SSHRC Insight Grant for "From Opportunity to Inequality: A History of Inner-Suburban Schools in Canada, 1945-present."

SSHRC Insight Grant for “From Opportunity to Inequality: A History of Inner-Suburban Schools in Canada, 1945-present.”

UBC researchers are leading 49 projects awarded $6.6m through the SSHRC Insight Grants program. Included is Dr. Jason Ellis’ “From Opportunity to Inequality: A History of Inner-Suburban Schools in Canada, 1945-present” for
$104,963.

The Insight Grants support research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. Funding is available to both emerging and established scholars for research initiatives of two to five years. Stable support for long-term research initiatives is central to advancing knowledge. It enables scholars to address complex issues about individuals and societies, and to further our collective understanding.

https://research.ubc.ca/ubc-researchers-awarded-66m-through-sshrc-insight-grants

Amy Metcalfe awarded an OER Grant from UBC Open Education Resource Fund

The Open EDST project aims to involve our graduate students, many of whom are currently or will be instructors or TAs for our undergraduate courses, in an initiative to: 1) build awareness of departmental open educational practices and materials through a wiki-based directory of OER created by EDST students and faculty, and, 2) interview EDST students and faculty about their use of, interest in, or critiques of open pedagogy, open access publication, and open educational resources, to be distributed online as a podcast series in 2020-2021.

As we move more of our courses online as part of UBC’s pandemic response, members of the Department of Educational Studies (EDST) are creating new open educational resources (OER), searching for existing OER to incorporate into their courses, asking critical questions about open pedagogy, and becoming more aware of open access research dissemination practices. Amid this move to online instruction, as the pandemic continues to disrupt global society and inequality is intensified, there is greater need for educational resources that offer anti-racist, decolonizing, and community-based perspectives, which are focal areas of research and teaching in EDST. As we are also working and learning from home, we are isolated from the types of collegial interactions that facilitate pedagogical and collective discussions within the department. This OER Rapid Innovation Grant will enable EDST to participate in OER awareness activities and critically reflect on the promises and limitations of “open” pedagogies during the 2020-2021 academic year.

EDST in the news – Vancouver’s drug strategy

Daniel Jordan (EDST alumnus) and Dr. Jude Walker have an opinion piece, “Vancouver’s drug strategy: It’s time to erect the second pillar — treatment,” about Vancouver’s drug strategy in the Vancouver Sun.

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/daniel-jordan-and-jude-walker-vancouvers-drug-strategy-its-time-to-erect-the-second-pillar-treatment

New Publication – Can the displaced speak

Can the displaced speak? Muslim refugee girls negotiating identity, home and belonging through Photovoice, written by EDST’s Neila Miled, has been published in Women’s Studies International Forum.

See publication here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277539519304157

New Book – Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education

Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education:

Bodies of Knowledge and their Discontents, International and Comparative Perspectives

Editors: André Elias Mazawi & Michelle Stack

EDST Contributors: Maren Elfert, Jo-Ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, Hartej Gill, Bathseba Opini, Sam Rocha, Stephanie Glick, Esraa Al-Muftah, and Meena Uppal.

Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education problematizes one of the least researched phenomena in teacher education, the design of course syllabi, using critical and decolonial approaches. This book looks at the struggles that scholars, policy makers, and educators from a diverse range of countries including Australia, Canada, India, Iran, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the USA, and Zambia face as they design course syllabi in higher education settings. The chapter authors argue that course syllabi are political constructions, representing intense sites of struggles over visions of teacher education and visions of society. As such, they are deeply immersed in what Walter Mignolo calls the “geopolitics of knowledge”. Authors also show how syllabi have become akin to contractual documents that define relations between instructors and students Based on a set of empirically grounded studies that are compared and contrasted, the chapters offer a clearer picture of how course syllabi function within distinct socio-political, economic, and historical contexts of practice and teacher education.

Access book details and Table of Contents: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/course-syllabi-in-faculties-of-education-9781350094253/

Dr. Jason Ellis – CAFE Best Book Award

Congratulations Dr. Ellis on receiving the CAFE Publication Award for Single or Dual-Authored Book, 2017-2019!

From the CAFE Publication Award Committee citation:

“The CAFE Publications Award Committee unanimously recommended Dr. Jason Ellis’ single-authored book published in 2019 A Class By Themselves? The Origins of Special Education in Toronto and Beyond for this prestigious publication award. In their reviews, the Committee recognized the excellence of this publication in terms of originality and theoretical grounding, but also exuberantly appreciated the outstanding contribution of this book to the study and promotion of the Foundations of Education. The Committee members noted the incredible commitment that Dr. Ellis undertook in carefully examining the immense primary and secondary source documents from the Toronto Board of Education special education records from 1910 to 1945, and appreciated how this detailed work was able to shed contemporary light on historical debates on diversity and inclusion, but most importantly revealed the students and parents as historical actors in their own right. The Committee also appreciated the ways that Dr. Ellis’ detailed accounts provide sensitive and revealing intersections with issues of class, race, immigration, and language to broaden interest to educational scholars beyond critical disability studies, history of education and special education. Through this work Dr. Ellis has provided an original and disquieting picture of special education which is well-positioned to inform policy and ongoing debates.”

New Guest Blog – Not even a sack of potatoes

Guest Post on the University of the Fraser Valley President’s blog:

Shirley Swelchalot Hardman, Senior Advisor on Indigenous Affairs And EDST PhD student

“Not even a sack of potatoes”.

By Shirley Swelchalot Hardman

https://blogs.ufv.ca/president/guest-post-shirley-swelchalot-hardman-senior-advisor-on-indigenous-affairs/

EDST 583A (021)

EDST 583A Advanced seminar in educational studies: Political economy of education

Winter 1, Wednesdays 4:30-6pm

Register: https://courses.students.ubc.ca/cs/courseschedule?sesscd=W&pname=subjarea&tname=subj-section&course=583A&sessyr=2020&section=021&dept=EDST

Note: In addition to asynchronous discussions (on Canvas), I’m planning a synchronous class component for 1 -1.5 hours each week. Any student in a time zone that makes synchronous participation challenging should contact the instructor.

Course overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has been dominating the news and minds of people across the globe in recent days. In addition to pointing to the shortcomings of emergency preparedness and healthcare systems, the crisis allows us to shine a spotlight on relationships between politics, economy, and education that are even more visible at this time. Daily briefings by the Prime Minister of Canada focus not only on how to avoid contracting the virus, but also how to keep the economy moving, and how to support workers whose livelihoods have been devastated by the shutting down of major economic sectors. The globalization of higher education is being challenged too.

The aim of this course is to use the crisis of COVID-19 to analyze longstanding issues related to the political economy of education. While the primary focus is on Canada, comparisons will be made with other national contexts. We will address issues across education systems including K-12, post-secondary, and adult education.

The course will be organized in 4 interrelated sections as follows:

Section 1 addresses what is meant by “political economy” and how writers have taken it up in relation to education.

Section 2 highlights issues related to “access” to education, especially for the most vulnerable in society.

Section 3 focuses on issues related to “the organization and delivery” of education.

Section 4 addresses issues related to what and whose “knowledge” is valued in education and in society.

Assessment

Assignments will include participation in online and synchronous discussions, and either a traditional ‘Final paper’ or ‘Action project’ on a topic related to the class themes. The latter will involve work to support the educational aims of the UBC Learning Exchange and its community partners in the downtown eastside. All ‘Action projects’ will be conducted remotely using Zoom sessions with partners.

Register: https://courses.students.ubc.ca/cs/courseschedule?sesscd=W&pname=subjarea&tname=subj-section&course=583A&sessyr=2020&section=021&dept=EDST

Contact the instructor for more details: Dr. Alison Taylor (alison.taylor@ubc.ca)

Erasmus International Credit Mobility from the EU

Dr. Gerald Fallon (UBC) and Dr. Eve Eisenschmidt (University of Talinn in Estonia) were successful in obtaining an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility from the European Union to support the first phase of a collaboration between the two universities over a period of three years in the field of educational leadership and administration. The focus of this collaboration will be on the co-development of common graduate online courses, pilot projects and research initiatives in educational leadership reflecting national and international perspectives, especially with regard to educational leadership for equity and inclusive education. In addition, this project will offer opportunities for Faculty members in EDST and other departments in the UBC Faculty of Education to get involved in this international initiative.

New Publication: The (De)Colonial Pedagogical Possibilities of Films and Film Festival

The (De)Colonial Pedagogical Possibilities of Films and Film Festivals has been published in Postcolonial Directions in Education (PDE), issues 8.2 (2019) and 9.1 (2020), accessible at the Open Access Repository (OAR) of the University of Malta at <https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/19316>.