Download the Call for Contributions
Critical Voices Post
Introduction
The EdD Leadership and Policy program at UBC is grounded in the belief that it is important for participants to engage in scholarly discourse about understanding, critiquing and improving practice in educational settings. Sharing our theories in practice gives the fields in which we are working enrichment in the forms of new perspectives, stimulating inquiry, refining methodologies, expanding knowledge boundaries, fostering innovation, and building professional networks.
Much of the EdD program’s purpose, and achievement, comes from the recognition of students’ and alumni preparedness to engage in critical reflection on practice. This propensity is, in turn, sustained through an acknowledgement of the benefits derived from the enrichment of their conceptual resources which comes from being “reflective,” or introspective, about their own practice, and analytical about the concept of practice itself.
Invitation
In acknowledgement of the nature and purpose of the EdD program, editions of the online publication Critical Voice will be constituted by submissions, from the program’s current students, alumni and faculty that:
- Focus on practice-studying practice, trying to understand practice, being constructively critical of practice, improving one’s practice
- Provoke scholarly engagement, through the critical examination of professional practice
- Highlight (acknowledge/celebrate) the relationship of professional experience and reflexivity, as informed through academic study and research
Publication Outline
- The Critical Voices Journal will be published two times per year in its early stages.
- Submissions will be posted 90 days before publication, and accepted until 30 days before publication.
- Initial submissions will be accepted within a wide range of topics and themes. Length of submissions must be no more than 3,000 words/12 double-spaced pages.
- Only edited submissions will be accepted. (APA 7, 12-point standard Arial or Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.)
Themes and Topics – Open to Suggestions
- Neo-liberalism in today’s educational systems
- Transitions from practice to scholarship, and back again
- What is the difference between a PhD and EdD, in practice and reflexivity, and why does it matter?
- Social justice
- Interdisciplinary work
Themes and Topics
- What do they mean by skilled? What do they mean by scholarship?
- What is the link between leadership and the EdD?
- Indigenous education – access & practices, leadership for decolonization
- Appreciative inquiry – applications in the field
Provocations
- How do we expand public conversations through a praxis of crisis?
- Where is leadership in developing educational policy?
Discussion Groups
- Based on published submissions
- Emerging topics and themes
Responses, Questions, ‘Where Did the Writing Take You’
- Questions for authors and readers
- Suggestions for further dialogue – supporting a community of practice
Aneet Kahlon’s MA Defence
You are invited…
To: Aneet Kahlon’s MA defence on April 8th at 11:00am
Title: An anti-colonial analysis of the Surrey School District’s racial equity strategic plan.
Via Zoom: Please join between 10:45-11:00am.
Join Zoom Meeting for Aneet Kahlon’s MA defence:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/64272845967?pwd=7cCWM0L9fsaydW0pbCkfQbPefQvmPA.1
Meeting ID: 642 7284 5967
Passcode: 764617
We look forward to having you join us as your schedules allow.
All welcome!
Hartej and Bathseba
An anti-colonial analysis of the Surry School District’s racial equity strategic plan.
Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to examine how Canadian K-12 public education racial equity policy may function to reproduce the oppressive social, historical, and political forces it claims to challenge. This thesis conducts a qualitative content analysis of Surrey School District’s Racial Equity Strategic Plan 2023-2028, through an anti-colonial discursive framework, to research how capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, and white supremacy may be overlooked within attempts to achieve racial equity in education. Specifically, this investigation focuses on how hegemony may be reinforced through the implementation of educational racial equity policy due to persistent power inequities embedded in the text which function in opposition to policy goals. This research delves deeply into investigating historical educational policies in British Columbia’s public schools in order to understand how educational policy has affected Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities in the past and how these outcomes endure today. This research finds that in order for the Surrey School District’s Racial Equity Strategic Plan 2023-2028 to improve the equity outcomes of its target populations, it must acknowledge and address the normative colonial structures and values that enforce educational domination over and oppression of marginalized communities beyond the dimension of race. Racial equity and anti-racism policies must incorporate initiatives of critical structural reform of education systems that seek to address the root cause of racism, such as capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, systemic whiteness, and white supremacy, in order to meaningfully and holistically address racism for Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities within K-12 public schooling.
Facing the climate crisis with critical hope: Preparing students for an uncertain future
No registration required. See you on Friday in Ponderosa Oak House 2012!
Synopsis:
Young people today are experiencing an overwhelming sense of eco-anxiety, climate grief, and a loss of hope as they grapple with the harsh realities of a changing planet. The latest IPCC report (2023) gave the world just a few years to limit warming to 1.5 degrees but current projections suggesting we are on track for at least 3 degrees of warming. In the United States federal funding for climate action has been decimated and critical climate education and research is being restricted, defunded, and censored by the Trump administration. Against this backdrop, educating students studying for environmental and sustainability fields has become both an academic and existential challenge. Until recently, I approached teaching about the climate crisis from the perspective of mitigation and adaptation. However, the gravity of the situation and sense of desperation from students demanded a shift in focus. It became clear that we need to prepare environmental and sustainability students for the reality we face – the need to focus on making the “climate landing” as soft as possible for as many people as possible, while ensuring we do so through a lens of equity and justice. In this talk, I will discuss the results of a semester-long student project on critical hope that I’ve implemented throughout my courses, based the work of Dr. Kari Grain. In this project students build essential coping skills, process complex emotions, engage in meaningful action, and learn strategies from decolonial, anti-racist, and intersectional movements. The projects have been transformational for students, pointing to the importance of interrogating how we teach about the climate crisis and the importance of cultivating a deep critical hope in students entering environmental and sustainability fields.
Bio:
Dr. Becky Williams is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. She teaches in the Environmental Studies; Global Studies; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Integrative Studies programs. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on rural and indigenous livelihoods in Central America, and how it impacts livelihood pathways – particularly in terms of irregular migration to the United States or participation in violent livelihoods such as gangs and narcotrafficking. She also conducts research on gender and development projects (e.g., women’s empowerment initiatives, gender-based violence mitigation) through the lens of contemporary critical feminist critiques of development including intersectionality, masculinities, and decoloniality. Dr. Williams earned her PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology, concentrating in Tropical Conservation and Development from the University of Florida and a graduate certificate in Gender and Development. She holds a MS in Instructional Systems Design from Florida State University and a BS in Music Education from Stetson University.
Congratulations to David Warkentin on successfully defending his EdD Dissertation
Please join us in congratulating David Warkentin who successfully defended his EdD Dissertation on March 10 of 2025.
Title:
Unsettling Education in Stó:Lō Téméxw: Exploring the Particularities of Place in Curriculum Research
Abstract:
The role of place in education is complex and multifaceted; place is both a topic of inquiry and a context for education. Yet many Western approaches to education continue to be structured around universal approaches to knowledge and skills development that neglect the role of place in education. The result is education operating under the illusion of placelessness, which obscures how Western society exerts power over people and land in the places of education.
This dissertation responds to the problem of placelessness by examining the author’s location as an educator in Stó:lō Téméxw, the land of the Stó:lō people, commonly known as British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. This project draws on the curriculum research method of synoptic text, a form of inquiry that explores relevant historical and cultural knowledge on topics in society and education. Synoptic text research is used to explore the historical impacts of possessiveness and superiority in settler colonialism in this region, providing relevant examples from the author’s own practice.
This research contributes to the field of place-based education by drawing on concepts from critical place-based and Indigenous land-based education to address the complexities of Indigenous and settler connection to the land. Connection to the land is surveyed within both Stó:lō and settler history. The wisdom of Stó:lō relationship and responsibility to the land is examined alongside the settler assumptions of possessiveness and superiority. By engaging the complicated conversations between Stó:lō and settler perspectives and practices, this curriculum research invites educators to refuse easy solutions to the complexity of decolonization in education.
The curriculum research findings lead to discussion on practices of unlearning and relationality that contribute to decolonization in education. Research conversations with Stó:lō educators and leaders and experiments with curriculum examples are included to illustrate ways the relevant knowledge of Stó:lō Téméxw can inform educational practice. The iterative and contextual nature of these conversations and curriculum examples invite educators to consider the implications for unsettling education in their own places of education.
Chair of Examination Committee:
Dr. Kerry Renwick
University Examiners:
Dr. Harpell Montgomery (School of Social Work)
Dr. Cash Ahenakew (Educational Studies)
External Examiner:
Dr. Geraldine Balzer (University of Saskatchewan)
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Alison Taylor (Supervisor)
Dr. William Pinar (Member)
Dr. Joaquin Muñoz (Member)
