the university, in particular <a href="https://education.macleans.ca/feature/inside-the-mental-health-crisis-at-canadian-universities/">struggling to access mental-health services</a>. Participants also said research methods seminars, research ethics board certification courses and conversations with supervisory committees had not addressed the possibility of encountering online harassment.</p>
<p>The online harassment students encountered also derailed or significantly curtailed their research projects. Students reported that the effects of the harassment forced them to drastically alter, if not entirely halt, their course of study and degree progress.</p>
<h2>Resources to help protect from harassment</h2>
<p>There are many online resources graduate students can consult to protect themselves from online harassment. Resources <a href="https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org">from PEN America</a> and <a href="https://gameshotline.org/online-free-safety-guide">gaming communities</a> provide cybersecurity tips to prevent doxxing, assess threats and report harassment to platforms and law enforcement. </p>
<p>However, universities must take steps to lessen the burden for individual victims.</p>
<p>Media relations and knowledge-mobilization offices must develop clear protocols for protecting community members and supporting them in the wake of encountering hatred online. It is equally essential that these policies are readily available and easy to locate for scholars in distress.</p>
<h2>Important work begins with witness</h2>
<p>Faculty must be made aware of the realities of online harassment and available university resources — including campus security, legal clinics and mental health services. </p>
<p><a href="https://datasociety.net/pubs/res/Best_Practices_for_Conducting_Risky_Research-Oct-2016.pdf">Supervisors should be prepared</a> to have frank discussions with graduate students about the potential risks associated with their research and develop a pre-emptive action plan that can be implemented quickly.</p>
<p>This important work must begin with institutions bearing witness to graduate students’ experiences. University staff and faculty must listen to individual voices so that the issue of online harassment can be understood in its full scale and complexity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Borkowski receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Coulter receives funding from SSHRC, as well as from internal grants at York University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marion Tempest Grant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To inform university responses to online harassment affecting graduate students, artist-researchers created original artworks in response to interviews with their peers who experienced online hate.Alex Borkowski, PhD Candidate, Communication & Culture, York University, CanadaMarion Tempest Grant, PhD Candidate, Communication & Culture, York University, CanadaNatalie Coulter, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, and Director of the Institute for Research on Digital Literacies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157602023-10-25T12:33:34Z2023-10-25T12:33:34ZAntisemitism has moved from the right to the left in the US − and falls back on long-standing stereotypes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555439/original/file-20231023-29-xvca3a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5991%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Oct. 19, 2023, rally in New York City's Times Square demanding the freeing of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-gather-for-a-rally-in-times-square-demanding-the-news-photo/1745461296?adppopup=true">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. is currently <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/us-antisemitic-incidents-hit-highest-level-ever-recorded-adl-audit-finds">experiencing one of the most</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/reports-of-antisemitic-incidents-in-u-s-spike-after-attack-on-israel-anti-defamation-league-says-195578437929">significant waves of antisemitism</a> <a href="https://antisemitism.adl.org/antisemitism-in-american-history/">that it has ever seen</a>. Jewish communities are shaken and traumatized. </p>
<p>Jewish and civil rights organizations both in the U.S. and in other Western countries reported a rise in antisemitic incidents following the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-surprise-rocket-attack-hamas-israel/story?id=103816006">Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel</a> and the subsequent Israeli military response. The Anti-Defamation League reported that in the first week after Hamas’ deadly attack, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/reports-of-antisemitic-incidents-in-u-s-spike-after-attack-on-israel-anti-defamation-league-says-195578437929">tripled in comparison to the same week last year</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, London police recorded a 1,353% increase in antisemitic crimes <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/antisemitic-islamophobic-offences-soar-london-after-israel-attacks-2023-10-20/">compared with the same period a year earlier</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, antisemitic symbols and rhetoric seem to be part of a growing number of protests that erupted around the globe following the escalation of the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12607931/Times-Square-Palestine-rally-Hamas-Israel.html">conflict between Israel and Hamas</a>. </p>
<p>Most scholars agree that the term “antisemitism” describes animosity and discrimination against Jews. Broader definitions, such as the one adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, include the singling out of Israel and the demonization of its character, such as the claim that “the existence of a <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism">State of Israel is a racist endeavor</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xBQYKHwAAAAJ&hl=en">My team of researchers</a> at UMass Lowell and Development Service Group, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, compiled and analyzed a comprehensive dataset of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. between 1990 and 2021. We wanted to understand what factors led to antisemitism. We covered violent antisemitism as well as incidents of antisemitic intimidation and vandalism. We included any attacks against Jews which were motivated by the religious identity of the victims – even if it was motivated by anger about Israeli policies. </p>
<p>Our study, which will be published soon, found a startling new phenomenon: The ideology underlying antisemitism in the U.S. now encompasses both sides of the political spectrum. And it allowed us to develop three other insights regarding the intensifying linkage between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism in the U.S. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1716196517613281517"}"></div></p>
<h2>1. Antisemitism is not exclusive to the far right</h2>
<p>Traditionally, antisemitism in the United States was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/08/14/jews-will-not-replace-us-why-white-supremacists-go-after-jews/">promoted by far-right organizations and movements</a>, such as the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups and skinheads. Such groups focused on propagating <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-semitism-in-the-us-today-is-a-variation-on-an-old-theme-123250">traditional antisemitic narratives</a> alleging Jews’ racial inferiority, their control of the financial sector and their role in global cabals aiming to undermine America and Western civilization. </p>
<p>More recently, progressive and left-leaning movements that are critical of Israel’s policies – especially with regard to the Palestinian population in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 – have become linked to antisemitic practices, too. </p>
<p>In a survey conducted in 2018 in 12 European Union countries <a href="https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/experiences-and-perceptions-antisemitism-second-survey-discrimination-and-hate">among victims of antisemitism</a>, 21% indicated that they were physically or verbally attacked by what participants called “left-wing” activists. In the U.S., our data shows that 95% of antisemitic incidents motivated by Israel’s policies were perpetrated by far-left or unidentified activists. Just 5% were perpetrated by known far-right activists. </p>
<p>Further indication that antisemitic violence is no longer the sole domain of far-right extremists can be gleaned from an analysis of our data that looked at the geographic characteristics of antisemitism. </p>
<p>We find that antisemitic hate crimes are occurring especially in politically progressive areas of the country. The New York metropolitan area and the Northeast in general, and urban centers in Florida, California, the Northwest and the Midwest are experiencing the majority of antisemitic incidents. </p>
<p><iframe id="wJ62o" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wJ62o/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>While these regions of the U.S. were usually <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/opportunity/equality">considered hospitable to minorities</a>, our data reflects that in the past decade they are the most substantial hubs of antisemitic violence. </p>
<h2>2. US antisemitism is strongly correlated to escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict</h2>
<p>The outbreak of violence between Israel and Palestinians seems to inflame antisemitism in the U.S. and is exploited to amplify long-standing antisemitic tropes. </p>
<p>Rigorous analysis of our dataset found conclusive evidence that these escalations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – such as the violent clashes between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip in the past few years – are accompanied by an increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. </p>
<p>For example, in the months leading up to the Israel-Hamas war of May 2021, there was a gradual increase in antisemitic attacks that peaked in May 2021 and gradually declined in the following months. </p>
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<h2>3. Israel’s policies and antisemitism abroad are connected</h2>
<p>The growing connection between Israel’s policies and antisemitic violence abroad, and especially in the U.S., reflects the view among many Americans that American Jews unquestioningly support Israel’s government. </p>
<p>The Anti-Defamation League’s leader put it bluntly when he stated following the May 2021 Israel-Hamas war that “<a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/adl-audit-finds-antisemitic-incidents-united-states-reached-all-time-high">the violence we witnessed in America during the conflict last May</a> was shocking … it seemed as if the working assumption was that if you were Jewish, you were blameworthy for what was happening half a world away.”</p>
<p>Thus, it is not surprising that following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, Jewish organizations on American campuses became the <a href="https://forward.com/fast-forward/561683/university-pennsylvania-hillel-antisemitism-adl-vandalism/">main targets of violent activism by Palestinian rights supporters</a>. Nor was it surprising that the first reaction of U.S. law enforcement agencies in the wake of the Hamas attack was <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/security-tightens-around-jewish-schools-communities-due-to-tension-in-middle-east/">enhancing the protections</a> of Jewish schools and communal facilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Demonstrators carrying signs that include one equating Zionism to Nazism." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555644/original/file-20231024-25-uchg24.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and signs denouncing ‘Israeli apartheid’ march in support of Palestinians in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thousands-of-demonstrators-waving-palestinian-flags-and-news-photo/1724697003?adppopup=true">David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Antisemitism today exploits long-standing antisemitic tropes</h2>
<p>American Jewish communities had <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-israel-turns-70-many-young-american-jews-turn-away-95271">traditionally strong links to the state of Israel</a>, and many extended their support in various ways. They included contributing money to Israeli cultural, educational and social institutions, as well as advocating for U.S. support. This was explicit acknowledgment of the importance to the Jewish people of having a homeland. </p>
<p>In recent years, however, many Jewish communities, especially their younger members, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-israel-turns-70-many-young-american-jews-turn-away-95271">became increasingly critical of Israeli policies</a> and the country’s ongoing military control of the occupied Palestinian territories.</p>
<p>Despite such developments within the Jewish community, efforts by organizations sympathetic to the Palestinian cause to link American Jews as a whole to Israel’s policies seem to have intensified. Such linkages reflect an extension of one of the most resilient and long-standing antisemitic tropes, in which <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-semitism-in-the-us-today-is-a-variation-on-an-old-theme-123250">American Jews are portrayed as having a dual loyalty</a> and a preference to support Israel’s interests over American ones, especially in times in which they may conflict. </p>
<p>In the past, sentiments regarding American Jews’ alleged dual loyalty were mainly exploited by extremists on <a href="https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/336589/florida-van-with-palestinian-flag-and-hitler-was-right-sign-circles-around-pro-israel-rally/">the far right</a>. Lately, it seems also to be manifested in left-wing discourse and actions that support or legitimize marginalization of Jews in the U.S. by blaming them for Israel’s policies.</p>
<p>Examples of this new manifestation of antisemitism include the exclusion of American Jewish organizations from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/us/womens-march-anti-semitism.html">progressive campaigns</a> and <a href="https://forward.com/opinion/562543/rice-university-hillel-lgbtq-israel/">events</a> and the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/were-jewish-berkeley-law-students-excluded-in-many-areas-on-campus">exclusion of Jewish activists from progressive associations</a>. </p>
<h2>Combating the new antisemitism</h2>
<p>The reactions to the recent escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict illustrate a profound change in the ideological roots of antisemitism in the U.S.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/support-hamas-terror-anti-israel-rallies-across-us">The many cases in which professional</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/18/university-israel-hamas-college-tensions/">and student associations</a> as <a href="https://time.com/6323730/hamas-attack-left-response/">well as political organizations</a> were quick both to legitimize Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and direct their animosity toward U.S. Jews showing solidarity and sympathy with Israeli victims are prime examples. </p>
<p>That means any effort to combat antisemitism in the U.S. must take into consideration the growing ideological diversity behind contemporary incidents of antisemitism.</p>
<p>Those efforts will need to understand the nuances that shape American Jews’ relationships with Israel – and recognize that despite the substantial progress U.S. Jews experienced in the U.S. in all aspects of public life, antisemitism is still a part of the American political landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arie Perliger receives funding from the National Institute of Justice</span></em></p>Antisemitism in the US is growing – and that growth appears to be related to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. It also reflects a different political ideology than in the past.Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996452023-10-23T10:53:48Z2023-10-23T10:53:48ZStudents with strong self-belief are happier and more successful – as our study shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541966/original/file-20230809-15-fsuevl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C10%2C6945%2C4637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheerful-smart-online-student-girl-watching-2342909013">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students’ success and happiness can be improved by building <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107381">their self-belief</a> – their perception of their capacity to complete a challenging task.</p>
<p>In a study with 763 students at <a href="https://www.xjtlu.edu.cn">Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University</a> in China, we found that students with high self-belief performed well in their final year project and were more satisfied with their learning experience even if they were not assigned their preferred project or teacher. </p>
<p>On the other hand, students with low self-belief were less happy and performed poorly, although they had access to good resources. </p>
<p>The students we worked with were studying a range of subjects, such as mechatronics, robotics, computer science, electrical and electronic engineering. </p>
<p>In their final year, they worked on a particular project, developing research questions and putting together a research method, as well as carrying out data collection, analysis and results reporting. Each student had a supervisor to provide guidance on the project. </p>
<p>The students were able to select ten preferred projects from a list of 635 projects and were then allocated one of their ten preferences. Our research was limited to one university – in the future, we plan to test the results by studying more students, including in other countries or regions.</p>
<h2>Measuring self-belief</h2>
<p>We developed a five-point scale to measure students’ self-belief about their work on this project. Students were given a score on the scale according to their answers to questions, such as: “I am able to identify and formulate a substantial research problem, and produce a plan to address the problem”. We also asked the students their opinion on how the projects were allocated as part of the survey, and interviewed ten students to gain further insight into their learning. </p>
<p>Our survey data analysis results found that students with higher self-belief had more confidence in their ability to take on challenging tasks. They spent more time thinking about what the project required, and were more likely to reflect on their performance afterwards. </p>
<p>Students with lower self-belief had less confidence in their ability to accomplish a complex project. “We were allowed to submit ten choices, but I only selected two projects that I can handle and gave up the other eight choices”, one of the student interviewees said. </p>
<p>Conversely, students with higher self-belief were more confident in their ability to take on any projects. “All the projects I chose were my favourite ones, so no matter what project I was finally allocated, the results were within my acceptable range”, one said. </p>
<h2>Thinking about thinking</h2>
<p>We found that students with lower self-belief had lower metacognition – the ability to “think about thinking”. For instance, one student did not think about the value of reading the project details before they made project choices. Instead, they relied on luck: “I just selected two preferred projects and selected the remaining ones randomly. I was not lucky enough to get the first two choices.” </p>
<p>However, students with higher self-belief showed higher metacognition. They appreciated the opportunities for them to access the project information before they could make rational choices. One student said: “It takes time to review each project because there are hundreds of projects for my major, but the outcome deserves it, it is relatively fair.”</p>
<p>Through the interview data analysis, we also found that students with lower self-belief rarely thought over the in-depth reasons for their failure in learning. They focused more on short-term results, complained about the external conditions and did not pay enough attention to areas for self-development. On the other hand, students with higher self-belief were more likely to engage in deeper reflection. They admitted that equal opportunities had been provided for students to get specific support.</p>
<h2>Building self-belief</h2>
<p>Students could form a habit of reflecting on their learning experiences, and self-assess their metacognition and confidence to build self-belief. Our research suggests that focusing on building self-belief may lead to better study results and happier students. </p>
<p>Teachers can focus on building students’ confidence. Explaining the value of different learning activities and giving feedback can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2022.2136480">help develop</a> students’ metacognition and belief in themselves. Exercises that help students think about their learning – such as self-evaluation questionnaires – can also help them to build their sense of control over their learning and their self-belief. </p>
<p>Teachers and parents cannot always help students when they face difficulties. But building students’ self-belief can help increase their confidence in themselves to tackle challenges and problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xiaojun Zhang received funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China: Grant Number 71772152. Pengfei Song received funding from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Teaching Development Fund:Grant Number TDF20/21-R22-150.
The authors would like to thank Prof. Eng Gee Lim and Dr. Mark Leach for contributing to the research project as co-authors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pengfei Song and Xiaojun Zhang do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students who believe in themselves are more likely to think carefully about a project.Na Li, Associate Professor, Director of Digital Education Programme, Department of Educational Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool UniversityPengfei Song, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool UniversityXiaojun Zhang, University Chief Officer of Education; Executive Dean, Academy of Future Education; Acting Dean, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub, XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang), Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046642023-10-19T12:29:21Z2023-10-19T12:29:21ZDual enrollment can save college students time and money − but there’s one risk to avoid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553509/original/file-20231012-29-k05y0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About a third of U.S. high school students are taking college courses. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenage-school-students-walking-in-hallway-royalty-free-image/1465474376">Solskin/DigitalVision Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent talk about <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/secretary-cardona-delivers-keynote-reimagining-college-admissions-summit-equal-opportunity-higher-education">new ways to do college admissions</a>, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona spoke about his own experience taking a college course while still in high school. He was referring to dual enrollment – <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019176.pdf">an increasingly common practice</a> in which <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/stay-informed/">high school students take college courses</a>, simultaneously earning high school and college credit.</p>
<p><a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019176.pdf">A 2019 report</a> showed that approximately 88% of U.S. high schools offered dual enrollment and approximately 34% of high school students in the U.S. are taking college courses. That represents an increase from 2010, when <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013001.pdf">82% of high schools offered dual enrollment</a> and <a href="https://www.nacep.org/resource-center/nacep-fast-facts/">approximately 10%</a> of high school students took college courses. </p>
<p>At the state level, there is evidence of dramatic growth. In Indiana, for example, <a href="https://cherp.utah.edu/_resources/documents/publications/research_priorities_for_advancing_equitable_dual_enrollment_policy_and_practice.pdf">60% of high school students</a> graduated with college credit in 2018, up from 39% in 2012. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pI7szcYAAAAJ&hl=en">higher education administrator</a> who has been involved with dual enrollment in Boston’s public schools, I know there is strong evidence that dual enrollment programs <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/EvidenceSnapshot/671">make it more likely</a> that students graduate from high school and earn a college degree. </p>
<h2>How dual enrollment works</h2>
<p>Dual enrollment programs may be known by different names, such as early college, concurrent enrollment, joint enrollment or dual credit programs. One study found the use of <a href="https://download.hlcommission.org/DualCreditinUSHigherEd_2013_INF.pdf">97 different terms</a> nationwide.</p>
<p>The courses are different from Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. While <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019430.pdf">AP and IB courses cover college-level material</a>, dual enrollment courses are college courses. </p>
<p>Students usually take these courses at their high schools, but they can also take them on a college campus, online or at another nearby high school. Some programs provide transportation to college campuses. The courses are offered in partnership with a college or university and taught by faculty from that college. Ideally, courses are offered during the standard high school day. </p>
<h2>Academic and financial benefits</h2>
<p>The North Carolina Career and College Promise dual enrollment program found that students in the program were <a href="https://www.dpi.nc.gov/cte-pathway/download?attachment">2% more likely to graduate</a> from high school and 9% more likely to enroll in college compared with similar students who did not take dual enrollment courses. </p>
<p>Dual enrollment programs also provide a practical way for students and their families to save time and money. Students are able to take college courses for free or at a discounted rate while still in high school instead of paying tuition for the classes during college. The programs often include books, materials and transportation. During the 2017-18 school year, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020125.pdf">78% of dual enrollment programs at public schools</a> received full or partial funding from the school, district or state. Additional funding came from families, students or some other entity such as foundations and donors. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://impactinged.pitt.edu/ojs/ImpactingEd/article/view/251/314">equity gaps exist</a> within dual enrollment programs. Recruitment efforts that do not target equity, a lack of qualified faculty, and certain <a href="https://www.sreb.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/dual_enrollmentcommonissues2021.pdf?1641412140">eligibility requirements</a> – such as minimum GPAs and standardized test scores – create barriers for some students. Even when dual enrollment programs are available at their high school, Black and Hispanic students <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019176.pdf">participate at lower rates</a> than their white and Asian classmates. In addition, students whose parents had earned at least a bachelor’s degree were much more likely to take these courses than students whose parents had not earned a high school diploma.</p>
<h2>Recruitment tool for colleges</h2>
<p>Many colleges have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2023/05/24/leveling-bottom">experienced declining enrollments as of late</a>, and some experts predict a looming <a href="https://wcet.wiche.edu/frontiers/2023/07/14/college-enrollment-cliffs-shifts-and-lifts/">“enrollment cliff”</a> that some schools won’t survive. Dual enrollment programs can benefit colleges by drawing more students to their campuses, where they often re-enroll after high school. </p>
<p>A recent study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2182059">60% of 18- and 19-year-old</a> college students took dual enrollment courses at their college while in high school. </p>
<p>For community colleges, high school students in dual enrollment programs now make up <a href="https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/easyblog/what-happened-to-community-college-enrollment-depends-students-age.html">close to 20%</a> of their enrollments. </p>
<p>The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers found in 2016 that 75% of colleges offering dual enrollment programs viewed them as an <a href="https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/dual-enrollment-in-the-context-of-strategic-enrollment-management.pdf">important form of recruitment</a>. </p>
<p>However, the increased likelihood that a student will enroll in the college where they took dual enrollment courses in high school has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09643-x">raised concerns about “undermatching</a>.” Undermatching is a phenomenon in which high school students don’t apply to a more selective college or university even though they have the ability. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09643-x">One study</a> found that when dual enrollment students stay at a two-year college where they are undermatched – instead of transferring to a more selective school – they are 33% less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>Still, dual enrollment programs have proven to be both successful and popular in states across the country. If current trends continue, and states <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sen-markey-rep-espaillat-announce-legislation-to-expand-dual-enrollment-early-college-programs">such as Massachusetts</a> continue to push for increased funding for dual enrollment, programs will continue to grow in high schools, on college campuses and online.</p>
<p>The hope is that growth in dual enrollment will lead to more students graduating from college and being able to get better jobs and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/accounting-for-the-widening-mortality-gap-between-american-adults-with-and-without-a-ba/">live longer, healthier lives</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary L. Churchill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More high school students are taking college courses while still in high school. But equity gaps exist, with Black and Hispanic students participating at lower rates.Mary L. Churchill, Associate Dean of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046662023-09-21T12:43:05Z2023-09-21T12:43:05ZEducators say student misconduct has increased − but progressive reforms or harsher punishments alone won’t fix the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547844/original/file-20230912-17-y3ixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only 13% of principals believe suspensions reduce misbehavior, according to a national survey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/schoolboy-sitting-on-chair-in-corridor-side-view-royalty-free-image/200411974-001">Ableimages/DigitalVision Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022-23 school year was a <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/">particularly violent year for educators</a>.</p>
<p>In Florida, a high school student <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/28/florida-high-school-nintendo-switch-attack/11363828002/">beat a paraprofessional unconscious</a>. A 15-year-old in Georgia <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/teen-girl-sentenced-one-year-behind-bars-brutal-attack-teacher">left her teacher with difficulty walking</a>. And a group of students in Texas <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/high-schoolers-allegedly-gang-assistant-principal-pummel-her-hard-rushed-hospital">sent their assistant principal to the hospital</a> after an assault.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/state/broward/14-year-old-student-accused-of-cutting-teacher-with-scissors-in-violent-attack-at-bright-horizons-center">headlines</a> suggest the 2023-24 school year may not be much different.</p>
<p>Such violence at school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">disrupts teaching and learning</a> and has elicited <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/28/23658974/school-discipline-violence-safety-state-law-suspensions-restorative-justice">calls to reform school discipline policies</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://education.ufl.edu/faculty/curran-f-chris/">policy researcher</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">studies school safety and discipline</a>, I have seen two camps form <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-biden-administrations-updated-school-discipline-guidelines-fail-to-meet-the-moment/">with polarized and politicized views on school discipline</a>. On the one side are those who seek more restorative responses to misconduct that emphasize building relationships with students and discipline policies that keep kids in school. On the other are calls for greater use of exclusionary and punitive practices like suspension. </p>
<p>In my view, making schools safe requires school leaders not to get caught up in this either/or debate. Instead, I believe it requires recognizing a shared goal of safe schools and the need for a comprehensive approach to achieving it.</p>
<h2>Behavior and the pandemic</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/6/23197094/student-fights-classroom-disruptions-suspensions-discipline-pandemic">Recent reports</a> suggest these high-profile incidents of violence in schools are part of a <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">general increase in student misconduct</a> over the past couple of years. This contrasts with a decline over the prior decades. </p>
<p>For example, the National Center for Education Statistics found that <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">84% of public school leaders felt</a> the pandemic negatively affected student behavior. Another survey found <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/threats-of-student-violence-and-misbehavior-are-rising-many-school-leaders-report/2022/01">two out of three teachers and leaders perceived more student misbehavior</a> in 2021 than in 2019. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/when-students-feel-unsafe-absenteeism-grows">students who feel unsafe going to school have worse attendance rates</a> than those attending schools with less violence and misbehavior. They also score <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573514540415">lower on standardized tests</a>, particularly when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">classroom instruction is disrupted</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, teachers who experience threats or physical violence from students <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1197327">are more likely to leave their positions</a>, according to a study I co-authored in 2017. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young person at rally holds sign that says 'End the school to prison and deportatation pipeline'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students in New York City attend a rally to end school discipline practices that they say disproportionately affect students of color.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-gather-for-a-rally-calling-on-the-passage-of-the-news-photo/1372383627">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Restorative justice experiences backlash</h2>
<p>Over the past couple of decades, <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/">states and school districts nationwide</a> have adopted school discipline reforms that prioritize relationships between peers and with teachers, positive incentives for good behavior and prevention of misconduct.</p>
<p>These policies, often implemented as part of <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-heck-restorative-justice-heather-wolpert-gawron/">restorative justice initiatives</a>, focus on building community and a positive school climate instead of removing kids from school.</p>
<p>But as school violence persists, these restorative justice reforms are being called into question.</p>
<p>In Nevada, teachers union representatives from the Clark County Education Association <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/finger-pointing-over-school-violence-targets-restorative-justice-law">sought to revise laws</a> to immediately remove students for violence against school staff. The state legislature there <a href="https://lasvegassun.com/news/2023/jun/25/legislative-changes-in-nevada-education-include-ne/">passed legislation</a> scaling back restorative justice and making it easier to suspend students. In San Diego, the <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-unified-looking-into-districts-discipline-policy/509-ec0b95c6-1290-4c3b-937d-938d1a42d4eb">superintendent promised</a> to revisit restorative discipline policies after parent complaints about student safety. Policy advocates have claimed discipline reform has <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/school-safety-commisson-report-discipline-policy">contributed to school shootings</a>.</p>
<p>While restorative practices and other positive interventions <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/96">can improve student outcomes</a>, prior research has found many of these less punitive disciplinary reforms to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435052">poorly implemented</a> or <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2840.html">less effective than hoped</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, this has meant <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2019/09/12/opinion-your-schools-leaders-putting-your-children-greater-risk/2267284001/">students have been allowed to stay in school</a> despite posing a threat to the safety of others. </p>
<h2>Suspensions and expulsions aren’t the solution</h2>
<p>The limitations of restorative practices have resulted in calls for a return to greater use of suspensions and other punitive discipline. In one of the most high-profile displays, a Florida sheriff <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/education/brevard-county-school-discipline-reportedly-out-of-control-officials-say-staff-under-attack/">announced in front of a jail</a> plans for a return to more punitive discipline, suggesting a need for more use of detentions and suspensions. He lamented that students were no longer afraid of suspensions or having “the cheeks of their a– torn off for not doing right in class.” </p>
<p>In some cases, removing students who are disruptive to the classroom has <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article/16/3/443/97124/Peer-Disruption-and-Learning-Links-between">had positive effects on other students’ achievement</a>. But exclusionary school discipline like suspension and expulsion can have their own <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">unintended consequences</a> on students. For example, suspensions are <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">related to lower academic test scores for those suspended</a> as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01459-3">increased delinquency</a>, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2016.1168475">criminal activity and arrest</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, schools suspend a disproportionately high number of kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">who aren’t white – particularly Black students</a>. In addition, males and students with disabilities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">more likely to be suspended</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there is little evidence that suspensions and expulsions improve behavior. In fact, a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2023/02/23/survey-what-purpose-do-suspensions-serve-principals-dont-seem-quite-sure/">recent national survey</a> found that only 13% of principals agreed that suspensions reduce future misbehavior.</p>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>Proponents of progressive discipline reform and those advocating for “get-tough,” exclusionary policies share a desire for safe schools. The sheriff speaking in front of the jail as well as his critics both want to prevent kids from ending up incarcerated. </p>
<p>How do policymakers and educators see past these divides to achieve safer schools?</p>
<p>First, it may help to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/SOL/pdfs/Programs/ADR/Handout2-9-25-17.pdf">effective school discipline policies</a> can include both restorative and exclusionary practices. It is true that there is a need to reduce the disproportionate use of suspension for minor offenses. But it is also true that students who pose an immediate danger to others may need to be temporarily removed to settings where they can receive additional support.</p>
<p>Next, schools can focus on strengthening their school climate through excellent instruction and <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/preventing-suspensions-tackle-discipline-problems-with-empathy-first/">positive relationships between students and teachers</a>. Welcoming schools where students are engaged in learning <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X17690499">may preempt many behavioral situations</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, policymakers can recognize that school safety is affected by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558499143003">experiences of students outside of school</a>. Addressing the trauma, violence and social disruptions experienced in homes and neighborhoods through broader public policy holds potential to improve safety inside schools. </p>
<p>All of this takes resources and support for schools, educators and students. I believe these are resources well spent, though, to achieve the shared goal of school safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Assistance to conduct research on school safety.</span></em></p>Debates about school discipline have become polarized between proponents of restorative justice and those who believe a get-tough approach is required.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104252023-09-13T18:40:20Z2023-09-13T18:40:20ZSolving Canada’s shortage of health professionals means training more of them, and patients have a key role in their education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547848/original/file-20230912-7671-ly0s9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=131%2C186%2C5013%2C3523&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fundamental component for training health-care professionals is interacting with patients and families.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/solving-canadas-shortage-of-health-professionals-means-training-more-of-them-and-patients-have-a-key-role-in-their-education" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/canadians-worried-about-the-state-of-provincial-health-systems-poll-1.6248713">Eighty-six per cent of Canadians</a> are worried about their health-care systems. Health-care professional organizations like the <a href="https://www.cma.ca/about-us/what-we-do/press-room/health-care-groups-call-premiers-make-canadas-collapsing-health-system-their-top-priority#:%7E:text=%22Canada%27s%20health%20care%20system%20is%20in%20crisis.%20While,only%20added%20fuel%20to%20an%20already%20raging%20fire.">Canadian Medical Association</a> and the <a href="https://www.casn.ca/2022/11/casn-releases-nurses-education-in-canada-statistics-report-2020-2021/">Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing</a> are sounding the alarm about the severe shortage of health-care providers. This shortage is contributing to Canada’s health-care crisis. </p>
<p>Canada urgently needs more trained health-care professionals. While they may not know it, everyone in Canada can play a key role in educating future health-care providers. </p>
<p>Each encounter that health-care students have with patients, families and communities helps them develop real-world understanding of the various needs of the diverse Canadian population.</p>
<h2>Canada’s shortage of health-care workers</h2>
<p>The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health’s March 2023 report titled <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/HESA/Reports/RP12260300/hesarp10/hesarp10-e.pdf">Addressing Canada’s Health Workforce Crisis</a> explored and substantiated this shortage of health-care professionals. This report primarily focused on physicians and nurses. Canada anticipates a shortfall of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2023/06/canada-is-addressing-current-and-emerging-labour-demands-in-health-care.html">78,000 physicians</a> by 2031, and <a href="https://www.canadian-nurse.com/blogs/cn-content/2023/04/17/solutions-to-tackle-nursing-shortage#:%7E:text=A%202019%20analysis%20predicted%20a,care%20(OECD%2C%202022).">117,600 nurses</a> by 2030. </p>
<p>Other professions are also sounding the alarm of practitioner shortages, including <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/HESA/Reports/RP12260300/hesarp10/hesarp10-e.pdf">dental professionals, medical laboratory specialists, occupational therapists</a> and <a href="https://www.longwoods.com/audio-video/longwoods-breakfast-series/Youtube/9588">pharmacists</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to these predictions, there are significant concerns about keeping the care providers we currently have. A 2022 report from the <a href="https://nursesunions.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CHWN-CFNU-Report_-Sustaining-Nursing-in-Canada2022_web.pdf">Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions</a> found that 94 per cent of nurse respondents showed signs of burnout, and over half wanted to leave their current job. Other health professions have raised similar concerns. </p>
<h2>Addressing the shortage</h2>
<p>There is no quick fix to these complex problems, and Canada is responding in a variety of ways. This includes recruiting <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2022/12/government-of-canada-launches-call-for-proposals-to-help-internationally-educated-professionals-work-in-canadian-healthcare.html">internationally trained</a> practitioners, funding strategies to improve <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2023/04/government-of-canada-announces-support-to-help-address-workforce-challenges-and-retention-in-nursing-field.html">retention</a> and increasing <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/provincial-budget-round-up-2023-highlights-for-the-university-sector/">educational seats</a> to train more future health-care providers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in scrubs shakes hands with a man using a wheelchair in front of two other people in scrubs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547868/original/file-20230912-5779-i19k0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each encounter that health-care students have with patients, families and communities helps them develop real-world understanding of the various needs of the diverse Canadian population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These responses are being created from <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2022/11/health-canada-announces-coalition-for-action-for-health-workers.html">federal</a>, provincial (such as <a href="https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20221114001">Nova Scotia</a>) and local levels. However, these strategies are not quick fixes and efforts may not be successful. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/financial-perks-doctor-recruitment-1.6548194">Retention efforts</a> have not been as effective as anticipated, as financial incentives do not appear to have the same influence they might have had in the past. International recruitment is fraught with <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ethics-of-recruiting-international-health-care-workers-canadas-gains-could-mean-another-countrys-pain-208542">ethical concerns</a> and complex processes applicants need to work through in order to become licensed to practice.</p>
<h2>Education investments</h2>
<p>Significant provincial investments are being announced to create more seats in education programs for health-care professional students. The <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/alberta-to-expand-seats-in-health-care-education-with-200-million-over-three-years">Alberta government</a> is investing $72 million for 3,400 new seats in a variety of health-related training programs and $20 million for the creation of 120 new physician seats. </p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9448757/additional-seats-saskatchewan-health-care-training-programs/">Saskatchewan</a> is adding 550 health-care provider education seats. <a href="https://news.umanitoba.ca/manitoba-government-announces-80-physician-training-seats-to-be-added/">Manitoba</a> announced an investment of $200 million for 2,000 health-care professionals, including 80 new physician seats and four <a href="https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=56297">respiratory therapy</a> students. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/provincial-budget-round-up-2023-highlights-for-the-university-sector/">Other provinces</a> are also investing in a variety of ways such as educational program grants to expand enrolment in Ontario, and student financial support in Prince Edward Island.</p>
<p>While increased training opportunities can increase the future workforce, having more students also requires additional resources and learning opportunities. Education for health-care professionals varies by the type of provider, and can range from certificate programs to graduate degrees. </p>
<h2>How Canadians can help</h2>
<p>We are a team of interdisciplinary researchers who teach health-care professionals in their foundational training. We know that despite significant differences in health-care education programs, one fundamental component for all learners is interacting with patients and families. </p>
<p>That means all Canadians play an essential part in educating future health-care providers. With more students enrolling, Canadians will have even more engagement with students in health-care settings.</p>
<p>Most health-care education programs include public interaction. Some public members purposefully engage. For example, some become guest speakers in classes, and share personal experiences with illness and health care. But more commonly, people engage with health-care professional students while looking after their health needs. </p>
<p>Canadians can anticipate interacting with students in common health-care spaces such as pharmacies, physiotherapy clinics, dental clinics, public health clinics, doctor’s offices, hospitals or outpatient clinics. But students may also be found in less expected places such as food banks, non-profit community organizations, schools and community settings. </p>
<p>Members of the public may feel less inclined to interact with students. This can be due to the perceived increased time it takes, worries about students’ knowledge or abilities, or because they might feel that they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2018.04.010">don’t have anything to contribute</a>. However, it is important for Canadians to know about the benefits of these interactions for both students and patients.</p>
<h2>What Canadians can teach health-care professional students</h2>
<p>Research has identified that student encounters with public patients and family members contributed to the development of their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10137-3">communication</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2019.1652731">compassion and empathy skills</a>. It also helped decrease stigma towards traditionally stigmatized groups and conditions, such as those with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12205">mental illness</a>. </p>
<p>Interacting with the Canadian public also increased students’ ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01858.x">use appropriate language</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2012.01955.x">work with patients</a>. It enhanced their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037217">self-confidence</a> and their motivation in caring for the public.</p>
<h2>How does this impact Canadians?</h2>
<p>While these interactions benefit student learning and will help contribute to a larger health workforce, they have also been found to benefit the public. </p>
<p>Research has found that student encounters can increase a patient’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12021">sense of empowerment</a> to participate in their own health with shared decision-making. Additionally, there is a potential for the improvement of overall <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10137-3">health outcomes</a> of patients. One study found patients were more knowledgeable and better able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2021.08.014">manage their own medications</a> after engaging with student practitioners.</p>
<p>The shortage of health professionals in Canada, and globally, is of sincere concern. To address this, it is essential that we increase the number of professionals being trained. This requires the Canadian public’s assistance as they encounter more health-care professional students. </p>
<p>Investing your time in interacting with students has benefits for the students and for you. Canadians can all play a part in building the future health workforce we desperately need. As health-care professionals, we thank you for the important role you play in educating and shaping our students and future health workforce. </p>
<p><em>Bryn Keogh co-authored this article. She is an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary in communication and media studies and received an Alberta Innovates Summer Research Studentship.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each encounter that health-care students have with patients and families helps them understand real-world patient needs. That means all Canadians have a role in educating future health-care providers.Lisa McKendrick Calder, Associate Professor, Nursing, MacEwan UniversityEleftheria Laios, Educational Developer, Queen's University, OntarioKerry Wilbur, Associate Professor and Executive Director, Entry-to-Practice Education, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British ColumbiaLorelli Nowell, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs, Faculty of Nursing, University of CalgaryWhitney Lucas Molitor, Associate Professor and Program Director, Occupational Therapy Department, University of South DakotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122222023-09-11T21:18:16Z2023-09-11T21:18:16ZStudent housing crisis: Municipal bylaws have created roadblocks for decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546592/original/file-20230906-21-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C468%2C5268%2C3008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers examined 15 Ontario municipalities with a major university campus, and found only one (Waterloo) had adopted plans designed to accommodate student housing near the campus. Student-oriented housing under construction in Waterloo, Ont., in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Evelyn Hofmann)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/student-housing-crisis-municipal-bylaws-have-created-roadblocks-for-decades" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>University and college students have become <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9939599/housing-for-international-students-canada/">a flashpoint in</a> Canada’s national housing crisis. </p>
<p>The federal government <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-international-students-study-permits">is considering a limit on international study permits</a>, something <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9925737/international-students-canada-universities/#">opposed by Universities Canada</a> and scholars and advocates concerned <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marc-miller-international-students-stigmatization-1.6959645">about scapegoating international students for the housing shortage</a>. </p>
<p>Ontario’s Big City Mayors’ caucus <a href="https://www.ontariobigcitymayors.ca/the-place-centre-releases-housing-report-in-collaboration-with-ontarios-big-city-mayors-obcm/">has identified</a> the lack of on-campus student housing as a primary driver of housing shortages. Across the country, <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/i-m-unable-to-find-anything-waterloo-region-students-struggle-to-secure-housing-as-fall-semester-inches-closer-1.6528269">frustrated students</a> fail to find housing, or are <a href="https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/belleville-probes-student-overcrowding-in-homes-by-unethical-owners">forced into dangerous overcrowded situations</a>. Nova Scotia may release the country’s first <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/with-a-month-until-school-starts-still-no-sign-of-nova-scotia-s-student-housing-strategy-1.6924031">student-specific housing strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Recent stories have identified issues like <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-costly-housing-market-leaves-international-students-open-to-exploitation-204242">ongoing discrimination</a> against international students in the housing market and a less space-efficient <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-old-shared-dorms-are-better-than-new-private-student-residences-207567">design trend</a> of more individualized student housing units.
We’ve also seen discussion about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-colleges-want-to-enrol-more-students-but-where-are-they-supposed-to-live-195624">expanding role of large private investors</a> in student housing who lack institutions’ capabilities to respond to students facing financial difficulties.</p>
<p>Students in Canada and their communities urgently need solutions. Amid <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-government-should-look-at-cap-on-student-visas-housing/">finger-pointing at the federal government</a>, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-international-students-ontario-colleges-enrolment/">individual institutions</a> and <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ontario-international-students-post-secondary-funding">the provinces</a>, which fund higher education and set development standards, municipal governments have been largely absent from the discussion. </p>
<p>Yet municipal planning has been hostile to student housing for decades. When this history is coupled with abysmal levels of on-campus housing construction since the 1990s and <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/3710001801-eng">a doubling of enrolments since 2000</a>, the current crisis seems inevitable.</p>
<h2>Restricting where students can live</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2022.2093939">Our recent study</a> examined 15 Ontario municipalities with a major university campus. We identified four types of regulatory strategies used to control student housing through zoning. </p>
<p>While some municipalities pay students little mind, the most popular approaches are based on attempting to restrict where students can live, or diverting student housing to locations along transportation corridors. These are often on former commercial or industrial sites. </p>
<p>Of the 15 municipalities surveyed, only Waterloo had adopted plans designed to accommodate student housing near campuses.</p>
<h2>History of student housing regulation</h2>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-university-and-the-city-9780195067750?cc=ca&lang=en&">As long as universities have existed</a>, there have been conflicts between students and other residents. </p>
<p>Generally, these conflicts have centred on disturbances such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1068/a396">boisterous partying</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12279">vandalism</a> blamed on students. </p>
<p>Accordingly, municipal policies have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098011419237">sought to regulate</a> student housing to control these perceived issues, overlooking the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02697450600901541">positive social</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02690942211051879">economic contributions</a> students make to their communities.</p>
<p>In Ontario, for instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2018.1552565">municipalities adopted bylaws</a> capping the number of unrelated persons who could live together in a housing unit. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2022.2093939">our study</a>, we also found many municipalities restricted the conversion of existing housing to rental use. They also limited the development of basement suites or laneway houses in near-campus neighbourhoods. </p>
<h2>Explosive student demand</h2>
<p>These policies became especially popular in the 2000s. During this time, the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ720724">province’s “double cohort”</a> in 2003, and <a href="https://heqco.ca/pub/redefining-access-to-postsecondary-education/">subsequent 2005 policy</a> of increasing enrolment by 100,000 spaces, generated explosive student demand in the private rental market. This happened without corresponding funding for new on-campus housing. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-colleges-want-to-enrol-more-students-but-where-are-they-supposed-to-live-195624">Universities and colleges want to enrol more students. But where are they supposed to live?</a>
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<p>These actions attempted to circumvent the <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1979/1979canlii36/1979canlii36.html">Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Bell v. R</a>, which saw the Court rule municipalities could not regulate who could live together in a residence based on their relationship to each other. In addition, Section 35(2) of Ontario’s Planning Act prevents municipalities from “people-zoning,” or dictating who can live where and with whom. </p>
<p>The Ontario Human Rights Commission <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/comment-ontario-human-rights-commission-city-oshawas-student-accommodation-strategy#fnB2">issued an unprecedented comment on the City of Oshawa’s Student Accommodation Strategy in 2010</a>, noting students were a protected class of persons <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code">under the province’s Human Rights Code</a>.</p>
<p>In the years following, many of these overtly discriminatory bylaws were struck down.</p>
<h2>Student housing regulation today</h2>
<p>Bans on “people-zoning” have not prevented cities from adopting more covert methods to restrict where students can live. Heritage conservation districts and low-density zoning that prohibits apartments are frequently found near major campuses. </p>
<p>While there may be good reasons to preserve built heritage, limiting the conversion or redevelopment of housing without provisions to house growing student populations leaves them few options.</p>
<p>Ottawa’s <a href="https://ottawa.ca/en/planning-development-and-construction/official-plan-and-master-plans/official-plan">most recent official plan</a> identifies the Sandy Hill neighbourhood adjacent to the University of Ottawa as “an attractive residential neighbourhood, especially for family living.” </p>
<h2>Little space for students</h2>
<p>Even the award-winning <a href="https://london.ca/government/council-civic-administration/master-plans-strategies/london-plan-official-plan">official plan for London, Ont.,</a> includes the Near-Campus Neighbourhood Planning Area policy in place around Western University and Fanshawe College that aims to prevent “undesirable changes in the character” of surrounding neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>There is, in other words, precious little space for students in the official visions for these neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>Some cities have sought to enable the development of near-campus housing for students and other residents alike. However, while the municipality of Waterloo and Niagara Region seem to be leading the way in construction of new student-oriented housing, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19884577">dominant role of private investors in these projects</a> still creates challenges for the affordability and flexibility needed to meet student housing demand. </p>
<h2>The path forward</h2>
<p>While municipal bylaws are certainly not the only culprit in the contemporary student housing crisis, local governments have far too often been let off the hook for approaches that discreetly limit where students may live. </p>
<p>Certainly, post-secondary institutions need to step up in providing affordable, accessible housing for students, and provincial funding formulas must contribute per-student allocations for the construction and maintenance of on-campus residence buildings. </p>
<p>The federal government, keen to attract international students, could also take some responsibility for the housing demand created by this policy. But municipal plans must also recognize students as valued members of the community who, like anyone else, need a place to live.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Wray is President of the Town and Gown Association of Ontario and on the Board of Directors for the International Town and Gown Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Revington receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et Culture. </span></em></p>Local governments have far too often been let off the hook for approaches that discreetly limit where students may live.Alexander Wray, PhD Candidate in Geography, Western UniversityNick Revington, Professeur de logement et dynamiques urbaines, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.