Jess Whitley, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and Beth Saggers, Queensland University of Technology
Punishing attendance problems fails to address the issues facing students, from family responsibilities to barriers related to racism or inadequate support for disabilities.
According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, far-right groups have been trying to stack school boards with candidates harbouring anti-equity ideologies.
Nationalist myth has associated ‘true Mexicanness’ with being ‘meztizo’ — a racial and cultural mix of Indigenous and Spaniard, even while the state enacted policies to assimilate Indigenous Peoples.
Accountability measures matter for addressing the urgent problem of anti-Black racism. A new Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement at the Toronto District School Board is taking action.
When teachers use memories to examine how schools unequally affect children’s life choices and chances on the basis of social identity, they’re able to imagine more equitable education.
An 1850 act permitted the creation of separate schools for Protestants, Catholics and for any five Black families. Some white people used the act to force Black students into separate institutions.
A study in one Alberta school board found racism contributes to poor attendance of on-reserve Indigenous students in public schools, despite educators not recognizing this as a barrier.
Waterloo Region District School Board’s suspension of the Student Resource Officer program is one step toward ending racism in schools but much more still needs to be done.
Québec’s schools operate in a model of inter-culturalism, while schools across Canada are shaped by the vision of multiculturalism. Neither approach critically addresses racism.
For high school students, e-learning is best introduced in face-to-face classes where teachers can meet a greater range of learning needs – not as a completely online experience.
Québec schools must consider Bill 21’s potential impact on students. Bullying researchers have found links between publicly permitted behaviour and personal expression.
In examining and addressing opportunity gaps for racialized students in schools, school boards must learn to account for present-day and historical inequities.