tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/toronto-district-school-board-66025/articlesToronto District School Board – The Conversation2024-02-20T21:06:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234352024-02-20T21:06:52Z2024-02-20T21:06:52ZHow high school ‘university’ courses matter for all post-secondary access — more than the name implies<p>Many high school students are now choosing their courses for the coming year.</p>
<p>The choices students make in grades 10 and 11 will have a significant impact on their lives after graduation. But students, families — and even educators — have little information about the outcomes associated with different course types.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.yorku.ca/edu/jean-augustine-chair/publications/pse-access-report">Our research</a> drew on data from 10 cohorts of Toronto District School Board students to track their progress for five years from the start of Grade 9.</p>
<p>We found a strong association between students completing at least one Grade 12 “U” (university) course by the end of high school and applying for <em>any</em> post-secondary education (not only university, but also college). We also found differences across race and disability in terms of which students are taking “U” courses and which aren’t.</p>
<p>These findings are especially important for students, families and guidance counsellors at this time of year as youth are choosing courses.</p>
<h2>Post-secondary education matters</h2>
<p>Officially, in our K-12 education system, success is defined as simply having a high school diploma. </p>
<p>This limited definition is despite overwhelming evidence suggesting those who proceed to post-secondary education <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00306-7/fulltext">live longer</a> and <a href="https://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cphorsphc-respcacsp/2008/fr-rc/pdf/CPHO-Report-e.pdf">healthier</a> lives. </p>
<p>They also <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016024/98-200-x2016024-eng.cfm">earn more</a>, are more <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2015001/article/14232-eng.htm">civically engaged</a> and are more likely to report that they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904118770818">flourishing</a> — surely, outcomes we all care about.</p>
<p>But as our report details, the Ministry of Education characterizes students’ post-secondary goals as “personal” and their <a href="https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/cps/creatingpathwayssuccess.pdf">post-secondary pathways as</a> individual choices.</p>
<p>This individualistic framing negates the significant group-based inequities in post-secondary education access among high school graduates.</p>
<h2>Group-based differences in access</h2>
<p>Our study, <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/edu/jean-augustine-chair/publications/pse-access-report/"><em>I Have All My Credits, Now What?</em></a> examined data from 156,580 students. The students started Grade 9 between 2006-15.</p>
<p>We found that the difference between the percentage of East Asian students going to post-secondary study (86 per cent) and the percentage of Latin American students going (50 per cent) was almost 36 per cent. This difference far exceeds the 19 per cent gap in graduation rates between the same groups. </p>
<p>Similarly, relatively few students who self-identify as Black or Mixed when asked about their race go on to post-secondary education (55 and 61 per cent, respectively). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ending-streaming-is-only-the-first-step-to-dismantling-systemic-racism-in-ontario-schools-142617">Ending ‘streaming’ is only the first step to dismantling systemic racism in Ontario schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Group-based differences are even greater for students with disabilities, measured by formal or informal identification through special education.</p>
<p>The patterns in this data needs to be understood not as merely reflecting individual “choices.” Instead, the focus on group-based differences in who accesses post-secondary should be understood as disparities in access. These access disparities raise questions about the system itself.</p>
<p>A key factor driving divergent post-secondary outcomes are the type of academic courses (English, math, science, geography, history, and so on) in which students enroll. </p>
<h2>Significance of Grade 12 ‘U’ courses</h2>
<p>In the next weeks, the vast majority of students will choose between either University (“U”) and College (“C”) courses in grades 11 and 12.</p>
<p>In theory, both types of courses leave the doors open for post-secondary access. </p>
<p>But most people are unaware of data showing that all university-bound students, and two-thirds of college-bound students, complete at least one Grade 12 “U” course by the end of high school. </p>
<p>Our study found that among the quarter of graduates with no Grade 12 “U” courses, 71 per cent did not apply to post-secondary education at all. Only 23 per cent made the transition to college.</p>
<p>We also showed that U-level English and math courses are particularly important “gatekeeping” courses. Students from groups who are less likely to go on to post-secondary education are less likely to take the “U” courses that expand opportunities.</p>
<h2>Preventable systemic discrimination</h2>
<p>These discrepancies point to preventable <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/iii-principles-and-concepts/2-what-discrimination">systemic discrimination</a> —especially because group-based differences in “U” course enrollment persist after we control for achievement.</p>
<p>Let’s take the example of disabled students: Among non-disabled students, virtually every student who got all As in their academic subjects in Grade 9 enrolled in Grade 12 U-level English (99.6 per cent). </p>
<p>But among the students with disability who had the same marks, only 80 per cent took the course that is so important for accessing post-secondary education.</p>
<p>For students with fairly high (they obtained one to three As in Grade 9) or medium achievement the differences are even greater. A large majority of non-disabled students who got all their credits but no As in Grade 9 enrolled in Grade 12 U-level English (83 per cent). Among disabled students with comparable marks, only 46 per cent took the gateway course.</p>
<h2>Key life decisions</h2>
<p>It is critical that students and families making key life decisions know about the very uneven long-term outcomes of choosing between these misleadingly labelled “U” and “C” upper-year courses: As our research showed, “U” courses are in fact not only critical for pathways to university, they are also associated with pathways to college. We need to see systemic change to disrupt these patterns.</p>
<p>Our research suggests that the premise underpinning the provincial government’s “many pathways to success” is flawed. </p>
<p>Even with the dearth of <a href="https://news.yorku.ca/files/Feasibility-Study-Unlocking-Student-Potential-through-Data-FINAL-REPORT-Feb-2017.pdf">public reporting</a> on post-secondary education and equity outcomes, there are clear — but poorly understood — disparities. </p>
<p>And these differences create pathways to lifetime inequalities in health, earnings and happiness for marginalized youth — and a less inclusive and prosperous society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Gallagher-Mackay receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, and the Chiefs of Ontario.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Parekh receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl E. James, Christine Corso, and Robert S. Brown 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>All students who apply to university need ‘U’ courses, but Toronto-area research reveals few students with zero Grade 12 ‘U’ courses apply for any post-secondary education at all.Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, Assistant Professor of Law and Society, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityCarl E. James, Professor, Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, York University, CanadaChristine Corso, PhD Candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy, University of TorontoGillian Parekh, Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Inclusion, Disability and Education, York University, CanadaRobert S. Brown, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Education and in Critical Disability Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132962023-09-28T21:20:31Z2023-09-28T21:20:31ZIndigenous-authored novels: 5 great contemporary reads for young adults<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/indigenous-authored-novels-5-great-contemporary-reads-for-young-adults" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/behind-first-voices-tdsbs-mandatory-course-on-indigenous-studies-an-interview-with-student-trustee-isaiah-shafqat/#">The Toronto District School Board</a> recently pledged to replace <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Home/ctl/Details/mid/42863/itemId/66">Grade 11 English courses</a> in all <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-indigenous-course-credit-1.6734437">110 of its secondary schools with the now-mandatory First Voices course</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/grade-11-english-course-with-focus-on-indigenous-voices-to-become-mandatory-in-london-region-1.6854926">First Voices</a> is a Grade 11 English course that replaces works by authors like Shakespeare <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-goodbye-great-gatsby-hello-rita-joe-thunder-bays-schools-bring/">and Fitzgerald</a> with texts authored by Indigenous writers like Cherie Dimaline and Richard Wagamese. </p>
<p>Since Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report in 2015, schools across the country have been advancing curricula <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">to align with calls for reconciliation education</a>. </p>
<p>Over the summer, our Indigenous literatures lab, led by Haudenosaunee scholar Jennifer Brant at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, examined contemporary Indigenous-authored young adult texts that are well-suited for the First Voices course. </p>
<h2>Importance of Indigenous perspectives</h2>
<p>With the replacement of long-read literature comes the task of selecting texts that centre Indigenous resurgence and what Indigenous <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803210837/">literary scholar Gerald Vizenor refers to as survivance</a>. Survivance encompasses an active sense of presence, merging both survival and resistance.</p>
<p>We hope to see the stories in classrooms across the country that centre Indigenous community narratives from the voices of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Such stories may not always be happy or gentle, but they tell truths of Indigenous presence and visions for empowered futures. </p>
<h2>Upholding responsibilities</h2>
<p>As Cherokee author and scholar Daniel Heath Justice writes, good stories are needed that give “<a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/W/Why-Indigenous-Literatures-Matter">shape, substance and purpose” to Indigenous Peoples’ existences</a> and shed light on how to uphold responsibilities to one another and to creation. </p>
<p>These stand in contrast to stories Justice discusses as “bad medicine,” stories often imposed from the outside, from the perspective of the colonizer. These stories are noxious and can poison both the speaker and the listener as they often perpetuate deficiency narratives about Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<p>This analysis speaks to the definitive need for Indigenous-authored texts in the First Voices course, and also for educators to pay attention to how these books are taught.</p>
<p>As interdisciplinary researcher Jennifer Hardwick suggests, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/topia.33.99">decolonizing narratives can be misread as colonial if readers do not have the knowledge-base to engage with them</a> … It is not enough to introduce Canadians to decolonizing narratives; decolonization needs to begin with a process of unlearning and re-learning.” </p>
<h2>Engaging with books</h2>
<p>Métis professor Aubrey Jean Hanson proposes a framework of resurgence and explains that this process <a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/L/Literatures-Communities-and-Learning3">relies on the willingness of non-Indigenous students and staff to engage substantially with Indigenous literary texts</a>.</p>
<p>We encourage educators to take a strength-based perspective when discussing Indigenous literature, and also to take an anti-racist approach. Anti-racist approaches acknowledge varied experiences of racism, and would help <a href="https://theconversation.com/acting-out-theatre-class-where-students-rehearse-for-change-108396">students think critically about their own lives</a> in relationship to these books.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-shouldnt-be-afraid-of-critical-race-theory-podcast-183973">Why you shouldn't be afraid of critical race theory — Podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Books featured here are highly acclaimed, and show narratives of Indigenous resurgence. All except one are recently published.</p>
<p>The Indigenous literatures lab will continue to review new literary material to support educators as they learn to engage with Indigenous-authored texts in ethical and relational ways. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman in a black dress with foliage patterning against a blue background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550752/original/file-20230927-25-2hsi10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Break’ by Katherena Vermette.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(House of Anansi)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-break"><strong><em>The Break</em></strong> (2016), Katherena Vermette’s debut novel</a>, is the winner of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/katherena-vermette-wins-40k-amazon-ca-first-novel-award-for-the-break-1.4139287#">the Amazon.ca First Novel Award</a>, the <a href="https://www.writerstrust.com/authors/katherena-vermette/">Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award</a>, and was a finalist for other <a href="https://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists">prestigious awards</a>.</p>
<p>It is a story about a Métis-Anishinaabe teen and her family who are drastically impacted by a violent crime in Winnipeg. As investigations uncover many unknowns, readers get meaningful insights into the realities of various characters whose lives are intricately woven together. </p>
<p>The book delves into themes of family, strength, womanhood, love and the power of generational resiliency. This novel provides a snapshot of the experiences faced regularly by Indigenous women and girls in Canada — and how systems (like policing and justice systems) often fail to protect them. Vermette’s rich and complex storytelling enthralls the reader, making this book a must-read.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A floral beading pattern seen against birchbark." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550753/original/file-20230927-25-oq4inq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Strangers’ by Katherena Vermette.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House Canada)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/624145/the-strangers-by-katherena-vermette/9780735239630#"><strong><em>The Strangers</em></strong> (2021), by Katherena Vermette</a> is a <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Strangers-Katherena-Vermette/dp/0735239630#">No. 1 National Bestseller</a>, and winner of numerous awards, including the <a href="https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/blogs/strangers-wins-atwood-gibson-wt-fiction-prize-and-other-winners">Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Prize for Fiction</a>. </p>
<p>Vermette is a Red River Métis (Michif) author from Treaty 1 territory. <em>The Strangers</em> is a sequel to <em>The Break</em>, but can also be read as a stand-alone novel. It explores the ways government systems (child welfare, health care, education and social services) are failing Indigenous Peoples, while at the same time expecting Indigenous Peoples to fail. </p>
<p>Vermette powerfully weaves the stories of four strong women to tell an inter-generational story about rage, trauma, memory, hope and the power of family as an anchor to home.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman in a yellow shirt with face turned up against a blue background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550754/original/file-20230927-27-3fon7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Summer of Bitter and Sweet’ by Jen Ferguson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Heartdrum/HarperCollinsCanada)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780063086166/the-summer-of-bitter-and-sweet/"><strong><em>The Summer of Bitter and Sweet</em></strong> (2022) by Jen Ferguson</a></p>
<p>Ferguson’s debut novel follows the narrative of a Métis girl, Lou, as she works at her family’s ice cream shop the summer before she starts university. Set in the Canadian Prairies, readers witness the complexities of growing up as a mixed-race teen in a part of the world where anti-Indigenous racism is prevalent. </p>
<p>Lou is forced to navigate this reality all while overcoming intergenerational trauma, mending broken relationships and discovering her own sexuality. Lou often relies on anger and secrets as a means of survival, but by exploring her identity, gaining a better understanding of her family’s strengths and their determination, she comes to understand what it means to be proud of who she is, where she comes from and the opportunities that await. </p>
<p>It is no surprise this book won the <a href="https://ggbooks.ca/#young-peoples-literature-text">2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature</a>!</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Two faces seen in profile with a butterfly motif." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550755/original/file-20230927-23-znesi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’ by Angeline Boulley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Henry Holt and Co./MacMillan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250766571/firekeepersdaughter"><strong><em>Firekeeper’s Daughter</em></strong> (2021) by Angeline Boulley</a> is <a href="https://angelineboulley.com/">a <em>New York Times</em> bestseller</a>, winner of the <a href="https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/01/firekeeper-s-daughter-wins-2022-printz-award#">Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature</a> and <a href="https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/01/firekeeper-s-daughter-wins-2022-william-c-morris-award#">other significant</a> <a href="https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/01/aila-announces-2022-american-indian-youth-literature-awards">honours</a>.</p>
<p>This action-packed novel takes readers on a thrilling journey of an FBI investigation. The protagonist, Daunis, must use knowledge of her Ojibwe culture and identity to solve a mystery and murder in her town, while navigating high school, love and friendship, family and kinship, and hockey. </p>
<p><em>Firekeeper’s Daughter</em> is a great introduction to Indigenous ways of knowing, while addressing negative narratives that exist. This novel will keep readers on their toes.</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://canadianscholars.ca/book/ravensong-a-novel-03eb2330-04fc-4364-b05a-e2508aeb5660/"><strong><em>Ravensong</em></strong> (1993) by Sto:lo writer and award-winning author Lee Maracle</a> is set in a 1950s Pacific northwest coast community that borders a settler community referred to as white town. The protagonist, 17-year-old Stacey, walks into white town daily to attend high school as one of the only Indigenous students in a world defined by significantly different rules and roles than the ones she knows.</p>
<p>It is a coming-of-age story. The book calls upon readers to see the world through the eyes of Stacey, who witnesses the injustices faced by Indigenous communities — along with the dehumanization of women in white town whose world is governed by a patriarchal worldview. </p>
<p>This story reflects on racialized, sexualized, and gender-based violence and how the power and beauty of Indigenous matrilineal laws can provide contemporary solutions to the many ills we face. Maracle recalls matrilineal traditions as a path for imagining a future in which we all thrive. </p>
<p>Maracle followed <em>Ravensong</em> with <em>Celia’s Song</em>, a finalist in the 2020 <a href="https://www.cormorantbooks.com/celias-song">Neustadt International Prize for Literature</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Brant receives funding from SSHRC and the Spencer Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erenna Morrison, Gayatri Thakor, and Meagan Hamilton 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>Researchers from an Indigenous literatures lab examine texts that are well-suited for a new Grade 11 course, First Voices.Jennifer Brant, Assistant Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoErenna Morrison, PhD Candidate, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoGayatri Thakor, PhD Student, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoMeagan Hamilton, PhD Candidate, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108492023-09-05T16:30:54Z2023-09-05T16:30:54ZVoices of Black youth remind adults in schools to listen — and act to empower them<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/voices-of-black-youth-remind-adults-in-schools-to-listen-and-act-to-empower-them" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The idea of inviting students into classroom conversations that teach them to define and express their concerns, ideas and opinions takes inspiration from the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)</a>. </p>
<p>The right to be heard is the general principle, and Article 12 of the UNCRC provides for children’s involvement in decision-making that affects their lives. It includes the right for children to express their views. </p>
<p>Many educators are increasingly concerned with the representation of <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/articles/why-student-voice-matters/">student voices</a> in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. <a href="https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/cultivating-a-pedagogy-of-student-voice">In the words of educator Shane Safir:</a> “Educators should view students not as empty vessels for the transfer of information but as knowledge builders in their own right. We need to share influence in the classroom rather than hoard it.”</p>
<p>But this concern is not necessarily adopted by all teachers. Creating dialogue among educators and students, especially Black Canadian youth, regularly proves problematic <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/canadian-education-is-steeped-in-anti-black-racism/">because of the history of their negative schooling experiences</a>.</p>
<p>As an education researcher who examines schooling experiences of Black Canadian youth and their families, I have worked alongside Black high school students in grades 10-12 to engage youth voices at the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/CEBSA/Black-Student-Summer-Leadership-Program">Black Student Summer Leadership Program</a>. This is offered through the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/CEBSA">Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement</a> at the Toronto District School Board.</p>
<p><a href="https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/why-ypar">Youth Participatory Action Research</a> involves youth participating in their communities and in their own education to research issues that affect their lives. It also necessarily implies action on the part of receptive and understanding adults, willing and poised to help bring about changes youth need to see.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692188559703265522"}"></div></p>
<h2>Struggles in and for ‘voice’</h2>
<p>One of the greatest struggles to allow for “voice” is the role of adults in these interactions and the hierarchical nature of schools. Paying attention to student voice involves changing fundamental values, norms and institutional practices, which means teachers need to be open to this shift.</p>
<p>The term youth voice has gained credibility since the early 1990s. Scholars and education researchers challenged school staff to stop seeing <a href="https://jyd.pitt.edu/ojs/jyd/article/view/244/230">youth as passive recipients of an education</a>. “Youth voice” describes the many ways youth might have opportunities to have a voice and active participation in decisions shaping their lives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-i-could-change-one-thing-in-education-community-school-partnerships-would-be-top-priority-188189">If I could change one thing in education: Community-school partnerships would be top priority</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Positioning Black students as learners and collaborators will require a shift in educators’ attitude towards them. That is, changing perceptions that see them as a threat. </p>
<p>Educators need to acknowledge <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-curb-anti-black-racism-in-canadian-schools-150489">stereotypical perceptions of Black people and communities that often inform how schools and teachers interpret Black students’ behaviours</a>, and get to know Black students <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-top-scholar-students-really-so-remarkable-or-are-teachers-inflating-their-grades-191035">beyond their academic</a> or <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=cie-eci">extra-curricular achievements</a>.</p>
<h2>Black youth’s whole selves</h2>
<p>If schools desire genuine opportunities for students to be heard, educators must see Black youth as their whole selves. Teachers who view the validity in sharing power in classrooms will actively seek Black students’ input. This must be done outside of the formalized structure of student councils or associations where students are elected to represent student communities. </p>
<p>Change is needed in the way Black students’ voices are positioned in education, bearing in mind:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Black youth are not voiceless. They should be able to inform decisions. To include students’ input in the decision-making process fosters their growth and development. </p></li>
<li><p>There are many ways youth exercise their voices among their peers. For Black youth to negotiate education spaces safely, they often choose how to amplify their voices, including what to say, when to speak up and who to address.</p></li>
<li><p>Educators must remember they (we) are not granting Black students the ability to speak. Rather, we must strive to create classroom and school environments where Black students’ voices and ideas are welcomed and respected.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A youth in front of a bookshelf wearing overalls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545408/original/file-20230829-15-2x840h.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">Educators must see Black youth as their whole selves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/fQBVH6DBtD8">(Mike Von)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Youth Participatory Action Research</h2>
<p>When Black students work in an environment where they feel safe to express their concerns, this creates avenues for them to build transferable skills (like writing, community activism, research, public speaking and so on).</p>
<p>The TDSB’s Black Student Summer Leadership Program was originally created in 2019 through a partnership with the Jean Augustine Chair at York University, with graduation coaches for Black students at the helm. Since then it has evolved with the support of other departments at the board. Black students involved in this program <a href="https://tvo.me/tvo-media-education-group-welcomes-15-toronto-students-in-this-years-black-student-summer-leadership-program/">gain leadership opportunities</a> and positive relationships with adults and their peers while participating in research.</p>
<p>Participatory action research has been associated with revolutionary educational projects. It’s inspired by the work of education scholar Paulo Freire who wrote about <a href="https://freechild.org/2018/06/21/youth-and-popular-education/">popular education as a way of raising people’s consciousness and empowerment</a>. </p>
<h2>Youth as co-researchers</h2>
<p>The principle of Youth Participatory Action Research includes adults sharing the space with youth as co-researchers, sharing ownership in decision-making and supporting and empowering youth as agents of change. It is inquiry based. Topics chosen by students are grounded in their lived experiences either in school and community. </p>
<p>Together, or individually, Black students have learned how to engage in participatory action research using an <a href="https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1864&context=tqr">Afrocentric research paradigm</a>. For research to be relevant to Black students in the summer program, they learn to use methods and choice of presentation tools that embodies their creativity, skills, lived experiences <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-intersectionality-all-of-who-i-am-105639">and intersecting identities</a>.</p>
<p>Black students learn how to become submerged in their own research, rather than experiencing themselves as the object of others’ research.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692571900633817576"}"></div></p>
<h2>What shapes education</h2>
<p>Youth Participatory Action Research provides Black students with opportunities to discuss what shapes their education. In the summer program, Black students present research projects to education stakeholders. </p>
<p>Their findings include sharing practical solutions based on their experiences negotiating things such as: anti-Black racism, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/black-canadians-school-curriculum-1.5706510">lack of representation in curriculum</a>, <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/articles/colour-of-wellbeing/">mental health and well-being</a>, student-teacher interactions and relationships, <a href="https://cetl.udmercy.edu/preventing-linguistic-racism-and-discrimination/">linguistic</a> or <a href="https://mjlh.mcgill.ca/2022/09/08/afro-hair-and-the-law-the-state-of-american-and-canadian-law-on-race-based-hair-discrimination/">hair discrimination</a> and newcomer experiences. </p>
<p>Among their recommendations are carefully outlined considerations for school improvement efforts. For example, students have called for providing ongoing professional development training for teachers and school staff that is culturally relevant and responsive to Black students’ well-being and needs. Some research has highlighted the need for more accountability from staff, based on examining policies to protect their rights as students so they may be successful.</p>
<p>In order for change to be implemented, key decision makers need to be willing to engage youth and to act. Authentically empowering student voice requires that educators listen, validate youth knowledge and experience, and respond. </p>
<h2>A promising approach</h2>
<p>Youth Participatory Action Research is a promising approach for <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Equity-Anti-Racism-and-Anti-Oppression/Black-Student-Excellence/The-Impact-YPAR-Had-On-This-Westview-CI-Graduate">creating avenues to support Black students’ self-determination and agency</a>. </p>
<p>Amplifying youth voice in alignment with the mission and values of school communities is significant for an empowered path forward. Such a path does not see decisions being made for and about Black student lives as an afterthought. </p>
<p>Rather, as outlined in the UNCRC, commitments to participatory action research acknowledge Black youth as competent to act, experts in their own daily lived social realities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanitiã Munroe works for Toronto District School Board. </span></em></p>A leadership program for Black youth sees students participate in research related to their communities and education to propose solutions to issues that affect their lives.Tanitiã Munroe, PhD candidate (ABD) and researcher, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2107802023-08-03T20:16:34Z2023-08-03T20:16:34ZWhy a Toronto high school principal’s death is wrongly linked to anti-racist training<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540866/original/file-20230802-24657-nrwsv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=378%2C1260%2C5592%2C2404&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A social media narrative that anti-racism and equity work is to blame for a high school principal's death could mean challenges ahead for equity workers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Christina Wocintech/Unsplash)</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-a-toronto-high-school-principals-death-is-wrongly-linked-to-anti-racist-training" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Last month, a former Toronto school principal, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/former-principal-who-sued-tdsb-over-alleged-bullying-during-anti-racism-training-dies-by-suicide/article_4b9f98a9-7394-5517-909b-c69eb581aec9.html">Richard Bilkszto, died by suicide</a>. Although the <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-do-people-commit-suicide">reasons for suicide are complex</a>, his family and lawyer released a statement linking his death to an anti-racism workshop he had attended. </p>
<p>Those ardently opposed to “woke politics” are now using Bilkszto’s tragic death to decry anti-racism and equity work. The Ontario Ministry of Education, led by Stephen Lecce, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/lecce-tdsb-principal-death-staff-review-1.6917432">has called the allegations “serious and disturbing” and plans to conduct a review of how anti-racism and equity work is done at school boards</a>. </p>
<p>The workshop Bilkszto attended was led by Kike Ojo-Thompson, CEO of the KOJO Institute. <a href="https://kojoinstitute.com/statement-from-kojo-institute-ceo-july-27-2023/">Ojo-Thompson</a> has called the death of Bilkszto a tragedy. Ojo-Thompson was unaware that earlier this year, Bilkszto had filed a lawsuit against the school board concerning the anti-racism workshop she led about white supremacy.</p>
<p>As someone who has worked in the fields of equity, education and anti-racism, I understand both the importance and the burden of naming “racism” and “white supremacy” within institutions. It is crucial to support those who risk their reputations and livelihoods to do this naming.</p>
<p>I see the current media storm as a precedent-setting moment on the risks associated with institutional equity work. I believe it will also test Canadians’ commitment to doing the work needed to address racism. </p>
<p>The minister’s response as well as those by right-wing news media have helped to fuel a narrative that anti-racism and equity work is to blame. </p>
<h2>Anti-racism training denigrated by news media</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12356503/Toronto-schools-launches-probe-suicide-principal-Richard-Bilkszto-killed-bullied-harassed-following-dust-KOJO-Institute-anti-racism-trainer-Kike-Ojo-Thompson.html"><em>Daily Mail</em></a> described the investigation into Bilkszto’s death as one that will look into “whether the obsession with woke policies may have contributed” to his death.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/richard-bilkszto-cherished-merit-and-equality-canada-should-too"><em>National Post</em></a> wrote: “It’s no coincidence that Bilkszto came out humiliated” since “the DEI industry is designed to sell guilt and shame and perpetuate a culture of victimhood.” </p>
<p>The <a href="https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-ontario-orders-review-of-school-training-after-principal-dies"><em>Toronto Sun</em></a> has suggested there is need to look at “the general issue of diversity, equity and inclusion training” concluding “reform may be sorely needed.”</p>
<h2>Equity work disrupts ‘safe spaces’</h2>
<p><a href="https://canadacouncil.ca/glossary/equity">Equity</a> training aims to address practices that sustain institutional inequities. It begins with the acknowledgement of both historical and contemporary inequities and the premise that such work is needed to bring about equity.</p>
<p>Even at its mildest, equity work involves taking some people outside of their comfort zone. But equity work at its most meaningful involves getting people to recognize that their comfort zone has depended on other people’s silence and marginalization.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman stands at a board pointing at sticky notes, a group of people sit in front of her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540867/original/file-20230802-17-yvpt1u.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">Equity training takes people outside of their comfort zones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jason Goodman/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet equity work is often conducted within the context of a market-based relationship, where client priorities dictate the boundaries of change and disruptiveness. These boundaries are frequently constructed around language choices — with terms like “diversity” and “inclusion” being permissible while, <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/lfoster/documents/Canadian_Experience_Rule_RDRJournal_FINAL.pdf">“racism” is deemed too polarizing</a>. </p>
<p>When wading into discussions about equity and racism, the practice of establishing guidelines has been a central strategy for mitigating the associated risks. This practice has often been described as building a “safe space.” But <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b6af3b236099ba883a28b1e/t/5dcc5b2ae2b90a3c5af08fc5/1573673770842/From+Safe+Spaces+to+Brave+Spaces_2013.pdf">long-time social justice educators, Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens,</a> argue “that authentic learning about social justice often requires the very qualities of risk, difficulty and controversy that are defined as incompatible with safety.” This is especially the case when these conversations are taking place within the very institutions that are being asked to confront their own racist and inequitable practices. </p>
<p>Safety also gets conflated with comfort when people expect these conversations not to be upsetting or difficult, or expect not to be held accountable for their comments. This is an impossible standard to set for conversations that challenge institutional norms and social inequities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-two-pandemics-of-anti-black-racism-and-covid-19-are-tied-together/">McGill University political scientists Tari Ajadi and Debra Thompson</a> describe this type of racism as “simultaneously individualistic and systemic.” Discussing racist systems requires reference to tangible individual instances of racism to illustrate how racism is reproduced. </p>
<p>Sometimes this is met with tears and sometimes this is met with defensiveness. For example, in a training I once conducted, a white woman cried when she realized that she had been using language to describe Black children which I explained reiterates racialized stereotypes that harm and dehumanize Black people. </p>
<p>Even when we try to make intentional language choices, such as “address the comment, not the speaker,” the illustration of racism will feel personal for those whose behaviour is implicated. </p>
<p>In her column for the <em>Toronto Star</em>, journalist <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/a-toronto-principal-s-suicide-was-wrongly-linked-to-anti-racism-training-here-s-what/article_52f30ce3-e754-5947-a754-91746b8af7ce.html">Shree Paradkar</a>, carefully delineated between the ideas of “upholding white supremacy” and “calling someone a white supremacist” in her review of Ojo-Thompson’s words in the session recordings. But this delineation fails to satisfy <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkay/status/1684758380055814144">those avowedly anti-woke commentators</a> for whom the language of racism and white supremacy is always considered unspeakable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-be-a-mindful-anti-racist-147551">How to be a mindful anti-racist</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The unspeakability of racism</h2>
<p>Following the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/16/902179773/summer-of-racial-reckoning-the-match-lit#:%7E:text=Summer%20of%20Racial%20Reckoning%20explores,civil%20rights%20icons%20see%20it.">2020 “summer of racial reckoning</a>,” almost every sector in Canada was compelled to initiate equity work. Many developed <a href="https://www.expresspros.com/CA/Newsroom/Canada-Employed/Fewer-Than-Half-of-Canadian-Companies-Have-Diversity-Equity-and-Inclusion-Policy.aspx?&referrer=http://www.expresspros.com/CanadaEmployed/">Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) policies</a>, and several demonstrated a willingness to have <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/systemic-racism-discrimination/anti-racism-toolkit/courageous-conversations-guide.html">difficult conversations on racism</a>. </p>
<p>Since then, the perceived urgency of this equity work has been steadily waning, yet the resistance to this work has remained forceful. </p>
<p>Equity studies scholar <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/article/abs/unspeakability-of-racism-mapping-laws-complicity-in-manitobas-racialized-spaces/22CDD014685783D6A9CD87144E265D4D">Sheila Dawn Gill</a> offered the term “unspeakability of racism” to describe the barriers to naming racism within Canadian spaces. She used the example of the silencing of the late Cree politician, Oscar Lathlin, for using the term “racist.” This silencing was again applied to current NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s use of “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pov-racism-white-fragility-1.5619647">unparliamentary language</a>.” </p>
<p>Broad acceptance of the reality of systemic racism is meaningless if it cannot be applied towards understanding how racism is enacted both individually and institutionally through comments, actions and specific circumstances. Institutional commitments to anti-racism are meaningless if they do not extend support and care to those doing this work.</p>
<p>Two decades ago, Canadian political scientist <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5741567/Smith_Race_Matters_and_Race_Manners_">Malinda Smith</a> described how the “race manners” of Canada continue to support the suppression of the naming of racism and obscure the way that race continues to matter throughout Canadian institutions. </p>
<p>The vilification of Ojo-Thompson for talking about white supremacy demonstrates the enduring hold of Canada’s race manners, even in the wake of our collective racial reckoning. </p>
<p><em>If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, you need to know you’re not alone. If your life or someone else’s is in danger, call 911 for emergency services. Or, call <a href="https://talksuicide.ca/">Talk Suicide Canada</a> at 1-833-456-4566.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Bernhardt has previously received payment for equity and anti-racism training from government, non-profit, and private institutions. She has never worked with, or received payment from, the KOJO Institute. She has also received an Ontario Grant Scholarship and the Abella Scholarship for Studies in Equity.</span></em></p>The media storm that is building on equity work after the death of a Toronto school principal will test Canadians’ commitment to doing the work needed to be done to address racism.Nicole Bernhardt, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077912023-06-22T22:14:58Z2023-06-22T22:14:58ZPreventing and addressing violence in schools: 4 priorities as educators plan for next year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533292/original/file-20230621-27-llwb2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C266%2C7396%2C4025&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontario must prioritize funding for accessing essential social services to address the root causes of students' behavioural issues. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Farewell to another school year. In Ontario, after a return to full activities with academics, clubs and teams after pandemic shutdowns, it seems that schools were constantly in the news for negative reasons. </p>
<p>The public heard about a <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/york-catholic-district-board-students-deserve-to-be-safe-after-alleged-violence-erupts-at-lgbtq2s-walkout-1.6440138">lack of support for LGBTQ2S+ identities</a>, <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/teacher-argues-school-board-violated-her-freedom-of-speech-when-her-presentation-on-library-books-was-cut-off-1.6428140">chaotic and divisive school trustee meetings</a> and a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-ontario-teachers-violence-schools/">rise in violence</a> in schools.</p>
<p>A major contributing factor to this rise in violence in schools is <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2023/04/20/there-will-be-an-impact-ford-government-shortchanging-school-boards-unions-say.html">the chronic underfunding of public education and the social service sector</a>. We need more infrastructure in communities that are economically neglected, often racialized communities. </p>
<p>In this challenging context, schools need to think hard about how they allocate resources and staff equitably, particularly now, at a time when they are approving their budgets for September. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen lining up outside an apartment building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.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">Schools have faced challenges as students returned to full activities following pandemic shutdowns. Here, residents of Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood line up at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic in April 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Violence in schools</h2>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9705668/tdsb-students-involved-violence-2022-2023/">323 students were involved in violence between September 2022 and April 2023, meaning the year has been on pace to set a new record by the end of the school year</a>. </p>
<p>An alarming three-quarters (77 per cent) of members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/media-releases/etfo-member-survey-shows-violence-pervasive-in-schools">said they have “personally experienced violence or witnessed violence against another staff member</a>” in a recent survey conducted by Strategic Communications. Survey results are based on a weighted sample of 24,872 ETFO members’ responses. </p>
<p>Black and other minoritized youth and educators <a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/systemic-violence-institutional-apathy-and-the-death-of-222-school-aged-students/">are becoming collateral damage by being pushed out of schools due to wilful neglect of institutions in not supporting their needs</a>. For students, the effects can be deadly: there have been 222 homicides of school-aged children (students up to age 21 years old) since 2007 in Toronto, with the victims and perpetrators predominantly Black. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s3mD7Dyf6bY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘The School to Prison Pipeline in Ontario’ video from Black Legal Action Centre.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The school-to-prison pipeline</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline continues to cast a dark shadow over the education system in Ontario. This “pipeline” refers to the systematic processes that push students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, <a href="https://www.kroegerpolicyreview.com/post/the-school-to-prison-pipeline-an-analysis-on-systemic-racism-with-ontario-school-boards">out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system</a>.</p>
<p>This trend disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly Black and Indigenous students, <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/covid-19/impact-covid-19-in-racialized-communities/racial-inequity-covid-19-and-education-black-and">perpetuating a cycle of poverty, systemic discrimination and mass incarceration</a>.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-podcast-194145">Jordan Manners died 16 years ago, it was the first time a high school student had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jordan Manners’s mother, Lorraine Small, is comforted by her sister as she speaks at a news conference in Toronto in January 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since that time, despite numerous reports commissioned and recommendations made by various stakeholders, <a href="https://www.falconerschoolsafetyreport.com/finalReport.html">little has been done to address the root causes of violence in schools and racialized communities</a>. There is no national strategy to prevent violence and homicide largely impacting Black and racialized communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Manitoba%20Office/2015/09/Tough%20on%20Crime%20WEB.pdf">More policing and the tough-on-crime rhetoric is not the solution</a>, particularly with a mayoral election happening soon in the City of Toronto. </p>
<h2>Tragic impact on marginalized communities</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline encompasses various interconnected factors including <a href="https://colourofpovertyca.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/cop-coc-fact-sheet-3-racialized-poverty-in-education-learning-3.pdf">zero-tolerance punitive disciplinary practices in schools, over-policing of racialized communities, inadequate resources for students’ social and emotional well-being</a> and a lack of alternative support systems. </p>
<p>This is a result of many institutions and leaders at all three levels of government collectively failing to support the needs of racialized communities. </p>
<p>Suspensions and expulsions <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardroom/Agenda-Minutes/Type/A?Folder=Agenda/20210623&Filename=CaringandSafeSchoolsAnnualReport201920204134.pdf">disproportionately affect marginalized students</a>. This is why as of 2020, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/students">Ontario’s Ministry of Education mandated no more suspensions for children from junior kindergarten to Grade 3</a>.</p>
<p>Indigenous and Black people are <a href="http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">disproportionately overrepresented in the criminal justice system</a>. This disparity is rooted in systemic racism and a culture of institutional apathy which together perpetuates cycles of inequality, poverty and intergenerational trauma. </p>
<h2>Calls to action</h2>
<p>There needs to be long-term funding by all institutions to create infrastructure and access to timely and reflective social services for minoritized communities to mitigate and dismantle <a href="https://springmag.ca/rising-food-insecurity-and-the-cost-of-living-crisis">systemic inequities, such as the housing crisis and food insecurity</a>, contributing to the rise in violence in schools. A comprehensive approach is necessary. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, schools and school boards need to plan for the future. Important considerations include: </p>
<p>1) <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-restorative-practices-benefit-all-students-maurice-elias">Implement restorative justice practices within all institutions</a>: Move away from punitive disciplinary measures and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKa7C-wxZk">embrace restorative justice models that focus on repairing harm through trauma-informed and healing approaches</a>. </p>
<p>2) Allocate staff and resources equitably: <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/2022-annual-report-on-schools-a-perfect-storm-of-stress/">Ontario must prioritize funding for essential social services to address the root causes of students’ behavioural issues</a>, ultimately preventing students being pushed into the criminal justice system. Redirect funds towards mental health services, counsellors, social workers and community programs that prioritize <a href="https://yaaace.com/initiatives">prevention and timely intervention</a>. </p>
<p>3) Develop culturally responsive programs and services: <a href="https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-education/assets/resources/edi-resources-for-educators.html">Inclusive curricula</a> and <a href="https://yaaace.com/social-inclusion-strategy">programs and services</a> that reflect the histories, cultures and contributions of diverse communities matter. </p>
<p>This helps foster a sense of belonging and connection and reduces the likelihood of student and staff disengagement. There needs to be a more urgent implementation of <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action</a>. </p>
<p>4) Establish community partnerships to mitigate risk factors during evenings and weekends: Forge collaborations between schools, community organizations and families to provide holistic supports <a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">and resources that address local community needs, particularly on evenings and weekends</a>. Such community partnerships create continuity of care for children and youth.</p>
<p>At the end of April, Ontario’s Ministry of Education <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002960/ontario-combating-violence-and-improving-safety-in-schools">announced funding to combat violence and improving safety in schools through community partnerships</a>. Such investments are critical.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">Ontario can close students’ access and opportunity gaps with community-led projects</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yet, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the provincial government has <a href="https://cupe.ca/fords-budget-risks-cutting-7000-education-workers-across-ontario#">used accounting tricks to disguise what amounts to a cut in public school funding for 2023-24</a>. Trustees with the Halton District School Board
say there is a $20-million funding shortfall, and <a href="https://www.insauga.com/school-classroom-cuts-predicted-as-20-million-shortfall-hits-burlington-oakville-and-milton/">funds for 2023-24 won’t support important classroom programs</a>. </p>
<p>If we do not systemically change our approach in how we support marginalized schools, students, parents and teachers, why are we surprised that the system keeps failing them? The effect of such failure is often the tragic outcome of death, being pushed out of schools or receiving a prison sentence. </p>
<p>We all have to do our part to hold institutions accountable, including for failures and neglect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community. </span></em></p>A contributing factor to a rise in violence in Ontario schools is underfunding of education and the social service sector. Using trauma-informed responses is part of the solution.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992922023-02-07T21:10:32Z2023-02-07T21:10:32ZFirst Voices: New Grade 11 English courses can support reconciliation and resurgence by centring Indigenous literature<p>Last week, trustees from the Toronto District School Board voted in favour of replacing <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-indigenous-course-credit-1.6734437">the mandatory Grade 11 English course with</a> a course about <a href="https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/secondary-first-nations-metis-and-inuit-studies/courses/nbe3u/introduction">understanding contemporary First Nations, Métis and Inuit Voices</a> called First Voices.</p>
<p>This comes as welcome news. Since Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report in 2015 <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">and called for reconciliation education</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ontario-indigenous-curriculum-writing-cancellation-1.4739691">the Ontario government has been lagging</a> on prioritizing this. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/research/Professor_Jennifer_Brant_Shares_her_Work.html">As an Indigenous scholar who belongs to the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, and teaches courses on Indigenous literatures</a>, I am delighted students will be exposed to texts that are unapologetically Indigenous and carry readers forward on a powerful journey of both reconciliation and resurgence. </p>
<p>I also know that for these new courses to be successful, <a href="https://theconversation.com/reckoning-with-the-truths-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-education-systems-must-take-action-166151">commitments to funding and resourcing teacher training and professional development</a> are a must. </p>
<p>So are commitments to redressing a deep history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/reckoning-with-the-history-of-public-schooling-and-settler-colonialism-190386">structural and colonial violence in education throughout all levels of schooling</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hkXaCffTYkk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">CityTV news video on TDSB vote.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>About First Voices</h2>
<p>First Voices is among courses that have been developed to respond to the TRC’s call urging ministries of education to develop and implement K-12 curricula on Indigenous history and the legacy of the residential school system in Canada (Call No. 63). </p>
<p>Several <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-indigenous-course-credit-1.6734437">Ontario school boards</a> have already rolled out First Voices. The course replaces the mandatory Grade 11 English course and the study of texts written by authors such as <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-goodbye-great-gatsby-hello-rita-joe-thunder-bays-schools-bring/">William Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald</a> for the works of Indigenous authors such as Tanya Talaga, Lee Maracle, Katherena Vermette, Cherie Dimaline and Richard Wagamese. </p>
<p>The beautiful storyline presented in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/katherena-vermette-1.4033273">Katherena Vermette’s <em>The Break</em></a>, and the timeless work of <a href="https://canadianscholars.ca/book/ravensong-a-novel-03eb2330-04fc-4364-b05a-e2508aeb5660/">Lee Maracle’s</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/ravensong-1.4025998"><em>Ravensong</em></a> are the very texts that will support students on their journey toward truth and reconciliation. </p>
<p>So will engaging with the contemporary realities eloquently expressed in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/son-of-a-trickster-by-eden-robinson-1.3975938">Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster</a>. This book connects past-present-future continuums in a literary genre that literature scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daniel-heath-justice-404793">Daniel Heath Justice</a> refers to as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-stories-about-alternate-worlds-can-help-us-imagine-a-better-future-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-7-165933">Wonderworks</a>. </p>
<h2>Much investment and work needed</h2>
<p>It’s critical to understand that Call 63 is not just about developing new courses but “building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect” and “identifying teacher-training needs relating to the above.” </p>
<p>This suggests the need for a multi-tiered approach that includes Indigenous community consultations and professional learning opportunities. </p>
<p>With the federal government’s failure to launch a national strategy to implement reconciliation education, quality Indigenous education and effective responses to the national calls for Call 63 rest within the social and political will of each province. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a-kMSpMfdRA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">English and film studies professor Keavy Martin discusses Indigenous literatures.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 2020 and 2021 Yellowhead Institute Accountability Reports on Canada’s progress towards satisfying the TRC’s Calls to Action document superficial commitments to truth and reconciliation. As I expressed in an interview for the 2020 report, the effective rollout of newly developed Indigenous courses requires a <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/calls-to-action-accountability-a-2020-status-update-on-reconciliation/">“structured and effective network that seamlessly connects education for reconciliation in teacher education programs, with ministries of education and school boards</a>.” </p>
<p>Among those who will teach the First Voices course are teachers who recently completed an Indigenous literatures course I <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ctl/emphasis-indigenous-education-and-decolonization">developed and teach at the University of Toronto</a>. </p>
<p>In this graduate course, teachers read some of the texts that will be taught in First Voices. They learn about the <a href="https://www.uap.ualberta.ca/titles/1029-9781772126006-troubling-truth-and-reconciliation-in-canadian-education">importance of teaching through frameworks</a> that centre cultural identity and community narratives of strength, and what Indigenous literary scholar Gerald Vizenor <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803210837/">refers to as survivance</a>.
Survivance is about more than survival: It encompasses an active sense of presence merging both survival and resistance.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-communities-come-together-virtually-during-coronavirus-despite-barriers-and-inequities-138601">Indigenous communities come together virtually during coronavirus despite barriers and inequities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Designing more courses</h2>
<p>As increasing numbers of school boards institute mandatory Indigenous courses, it is vital to ensure they are carefully designed.</p>
<p>They must also be delivered in ways that attend to anti-racist teaching practices
that acknowledge varied experiences of racism in a settler colonial society,
and be concerned with liberatory thinking, reflection and action as well as <a href="https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationcurriculumdevelopers/chapter/creating-cultural-safety">cultural safety</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-critical-race-theory-should-inform-schools-185169">Why critical race theory should inform schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indigenous cultural safety can be described as environments where individuals feel respected, safe and free to express their cultural identities without shame and discrimination. </p>
<p>With this context in mind, the new courses have the power to disrupt settler colonial narratives and promote cultural safety within classroom environments.</p>
<p>Teaching through an <a href="https://blogs.uoregon.edu/uoteachingcommunity/about/anti-oppressive-pedagogy-study-circle/anticolonialism-pedagogy/">anti-colonial</a> lens that counters colonialism and supports ethical dialogue requires Indigenous cultural safety and ethical commitments to be at the heart of the new First Voices course. </p>
<h2>Redressing violence</h2>
<p>While the First Voices course is an important step, we need to see this kind of commitment threaded throughout primary, junior and intermediate courses as well.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reckoning-with-the-history-of-public-schooling-and-settler-colonialism-190386">Reckoning with the history of public schooling and settler colonialism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By the time students get to Grade 11, they have already been exposed to years of <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">colonial discourse</a> and insensitive content about Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>This is true even of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/26/two-indigenous-scholars-read-a-history-textbook-chapter-on-residential-schools-this-is-what-they-would-change.html">recently updated textbooks that cover the residential school system in Canada</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0AttZD8LVqA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">BlackCoffeePoet video ‘Indigenous Literatures Matter: A Talk With Daniel Heath Justice.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Change in cultural climate</h2>
<p>When I first developed a love for Indigenous literatures as a graduate student and was inspired to develop and teach my first Indigenous women’s literature course over 10 years ago, such courses were unpopular. I recall many students being unaware of the human rights abuses that were a core theme threading the texts we read.</p>
<p>A strong focus of my course was on racialized, sexualized <a href="https://opentextbooks.uregina.ca/femicide/chapter/17-indigenous-womens-literature-the-power-and-truth-of-our-words/">and gender-based violence against Indigenous women, girls, trans and Two Spirit peoples.</a> </p>
<p>I encouraged students to <a href="https://www.uap.ualberta.ca/titles/1029-9781772126006-troubling-truth-and-reconciliation-in-canadian-education">engage in reflective practice, and make important societal connections.</a>. </p>
<p>Today when I teach these courses, students are more familiar with the genocidal history of this land. For this reason, I take a teaching approach that calls them to action. </p>
<p>I encourage students to understand the stories by Indigenous authors through noticing <a href="https://canlit.ca/article/storying-resurgence/">strength and community resurgence</a> and connecting the texts to what is happening in their communities outside the classroom. I also encourage students to allow their reading to inform how they hold social structures accountable for injustices, and to resist seeing the texts through a “deficit” lens.</p>
<h2>Indigenous-authored texts</h2>
<p>Ten years ago, I could not find Indigenous-authored texts in most bookstores and certainly did not see them reflected in K-12 curricula or post-secondary syllabi. </p>
<p>Today, I can walk into a bookstore, the <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDHTaylor/status/1475091765006946304">gift store at an airport</a> or the local drug store or supermarket and immediately see beautiful artwork adorning the covers of Indigenous-authored texts. </p>
<p>Through an ethical and anti-racist engagement with First Voices, I am confident students will make necessary connections to the world around us as the contemporary realities threaded throughout the novels support students in developing their own sense of justice, of belonging and connections to this land.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Brant receives funding from SSHRC and the Spencer Foundation.</span></em></p>For Indigenous literature courses to be successful, Indigenous cultural safety must be centred, and commitment to teacher professional development is a must.Jennifer Brant, Assistant Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908252022-12-07T17:57:46Z2022-12-07T17:57:46ZTo resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499364/original/file-20221206-11770-sz9tym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=381%2C911%2C6685%2C3411&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two fatal shooting incidents at Toronto high schools, 15 years apart, show just how little has been done to address the root cause of violence in schools. Here people protest gun violence in Toronto in March 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Singer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most recent <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-school-shooting-1.6635808">shooting involving a Toronto high school student this October</a> highlighted a rising problem with gun violence in North American schools. In Canada’s largest city, it raised alarms about how <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-youth-gun-violence-1.6353947">the crisis is getting worse and skewing younger</a>. </p>
<p>The recent tragedy is reminiscent of other high-profile shootings within Toronto high schools. In 2007, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/he-was-my-heart-says-mother-of-toronto-shooting-victim-1.669954">15-year-old high school student Jordan Manners</a> was fatally shot at school. In the years since Manners’s death, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mother-blames-culture-of-silence-in-son-s-shooting-death-1.740936">numerous recommendations</a> on gun violence came out of reports and committees. However, little has been done to improve the danger of gun violence for Toronto teens.</p>
<p>To make things better, policy conversations about gun violence need to shift. They need to expand beyond the person behind the gun and gun regulation and move towards <a href="https://organizingengagement.org/models/trauma-informed-community-building-model/">trauma-informed community programming</a> that dismantles systemic barriers and inequities.</p>
<h2>Risk factors that lead young people to violence</h2>
<p>Many studies indicate that problems like poverty and unemployment <a href="https://youthrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/rootsofyouthviolence-vol1.pdf">are major risk factors</a> that increase the likelihood of an individual gravitating towards gun violence.</p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ststclsnpsht-yth/ssyr-eng.pdf">only one in five children who need mental health services receive them</a>. A <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/guidance-report-2018/">2018 report by People for Education</a> found that in Ontario there was on average only one in-school guidance counsellor for every 396 students. Trauma and a lack of attention to it also <a href="https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf">leads to having intergenerational impacts</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Last year, there were 277 firearm homicides in Canada</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf">recent report</a> by The Centre for Research & Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (CRIB), racialized Ontarians account for 75 per cent of Canadian gun homicide victims; 44 per cent of those victims belong to African, Caribbean or other Black communities.</p>
<p>If we do not improve standards of living and create genuine opportunities in communities, the cycle of poverty, violence and crime will continue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing violence trends in TDSB schools." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rates of violence in TDSB schools have increased in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(TDSB)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disrupting the school to prison pipeline</h2>
<p>Education is one of the most effective protective factors in aiding reintegration and mitigating recidivism after release from prison. </p>
<p>There needs to be an ideological shift about the purpose of prisons. They should not be places that punish people by incarcerating them, but spaces that promote their rehabilitation.</p>
<p>As outlined in the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>, education is a human right that should be upheld for everyone. That right extends to individuals who are incarcerated.</p>
<p>To see where we are with this, the <a href="https://ccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CCLET_Laidlaw_Report_Final_Digital.pdf">Canadian Civil Liberties Association</a> conducted 50 interviews with youth (ages 12-17), staff and teachers at detention facilities and justice system professionals to explore education for youth in detention and the barriers they face.</p>
<p>They found that “facilities were treating youth as security threats to be managed, rather than students deserving of rehabilitation through educational opportunities”.</p>
<p>It costs the Correctional Service of Canada <a href="http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">an average of $111,202 per year to incarcerate one man (and twice as much to incarcerate one woman), with only $2950 of that money spent on education per prisoner</a>. </p>
<p>There is a lack of capacity within incarceration institutions to meet educational demands. And there is a lack of partnerships with school boards and post-secondary institutions <a href="https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/092/005007-2014-eng.pdf">to offer education in prisons</a>.</p>
<p>That lack of access to education is highly problematic given that the <a href="https://www.prisonfreepress.org/Facts.htm#:%7E:text=65%25%20of%20people%20entering%20prisons,of%20literacy%20the%20prisoner%20achieves.">majority of people incarcerated do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent</a>.</p>
<h2>Harm reduction</h2>
<p>A lack of mentorship and culturally relevant, responsive and sustaining education leads to many minoritized identities being pushed out of schools due to the content, policies, and teaching of schools not being reflective of their identities, histories or lived experiences.</p>
<p>For example, 80 per cent of school suspensions in Toronto are given to male students. <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardroom/Agenda-Minutes/Type/A?Folder=Agenda/20210623&Filename=CaringandSafeSchoolsAnnualReport201920204134.pdf">Indigenous, Black, Middle Eastern and mixed-race students are over-represented in the suspensions and expulsions relative to their overall representation within the TDSB student population</a>. </p>
<p>To counter this, there needs to be culturally relevant and responsive curriculum content and teaching to support learners and their families in relation to larger unmet needs at the community level.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign that reads: Toronto District school board in front of a brown building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racialized students at Toronto schools are over-represented when it comes to suspensions and expulsions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Police and prevention</h2>
<p>If Canada is going to become the egalitarian role model it aims to be on the world stage, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-investigation-racial-bias-in-canadian-prison-risk-assessments/">over-policing of racialized communities</a> across the country must end. </p>
<p>Instead, more resources and emphasis on community-based intervention and prevention projects must be adopted such as <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/15/why-we-need-to-focus-on-gun-violence-as-a-public-health-crisis.html">Toronto’s TO Wards Peace and Public Safety Canada’s Peace Core New Narrative</a>. </p>
<p>Both initiatives propose a <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-139315.pdf">public health approach rooted in supporting access to opportunities across different sectors</a>. The projects were spearheaded via collaboration between different levels of government, community agencies and non-profits including <a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)</a> in Jane and Finch and <a href="https://www.think2.org/">Think 2wice</a> in Rexdale in Toronto. These are projects I am also involved in. In fact, I started as a youth counsellor at YAAACE when I was 17. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-156834.pdf">TO Wards Peace (TWP)</a> is a community-centric interruption model that features frontline “violence disruption workers.” These folks have lived experience and deep community connections which strengthens their capacity to build rapport with communities. In this way, they may be able to intervene peacefully and constructively, even in seriously violent or escalating situations. </p>
<p>At YAAACE, another initiative features <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyZC0-Bw_DU">“Community Resource Engagement Workers” supporting those impacted by the justice system</a> (people who have been released from incarceration or are incarcerated) to use their strengths in pursuing healthy lifestyle choices and building life skills. This involves access to programming and connecting people with needed social support services in a timely manner. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2022/06/government-taking-action-on-gun-violence-in-toronto-through-new-funding-for-gang-prevention-initiatives.html">recent pledge by the Canadian government</a> to fund community programs such as those mentioned above is a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>Canada needs to start putting the “human” back into the way it treats, responds to and serves marginalized communities. </p>
<p><em>Evie Mae Stevenson, a 3rd year undergraduate student who worked at YAAACE, helped write this article.</em></p>
<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3ccb12ac-6927-4844-ae7d-3c0c82945809?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>To resolve growing violence in schools, policy conversations about gun violence need to include community programs that dismantle systemic barriers and inequities.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941452022-12-07T17:57:44Z2022-12-07T17:57:44ZHow can we slow down youth gun violence? — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499363/original/file-20221206-3888-uw7zw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C50%2C5526%2C3650&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fifteen years after Jordan Manners was killed in a Toronto school, Canada's largest city is still struggling to curb youth violence. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3ccb12ac-6927-4844-ae7d-3c0c82945809?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It was 15 years ago: police officers flooded C. W. Jefferys Collegiate in northwest Toronto. Outside, hundreds of anxious parents stood waiting for answers. The news that police delivered — as we now know — was tragic. </p>
<p>Fifteen-year-old Jordan Manners had been killed. It was the first time anyone had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school. Jordan’s death stunned his community and the nation. And for many, it punctured the illusion of safety in Canadian schools.</p>
<p>Since then, we’ve seen a slew of reports and funds directed at anti-violence projects in Toronto. But youth violence in Canada’s largest city hasn’t let up. </p>
<p>In fact, it’s getting worse.</p>
<p>This year, on Valentine’s Day, a student was fatally shot inside a Toronto high school and in October, another shooting happened outside a school. </p>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board, <a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">the number of physical assaults</a> has risen by 174 per cent between 2014 and 2019 and the number of incidents involving a weapon has risen by 60 per cent.</p>
<p>Why is gun violence increasing? And can we slow it down? </p>
<p>Devon Jones has spent the past 15 years tackling these very questions. He is a teacher and well-recognized youth worker in the Jane and Finch community — where Jordan Manners was killed. It has been described as Toronto’s most dangerous area to be a kid.</p>
<p>Jones has seen many students who have lost their lives to violence over the years, including Manners. But he has also saved many lives through programs offered by YAAACE — an organization he founded in 2007 that focuses on basketball and academics. He’s a busy man, who had just rushed from dealing with a youth emergency before talking to us from school.</p>
<p>One of the former volunteers of Jones’s organization is Ardavan Eizadirad. Eizadirad is now the executive director of YAAACE. He is also an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who has written about the root causes of gun violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/https-theconversationcom-how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-194145">Join us on <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> as we speak to Jones and Eizadirad about the rising rates of gun violence in Canada and the role community organizations play in the solution.</p>
<h2>Follow and Listen</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<h2>Articles in the Conversation</h2>
<p><strong>Read</strong> the companion article to this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>: </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/to-resolve-youth-violence-canada-must-move-beyond-policing-and-prison-190825"><strong><em>To resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison</em></strong></a></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-shouldnt-be-smug-about-gun-violence-its-a-growing-problem-here-too-184210">Canada shouldn't be smug about gun violence — it's a growing problem here, too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence</a></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-once-sold-the-idea-that-guns-turned-boys-into-men-121296">Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/thugs-is-a-race-code-word-that-fuels-anti-black-racism-100312">‘Thugs’ is a race-code word that fuels anti-Black racism</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/toronto-mass-shooting-how-the-city-is-coping-a-month-later-100813">Toronto mass shooting: How the city is coping a month later</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/calls-for-stronger-handgun-laws-in-canada-have-deep-roots-101051">Calls for stronger handgun laws in Canada have deep roots</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-canadian-gun-bill-will-create-u-s-style-patchwork-of-firearms-laws-156480">Proposed Canadian gun bill will create U.S.-style patchwork of firearms laws</a></em></strong></p>
<h2>Sources</h2>
<p><a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">Two School Shootings, 15 Years Apart</a></p>
<p><a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/student-fatally-shot-inside-toronto-high-school-1.5780952">Student fatally shot inside Toronto high school
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-school-shooting-1.6635808">Shooting outside Toronto high school leaves 1 dead, 1 teen injured
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.1879097">Prevalence and Impact of Harassment and Violence against Educators in Canada</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/05/27/the-death-of-jordan-manners-tore-apart-his-school-how-cw-jefferys-was-resurrected.html">The death of Jordan Manners tore apart his school. How C.W. Jefferys was resurrected. the Toronto Star by Andrea Gordon</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/12/04/news/how-american-gun-deaths-and-gun-laws-compare-canadas">How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada’s
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)
</a></p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is produced in partnership with the Journalism Innovation Lab at the University of British Columbia and with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Youth violence hasn’t let up in Toronto. In fact, it’s getting worse. Community members say it’s a major problem that needs a more holistic solution.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientDannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1695922021-12-06T19:01:46Z2021-12-06T19:01:46ZDismantling anti-Black racism in our schools: Accountability measures are key<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434805/original/file-20211130-22-1mur6z1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C108%2C5526%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Until Black children and youth feel accepted, respected and protected, our work is not done.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Education is built on the belief that people can be more. In the words of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/W-E-B-Du-Bois">the 20th-century American sociologist and writer W.E.B. DuBois</a>, an important anti-racist leader and figure in the development of African American education, “<a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL416206M/The_correspondence_of_W._E._B._Du_Bois">what people are depends on the way they have been educated, the way … their possibilities have been developed and drawn out</a>.” Du Bois’s speeches and writings on the education of Black students were part of his larger concern about Black children’s well-being and the uplifting of Black communities. </p>
<p>In other words, for education to be truly a <a href="https://infed.org/mobi/what-is-education-a-definition-and-discussion">process of encouraging and embracing discovery</a>, everyone needs to be accommodated in the classroom. </p>
<p>Canada is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40708421">known for its excellent education</a>, but this reputation can hide the realities of its Black students. <a href="https://www.pluralism.ca/what-we-do-2/education/talking-racism/">With ample data</a> <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/new/review-peel-district-school-board-report-en.pdf">demonstrating the effects of systems</a> that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/black-canadians-school-curriculum-1.5706510">undermine educational opportunities of Black students</a>, it’s clear that access to education in Canada isn’t equitable and inclusive. Canada’s kindergarten to Grade 12 education systems should receive a failing grade until anti-Blackness is addressed.</p>
<h2>Way to improve</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/cebsa">Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement</a> offers a way to improve with a new targeted approach to addressing anti-Blackness. The centre offers a model based on strategic community engagement that school boards across Canada can learn from and enact. </p>
<p>I am a PhD student researching Black youth and families’ experiences in education, and I support research for this TDSB initiative <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/01/a-milestone-tdsb-launches-centre-to-improve-outcomes-for-black-students.html">proposed by Black community members and education stakeholders</a>. </p>
<h2>Mutual relationships</h2>
<p>Decades after DuBois, Brazilian educator Paolo Freire argued that <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed-9781501314162">in order for learning to happen, relationships need to be mutual</a>. Unfortunately, for Black students in Canada, this has rarely been the case.</p>
<p>Even <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/equity.pdf">as governments develop policies</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teachers-anti-racist-education-young-learners-1.6044605">some teachers shift their practices</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/black-canadians-school-curriculum-1.5706510">anti-racist educators and scholars demand more from classroom teachers</a>, the schooling experiences of Black children and youth reveal an ongoing struggle with anti-Black racism. </p>
<p>Behind this failure stand governments and school boards that have fallen short on accountability measures that ensure no Black child or youth is left behind in fulfilling their potential.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-wont-canada-collect-data-on-race-and-student-success-106689">Why won’t Canada collect data on race and student success?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given that <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/what-you-need-know-about-right-education">education is a human right</a>, our education systems and communities must continue to address the systemic and institutional barriers that prevent Black youth from claiming it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chalk writing is seen on the edges of stairs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434551/original/file-20211129-27-13dzqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Articles from the UN’s Declaration on Human Rights are seen chalked on a staircase.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(University of Esssex/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reducing barriers in education</h2>
<p>At the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement, the aim is to develop an education system where anti-Blackness is dismantled with targeted anti-racist policy and practice. This involves introducing accountability measures to counter the full spectrum of <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf?x60002">educators’ discriminatory practices</a> that devalue Black life.</p>
<p>The TDSB launched this initiative as one response towards developing solutions and responding to ways Black students and families continue to encounter barriers in education. Community members and education stakeholders in dialogue with the board identified <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Media/News/ArtMID/2750/ArticleID/1475/TDSB-Creates-New-Centre-of-Excellence-for-Black-Student-Achievement">nine mandates</a> to pursue. These include combatting anti-Black racism, identifying ways to improve Black students’ success and achievement and access to resources like scholarships, networking and mentoring from within the community.</p>
<p>More importantly, many of the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/cebsa">programs and initiatives </a> offered to Black students reveal a commitment to improving <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/ward8/docs/Shelley%20Laskin/2020%2007%20Supporting%20Black%20Student%20Achievement%20and%20Dismantling%20Anti-Black%20Racism.pdf">students’ academic outcomes </a> and overall well-being across the TDSB. Through evidence-based research, staff document student responses to programming, and then amplify student voices to improve educators’ work in classrooms, and to enhance student learning experiences. </p>
<h2>Black students’ well-being</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/CEBSA/About-Us">the Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement</a> continues to grow its staff, the current team including graduation coaches and kindergarten to Grade 12 learning coaches. The latter support schools and staff with building an inclusive and anti-racist approach and practice to support Black students’ well-being. </p>
<p>Staff understand that improving Black students’ education involves a system-wide targeted approach. Together we look for and create opportunities to build educators’ understanding of practising anti-racism in the classroom and school environments. We provide strategies, instructional programming and resources through ongoing professional development.</p>
<p>With the support of the program co-ordinator and principal, the team developed several programs for Black students. For example, there is a <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/CEBSA/Programs">Black Girls’ Book Club and a Saturday program affiliated with York University and the University of Toronto</a> that sees Black students learn about youth participatory action research. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black students are seen working at a computer with a Black teacher in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434779/original/file-20211130-19-1kyr4e8.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">A system-wide approach is needed to improve Black students’ education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/#">(UKBlackTech)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a summer leadership program to provide Black students with experiential learning opportunities. This is done <a href="https://www.tvo.org/about/tvo-collaborates-with-tdsbs-centre-of-excellence-for-black-student-achievement-for-the-black-student">in collaboration with various community organizations and businesses</a> to support Black students to develop their leadership skills, build networks, improve job readiness skills and knowledge about various careers. </p>
<p>Black students engage with universities to learn more about STEM programs. One such <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Equity/Black-Student-Excellence/Summer-BSAE-Program">initiative with the Faculty of Engineering Secondary School at the University of Ottawa</a> provided students the opportunity to take computer science courses while gaining credits toward their Ontario Secondary School diploma. </p>
<h2>A call to action</h2>
<p>Facing anti-Black racism and committing to addressing it means teachers and administrators are called on to develop school plans, curriculum, safe classroom spaces and policies, as well as teacher education, to ensure Black students receive the same access, resources and support as their white counterparts. This emphasis on sameness is important because it supports the fight for rights to education under the law. This is key to aiding Black youth in their academic success.</p>
<p>Equal education opportunity for Black youth is a fundamental human right.</p>
<p>If the majority of the white and racialized teachers graduating from teacher education programs having no previous experience using anti-oppressive, anti-racist or decolonial practices, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/training-courses-teachers-black-anti-racism-1.6074119">their teaching</a> will continue to harm Black students’ well-being and academic outcomes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/afoMbd_pOys?wmode=transparent&start=458" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Taking Action to Address Anti-Black Racism in Canadian Schools, video from Global Centre for Pluralism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Increase Black children’s engagement</h2>
<p>School boards in Canada have the opportunity to take many steps to focus on the experience of Black people in the curriculum, and increase Black children’s civic engagement and success in school. </p>
<p>These steps could include creating Black studies courses, <a href="https://www.hmhco.com/blog/racial-literacy-a-call-to-action-for-teachers">developing teachers’ racial literacy</a> and using <a href="http://www.inclusioncanada.net/culturallyrelevantpedagogy.html">culturally responsive teaching practices</a>.
As part of their commitment to disrupting anti-Blackness, teachers can commit to critically <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2019.1698871">transforming their own understandings and practices to transform Black students’ learning experiences</a>.</p>
<p>The problems Black youth encounter in education are real. Researchers and community advocates have have identified educational disparities, and we are beholden to take action to solve them. Until Black children and youth feel accepted, respected and protected, our work is not done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanitiã Munroe 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>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.Tanitiã Munroe, PhD student and researcher, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456002020-09-13T12:11:08Z2020-09-13T12:11:08ZWhat’s the best strategy to reduce COVID-19 outbreaks in schools? Let’s do the math<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357586/original/file-20200911-14-1yyv1ff.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C77%2C5777%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schools across Canada are using different methods to try to stop the spread of COVID-19. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Canadian public schools open up again this fall in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, things will be very different. Each province is bringing in its <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7279680/back-to-school-coronavirus-canada/">own rules and guidelines</a>, and many jurisdictions are mandating that <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Return-to-School/Health-and-Safety/Mask-and-Face-Covering-Requirements-For-TDSB-Students-and-Staff">older students wear masks all day</a>.</p>
<p>Others are using additional measures to minimize the chance of students contracting COVID-19. The country’s largest school board, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-high-school-start-1.5718059">the Toronto District School Board</a>, is implementing a rotation system for high school students. They will go to school on alternating days, with half of the class on one day and the other half on the next. The aim is to keep each group at 15 students per class. The teachers will be the same and they will repeat the lessons to each group.</p>
<p>What will such rotation do to reduce contagion risk? </p>
<p>Because we don’t have much in the way of experience with these measures for COVID-19, predicting what might happen requires some mathematics. Fortunately, that task has been done in a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3638058">new study</a> by economists Jeff Ely, Andrea Galeotti and Jakub Steiner. And what they find could give many places guidance as to how to use rotation as a tool to mitigate contagion.</p>
<h2>Benefits of rotation</h2>
<p>That study found there are potential benefits of having two separate groups of people who regularly interact with one another, but don’t come into contact with anyone outside of their group. If one person becomes infected and the virus spreads, it will be contained to a single group. </p>
<p>The study also showed the effectiveness of different rotation strategies depends on how much and how quickly school officials deal with potential infections. If they wait too long, it’s likely all of the groups will become infected. In that case, rotation isn’t effective in terms of reducing the scale of infections. If schools react quickly, however, one group could be isolated while the other group could keep going.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CNk2XilghQc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video produced by the Toronto District School Board explains the guidelines for students returning to school.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there are some interesting other choices too. First, there is the issue of cadence. Is it better to have different groups on alternating days or a longer period — such as alternating weeks? And what about the teachers and staff who come into contact with both groups? Might that be enough to remove the benefits of group separation and rotation entirely?</p>
<h2>How to rotate</h2>
<p>With COVID-19, we know that many people — <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-over-80-of-young-individuals-may-show-no-symptoms#1">especially younger people</a> — tend to be asymptomatic. That means it may be weeks before officials discover an outbreak. Add to that the time needed to have students tested for the virus and it’s plausible that it could take as long as 30 days for a school to notice and react to a potential outbreak in a group.</p>
<p>Now let’s consider a school with 500 students. Even with class rotations, students share common bathrooms and hallways. Without measures like social distancing, COVID-19 has a <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/reproduction-numbers-tend-1-and-reason-could-be-behavioural">basic reproduction rate of about 2.2 to 2.5</a> — that is, every infected person is likely to infect two or so others if there aren’t any interventions going on.</p>
<p>That means that once one person is infected, the number of infected people will double every five days or so (since this is how long it takes for an infected person to start infecting others). Wait 30 days before dealing with the problem (by a lockdown or mass testing) and you would have 16 people infected — that is, two to the power of four, where four is the number of doubling cycles in 30 days if you subtract eight days for weekends.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester holds up a sign that says Students in Classrooms do not equal Canaries in the Coal Mine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357587/original/file-20200911-20-ujnunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People take part in a rally in front of the Montréal offices of the Québec Minister of Education to express their concerns with the back-to-school plan by the government of Quebec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now suppose we compare two options:</p>
<p><strong>Option 1 (One half at school and one half at home)</strong>: Suppose we took half of the students and asked them to learn remotely, with the other half attending class in person. The isolated students would be safe, but the other students would likely become infected at some point. In this case, we potentially get fewer infections. Specifically, if prevalence is low in the general population, the chances that the “seed” or “Student 0” infection is in the group at school is half what it would be if both groups attend class in person. Thus, the total expected number of infections is 8.5 — ((1 + 16)/2).</p>
<p><strong>Option 2 (One day on and one day off)</strong>: Suppose we rotated the students in two groups of alternating days. In this case, chance will determine what happens and that is in our favour. There are 11 days of a month where a group with an infected student exposes others to contagion, so the total number of infections over those two maximum doubling cycles is four (or two to the power of two).</p>
<p>So Option 2 is clearly better. With two separate groups, over the course of a month, students in one infected group are exposed to others half of the time (or 11 school days over a month). If we had one week on and one week off, the same outcome would arise.</p>
<h2>What about the teachers?</h2>
<p>In any rotation plan, the students spend time at school and then time at home. But the teachers are there all the time. What does that do to these calculations, given that teachers are mixing with both groups?</p>
<p>Such mixing does undermine the potential benefits of rotation — but not by much. If there is an outbreak in one group of 250 students, then the probability of infecting a teacher is not very high. And that means the probability of an outbreak jumping between groups is also low. This is certainly true if the frequency of rotations is high.</p>
<p>Rotation forces regular breaks in exposure, which is valuable when there aren’t other ways of preventing exposure. Rotation also reduces viral spread (that is, the reproduction number) because it forces a reduction in population density in a place. Again, it is precisely because these other interventions can reduce viral spread that they are substitute options to rotation.</p>
<p>Thus, while it is tempting to take a “kitchen sink” approach and take every intervention at your disposal, those interventions have costs. Masks must be procured and worn. COVID-19 tests require infrastructure. Finally, rotations mean kids spend more time at home, which has its own costs above the potential education costs.</p>
<p>Instead, there is a good case to be made that the optimal strategy is to either rely on rotation to reduce exposure risk or to invest in other interventions like mask-wearing and testing. Doing all of them may give fewer benefits relative to cost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Gans is affiliated with the Creative Destruction Lab.</span></em></p>School boards across the country are using different measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. A new study suggests rotating students during different times at school could be most effective.Joshua Gans, Professor of Strategic Management, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208562019-08-26T22:49:49Z2019-08-26T22:49:49ZThe crisis of anti-Black racism in schools persists across generations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289495/original/file-20190826-8845-r5zqko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recent reports of Black students in Ontario reveal an ongoing pattern of racism including a lack of adequate reading materials.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wadi Lissa /Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent <a href="http://www.peelschools.org/aboutus/equity/Documents/We%20Rise%20Together%20report%20-%20Carl%20E%20James%20June%202019.pdf">reports</a> of the schooling experiences of Black students in elementary, middle and high school in Toronto tell a story of negligence and disregard. This disregard includes a lack of access to appropriate reading materials and supportive relationships with teachers and administrators. </p>
<p>In conversations about their school life, Black students talk about adverse treatment by their teachers and peers, including regular use of the “n-word.” </p>
<p>These issues contribute to alienating and problematic school days for Black students. And none of this is new: racism in Toronto and Ontario schools has been <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/how-a-1992-report-on-racism-in-ontario-highlights-current-problems">ongoing for decades</a>. </p>
<p>Twenty years ago, former politician Stephen Lewis was appointed to advise the province of Ontario on race relations. The appointment came after <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/yonge-street-riot-documentary/">a “stop anti-Black police violence” march turned into an uprising in Toronto.</a> Lewis spent a month consulting with people and community groups in Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor and London <a href="http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/13000/134250.pdf">and then presented a report on race relations.</a> </p>
<p>He wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The students [I spoke with] were fiercely articulate and often deeply moving…. They don’t understand why the schools are so slow to reflect the broader society. One bright young man in a Metro east high school said that he had reached [the end of high school] without once having a book by a Black author [assigned to him]. And when other students, in the large meeting of which he was a part, started to name books they had been given to read, the titles were <em>Black Like Me</em> and <em>To Kill and Mockingbird</em> (both, incredibly enough, by white writers!). It’s absurd in a world which has a positive cornucopia of magnificent literature by Black authors. I further recall an animated young woman from a high school in Peel, who described her school as multiracial, and then added that she and her fellow students had white teachers, white counsellors, a white principal and were taught Black history by a white teacher who didn’t like them…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>More than two decades later, reports continue to show that school boards do not meet the educational needs and interests of Black students and parents.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287101/original/file-20190806-84240-ktdume.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dudley Laws, a founding member of the Black Action Defence Committee, speaks to a ‘stop anti-Black police violence’ rally at Queen’s Park in Toronto in May 1992 after several shooting deaths of Black youth by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Canadian Press/Hans Deryk</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two years ago, I <a href="https://exchange.youthrex.com/report/towards-race-equity-education-schooling-black-students-greater-toronto-area">led a study</a> to examine the schooling experiences and educational outcomes of Black students. We surveyed 324 parents, educators, school administrators and trustees. We talked to Black high school and university students in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) who participated in the five community consultations we held in four school districts. </p>
<p>Participants echoed what students said 20 years ago in the Lewis report. Black students say they are “being treated differently than their non-Black peers in the classrooms and hallways of their schools.” They say there is still a lack of Black presence in schools. There are few Black teachers, the curriculum does not adequately address Black history and schools lack an equitable process to help students deal with anti-Black racism. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racialized-student-achievement-gaps-are-a-red-alert-108822">Racialized student achievement gaps are a red-alert</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Students spoke about their teachers’ and administrators’ lack of attention to their concerns, interests and needs. <a href="http://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">They told of differential or “unfair” treatment, and they noted their teachers’ unwillingness to address complaints of racism</a>. </p>
<p>Participants said they perceived a more punitive discipline of Black students. They also said they observed the “streaming of Black students into courses below their ability level.” They said Black students were discouraged from attending university. </p>
<p>Last year, I conducted another study with Black elementary, middle and high-school students in the Peel District School Board (PDSB), a multiracial district in Ontario. This study <a href="http://www.peelschools.org/aboutus/equity/Documents/We%20Rise%20Together%20report%20-%20Carl%20E%20James%20June%202019.pdf">produced the same list of concerns</a>. </p>
<h2>Not belonging</h2>
<p>Students reported being called the “n-word,” as they put it, by “people who are not Black.” This use of racial epithets adds to an already alienating educational climate for many Black students. </p>
<p>One middle school student said: “People are getting too comfortable with saying that n-word.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288358/original/file-20190816-192219-3mrw9b.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">The use of the ‘n-word’ seems to be on the rise, even in middle schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A high school student shared his reaction to being called the n-word: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I recall one time where I almost slapped this guy [for using the n-word]; but I was like: ‘Nah! I’m not going to let this happen or let him disturb me like that.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like Black students before them, their experiences contributed to their “sense of un-belonging” and a schooling environment that made learning problematic, tough and challenging. </p>
<p>Beyond Toronto, Black students and their parents are similarly complaining about the use of the n-word across Canadian public schools: Several news reports tell of parents in school boards <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-school-board-lawsuit-1.5134169">in York</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/racism-parents-bullying-schools-1.4830056">Ottawa</a>, Montréal and Halifax. </p>
<p>One Montréal mother <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mother-says-elementary-school-won-t-take-action-after-racist-incidents-against-son-1.4271206">told CTV news</a> that in an argument with his classmate, her son was called “the n-word” by a white student. The mother went on to say: “I’m at war with the systemic racism that occurs at the school.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/they-used-it-to-hurt-me-teens-talk-about-being-called-the-n-word"><em>CBC Kids News</em></a> published a story about two Black Grade 12 students in Nova Scotia who gave presentations to their peers across the province about being called the n-word. One of the presenters, Kelvin, said the word is commonly used to “hurt” and put him down.“ He said the word and its implications had not been taught by teachers in any of his classes. </p>
<p>Some parents and educators have connected this ongoing racism to a <a href="https://byblacks.com/main-menu-mobile/news-mobile/item/2295-the-safety-epidemic-facing-black-children-in-ontario-schools">health and safety epidemic for Black students in Ontario schools.</a> </p>
<p>That the "n-word” brings health and safety implications as well as deep consternation to Black students should be a concern that teachers take up. Teachers need to examine course materials for their content and impact on students’ learning. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">Racism impacts your health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Could a good reading list help?</h2>
<p>Based on my research, I recommended the Peel District School Board evaluate their curriculum and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-york-university-professor-asks-peel-school-board-to-reconsider/">assess the usefulness of old texts. Some of these texts repeatedly use the the racial epithet, “ni–er.”</a> As an example, I said the 1960 American novel <em>To Kill A Mockingbird</em> could be re-examined as a core book taught in classrooms. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289493/original/file-20190826-8851-1qk807j.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image from the movie, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are texts that Canadian students might find difficult to relate to their lives. These texts become especially problematic when it is the only time that the lives of Black people are mentioned in class. </p>
<p>All teaching material must be continuously re-assessed in relation to historical, political and social contexts. Materials must also be evaluated for their ability to pertain to the realities of Black students in today’s classrooms. </p>
<p>The experiences of all students must be centred and the knowledge, needs and aspirations they bring into the classroom considered. </p>
<p>This is the same recommendation Stephen Lewis made in 1992.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289501/original/file-20190826-8851-1278uw3.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">Teaching materials must also be evaluated for their ability to pertain to the realities of Black students in today’s classrooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Responsive learning spaces</h2>
<p>As Poleen Grewal, associate director of the Peel District School Board pointed out, it is not just about the texts taught. Teachers who use uncritical texts as a way into discussions about racism are unlikely to benefit Black students already aware of racism. Grewal said teaching must be accompanied by the ability to create “culturally responsive learning spaces.”</p>
<p>Educators need to be aware of how structures of inequities like racism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamophobia operate in educational institutions to obfuscate student interest in learning. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289487/original/file-20190826-8868-yreatf.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">Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and an elementary teacher with the Toronto District School Board in Rexdale, throws up a salute to the chant ‘Black Lives Matter’ at a public meeting of the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Chris Young/Canadian Press)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, a number of school Boards have initiated programs that they claim address anti-Black racism, including anti-racism workshops for teachers. Will these measures help to change the inequitable and racist contexts of Canadian schools and the racism students experience? </p>
<p>Other places have been pro-active with curriculum. In Nova Scotia, <em>To Kill A Mockingbird</em> was removed from the curriculum in 1996, and replaced with the 1998 novel <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/57454/a-lesson-before-dying-by-ernest-j-gaines/9780375702709/teachers-guide/"><em>A Lesson Before Dying</em> by African-American writer Ernest J. Gaines.</a></p>
<p>School boards need to value and draw upon the cultural and intellectual capital of Black students. To do so, they need to encourage the university aspirations of Black students, address racism experienced by students, and use educational materials that enable a relevant and responsive learning environment. </p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl James receives research funding from Social Science Research Council as well as the Peel District School Board, 2017/2018 for the We Rise Together (on the experiences of Black students).</span></em></p>Decades of inadequate teaching material and resources to support Black students in Ontario means they are severely underserved by their schools.Carl E. James, Professor, Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1088222019-02-10T18:08:36Z2019-02-10T18:08:36ZRacialized student achievement gaps are a red-alert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255038/original/file-20190122-100279-1dt0ahb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toronto school board data reveals that Black, racialized and lower-income students face significant gaps in student outcomes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nik Shuliahin /Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Toronto public schools have major and rising student achievement <a href="http://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">gaps based on race and income,</a> according to a recent landmark report. One of the biggest blocks to closing these gaps is <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/43198">educators’ understanding of why these gaps exist</a> and the methods used to try and close them. </p>
<p>Last summer, education researchers, community partners and teachers gathered to address such reports of inequality. <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/2018/08/2018-fesi-to-explore-identity-based-data-collection-to-highlight-major-gaps-in-ontario-education-achievement">One of the main issues discussed was how identity-based data helps to locate and remove systemic barriers</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/about/education_equity_plan_en.pdf">action plan for Ontario, which aims to make sure every student has the opportunity to succeed, “regardless of background, identity or personal circumstances,”</a> includes an analysis of identity-based data. </p>
<p>Researchers have demonstrated that in Toronto public schools, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/study-black-students-toronto-york-university-1.4082463">Black, racialized and lower-income students face significant gaps in student outcomes</a>. Other reports show <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/43198">gaps as high as 30 per cent on standardized test scores</a>. Lower socioeconomic groupings of Black, Middle Eastern, Indigenous and Latino boys were among those most impacted by the achievement gap. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-wont-canada-collect-data-on-race-and-student-success-106689">Why won’t Canada collect data on race and student success?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On top of this, racialized students feel less comfortable at school. <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/StudentCensusReport-SchoolExperiencesFinal.pdf">Black, Latino and (racially) mixed students from lower socioeconomic groups reported lower levels of school satisfaction than</a> all other racial groups. These students felt less comfortable participating in class than students in higher socioeconomic groups. </p>
<p>This data could help Ontario school boards not only identify issues, but also change the systems and structures that cause achievement and opportunity gaps for underserved groups of students. </p>
<h2>Factor in historical injustices</h2>
<p>For decades, researchers in the United States have used identity-based data to identify achievement gaps between groups of students based on race, gender, language, ability, sexuality and other social identities. </p>
<p>This has not been common practice in Canada. Although some of the U.S. research has been misguided, <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/The-Myth-of-the-Culture-of-Poverty.aspx">critiques of these early reports</a> by education scholars <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/other-peoples-children">has been helpful.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256409/original/file-20190130-124043-a8ekz8.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">Identity-based data is one way school boards can identify and close opportunity gaps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Banter Snaps/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research attention then turned to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10833-006-0007-2">opportunity gaps</a>. This framing considers historical <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199982981.001.0001/acprof-9780199982981">structural barriers in schools that produce educational inequities</a>. So instead of focusing on deficits in students, the research focuses on systemic issues such as economic resources, racism and embedded practices in policies. </p>
<p>This research shift was promising, but most discussions of opportunity gaps still fell short. They generally consider only the distribution and access to material goods within different schools, and fail to account for other opportunity gaps denied to students both inside and outside of school, including present-day and historical inequities.</p>
<h2>Challenge traditional ways of thinking</h2>
<p>As a former TDSB lead teacher in the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Community/Model-Schools-for-Inner-Cities">Model Schools for Inner Cities</a> (MSIC) Program designed to close gaps, and later, as a researcher who studied the MSIC program, I have some insight into how we might begin to tackle these issues in Ontario. </p>
<p>The MSIC program was launched in 2004 to support schools whose students faced the greatest barriers to success. My research analyzes <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/43198">how stakeholder groups like MSIC staff, community partners, district-level staff, school trustees and school principals in the MSIC program made sense of opportunity gaps</a>. </p>
<p>I interviewed people from the stakeholder groups and analyzed program documents to gauge their understanding of the program and how their analysis shifted over a decade. Participants mostly agreed on the purpose of the program (to close opportunity gaps), but they had dramatically different ways of thinking about those gaps. </p>
<p>The two different approaches that emerged are <a href="https://newleftreview.org/II/36/nancy-fraser-reframing-justice-in-a-globalizing-world">affirmative versus transformative</a>. These are categories defined in the context of international development by political theorist Nancy Fraser. The affirmative approach emphasizes fixing or saving students. This method tends to use language like “empower.” </p>
<p>The transformative approach focuses on addressing inequitable systemic barriers as well as challenging ways of thinking that maintain opportunity gaps. This method tends to use language like “support” and “affirm.”</p>
<p>These two different approaches to opportunity gaps lead to very different practices, policies and initiatives. Affirmative approaches saw students and families in the MSIC program as “in need,” while positioning the program as the “saviour.”</p>
<p>Transformative approaches positioned the program as temporary support that aimed to work itself out of existence. Underserved communities were understood to have abundant social, political and cultural resources and agency to ensure their children’s success.</p>
<h2>Affirm identities</h2>
<p>Affirmative approaches work to ensure all students have access to the same experiences and material goods. Equal access to nutrition, technology and health services is also essential in transformative approaches. However, a transformative approach believes opportunity gaps are not fixed by <em>just</em> providing equal resources. Programs should also work to affirm students’ identities. </p>
<p>In other words, schools should develop curriculum, field trips and extracurricular activities based on the students’ lived experiences, interests and aspirations. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831214561469">Injustices can be addressed by the redistribution of goods, but recognition and representation matter as well</a>.</p>
<p>Affirmative approaches provide parents with opportunities to network, learn about parenting and build workforce skills within the confines of board structures. </p>
<p>Transformative approaches work with parents and caregivers to advocate for their rights and navigate the educational system to support their children. </p>
<h2>Teach students to engage critically</h2>
<p>Affirmative approaches are related to the purpose of achieving excellence, in teaching and learning, generally in the form of standardized test scores. </p>
<p>Transformative approaches view equity as a prerequisite for excellence, but excellence is not the main point of education. The main point is to support students in engaging critically in a democratic society. </p>
<p>As Ontario school boards begin their project of collecting identity-based data, and as the boards work towards closing the achievement and opportunity gaps, policy-makers and school leaders will need to focus on transformative approaches. Their work needs to understand the relationships between historical injustices and student achievement, engagement and well-being today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vidya Shah 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>In examining and addressing opportunity gaps for racialized students in schools, school boards must learn to account for present-day and historical inequities.Vidya Shah, Assistant Professor, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.