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.
School trustees play an important role in shaping education, yet during election time voters often have little awareness of trustee candidates.
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According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, far-right groups have been trying to stack school boards with candidates harbouring anti-equity ideologies.
What might schools’ pandemic responses have looked like if principals had been provided with the resources and decision-making abilities they need to serve their communities?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Ensuring that every Black youth sees Back teachers at school is one critical piece of addressing systemic racism in schools.
‘Racism kills, here, there and in the whole world,’ reads a sign in Mexico City, at the U.S. Embassy in May 2020, following protests after George Floyd’s murder.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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.
Until Black children and youth feel accepted, respected and protected, our work is not done.
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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.
One parent of a child with physical disabilities said their child preferred online learning because ‘his physical disabilities aren’t a barrier to inclusion … ’
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Traditional learning formats often fail marginalized students. We should be skeptical of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ or even ‘one-size-fits-most’ model.
The contradictory responses to the recent attack of a Black teenager in an Edmonton school demonstrate the urgent need for more equitable practices in schools.
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The recent attack on a Black teenager in an Edmonton school demonstrates that much more needs to be done to address racism in public institutions.
How teachers recall their childhoods carries important clues about how likely they are to name and challenge inequities in schools today.
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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.
Ending racism in schools requires a deep understanding of anti-Black racism.
(Wayne Lee Sing/Unsplash)
Although school boards have yet to find a systemic way to combat anti-Black racism, educators are in a unique position to correct these injustices.
Students of School Section #13 with teacher, Verlyn Ladd, who taught at the school from 1939 to 1958. Class of 1951, Buxton, Raleigh Township, Ontario.
(Buxton National Historic Site & Museum)
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.
Rocks painted with the message “every child matters,” commemorate Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30, about creating meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and their legacy.
(Province of British Columbia/Flickr)
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.
2020 presents opportunties to work together to create schooling that betters our lives and communities.
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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.
Organizers sing at a demonstration to denounce racism and police violence, June 7, 2020, in front of the legislature in Québec City.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
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.
Countering extremist anti-immigrant and racist attitudes and recruiting in Manitoba requires new approaches. Here, on the right, Hazel Ismail, with No One Is Illegal, calls for Winnipeg to become a sanctuary city, Feb. 3, 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Manitoba faces pressing facing demands for new ways of forming relationships with young people to counter hate.
If Ontario rolls out mandatory high school e-learning with no in-person class hours, each student will lose 440 hours of face-to-face class time.
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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.
Members of the National Council of Canadian Muslims Mustafa Farooq, left, and Bochra Manaï, right, speak during a news conference in Montréal, June 17, 2019, where plans were outlined to lawfully challenge Québec’s Bill 21.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Québec schools must consider Bill 21’s potential impact on students. Bullying researchers have found links between publicly permitted behaviour and personal expression.
Toronto school board data reveals that Black, racialized and lower-income students face significant gaps in student outcomes.
Nik Shuliahin /Unsplash
In examining and addressing opportunity gaps for racialized students in schools, school boards must learn to account for present-day and historical inequities.