Writing Support Sessions

The purpose of these zoom workshops is to support students on their dissertation journey who are at various stages including: refining research questions, developing proposals, preparing chapters, reading relevant material, and revising based on feedback. We begin with a check-in, followed by 3-4 blocks of time of 30 to 40 mins each (audio and video off) with a 5 minute break in between, and closing with a check out.

Join when you can for as long as you can. Registration is not required. Please contact Shauna Butterwick for more information: shauna.butterwick@ubc.ca

Zoom Link:

https://ubc.zoom.us/j/69978066117?pwd=UGpPR1FXOCtpYXYrMkc2VFowQ0Vjdz09

Meeting ID: 699 7806 6117

Passcode: 391320

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“The homeland will be when all of us will be strangers” 

— from a poem by Francesco Nappo (translated from the Italian)*

Dear EDST Members, students, staff, and faculty:

Greetings and hope the long weekend has been restful and re-invigorating.

Today, Monday, September 2nd, 2025, we embark on a new academic year, 2025-2026. Welcome to all EDST members on campus, students, staff and faculty. Welcome all particularly to new colleagues and incoming students who join us for their first year on this campus.

We embark on a new academic year in the midst of a world in full turmoil; a world characterized by major geopolitical regional and global power shifts. It is good to recall: this large world is here, in our midst, with EDST members originating from its various regions; EDST is part of this world. How we engage the current turmoil and its challenges; what lessons we learn from them; and how do we think through the challenges we face – all these are central to our mission as a Department concerned with educational policies and practices. Let this encounter be one of renewed commitment to furthering our contributions to a worth-wanting education, whether the reference is to K-12 schooling, informal and lifelong learning, or to higher education.

EDST’s mission statement captures the values we seek to pursue and uphold:

• “EDST’s mission is multi-disciplinary scholarship, teaching, service and community engagement that advances knowledge about critical education issues, and transformative learning that supports students’ goals. Faculty, staff, and students in EDST value equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, social justice, and decolonization. Respect, criticality, and integrity guide our relationships.”

In our work, we deploy various instruments to further this broad mission, to name but a few: the Doctoral Colloquium, Research Day, GAA-led activities and initiatives, guest lectures and presentations, as well as campus-wide engagements and funded research projects, among other. Let us focus on upholding the mission statement as we take part in these initiatives and activities. Let us not forget that such instruments are central to our ability to build an EDST worth-wanting, conducive of personal and collective growth, as a home — i.e., a shared space — in which all feel affiliated without giving up on their voice. The capacity to listen, to build shared spaces of reflection and action is therefore core in making EDST a place of significance for us all and for each other.

The world does not seem to spare us its complexities and its share of suffering and pain. In many ways, thinking about education — broadly understood — entails touching on the wounds of a suffering humanity; a humanity in which the questions of justice, inclusion, and equity stand at the centre of our work. The complexity of contexts should not make us shy away from exploring how best to address the challenges facing our work and the knowledge and practices we wish to promote. Let EDST be a vibrant hub of courageous intellectual and praxis-led experimentation with new ideas, initiatives, and relationships towards the building of a just world.

Wishing everyone a fulfilling and solidary academic year,

André

* Francesco Nappo, born in 1949 in Naples (Italy), teaches Italian and history in an elementary school.

https://edst.educ.ubc.ca/events/event/inaugural-lecture-dr-chuutsqa-rorick/

Bathseba Opini
University of British Columbia

https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/jcie/index.php/JCIE/article/view/29758/21507

Dr. Dan Pratt’s profile: https://edst.educ.ubc.ca/pratt-dan/

Pillars of Purpose in Teaching

Daniel D. Pratt, Brett Schrewe, and Martin V. Pusic

People often look for a
shadow of themselves
when evaluating another teacher.

To see teaching clearly,
We must look through four lenses
Each one is a pillar of purpose.

Teaching as a Cultural Act

We do not teach
from a neutral position.

Teaching exists within culture.
It is shaped by history,
tradition, and inherited roles.

Every classroom decision
reflects assumptions
about truth, relationship,
and power.

To teach well, we must ask:
Whose stories are we telling?
Whose ways of knowing
are we elevating?

Teaching as an Intellectual Act

It begins with thought
It begins with truth.

Good teachers engage students
with critical questions,
core concepts, and
unresolved debates.

It is guided by reason,
shaped by evidence,
driven by curiosity.

The teacher becomes
a translator of complexity,
a guide through uncertainty.

Teaching as a Relational Act

It begins with connection and
It begins with trust.

Good teaching engages the heart
It is built through presence
It is shaped through dialogue
It is sustained through respect.

Students interpret content
through the lens of connection
They seek feedback,
Clarity and care.

The teacher is not just a transmitter
but a partner in learning.

Teaching as a Moral Act

Teacher is watched
not only in action,
but in integrity.

Good teaching faces dilemmas
It navigates ambiguity
It responds to complexity
It acts when no rule applies.

To teach ethics,
one must live ethically
To teach compassion,
one must act compassionately.

What we choose to do
teaches more than
what we say.

Becoming Teacher

Each teacher begins with
a commitment to one of those.

Over time those
commitments deepen,
and those become a
pedagogical identity.

Don’t look for a
shadow of thy self;
Look for the Pillars of Purpose.

[1] Pratt, Schrewe, Pusic. Pedagogical validity: The key to understanding different forms of ‘good’ teaching, Medical Teacher. 2019 Jun;41(6):638-640. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2018.1533242.Epub 2019 Jan 28.