Hello there, we’re GEEC, the Greater Equity in Early Education and Care: Child, Family, and Community Engaged Research team. We are a research collaborative working with community partners to promote equity in learning and care for children through child, family, and community engaged research.
The Enhancing Equity in Ontario Elementary Education Symposium took place on October 11 and 12, 2023. The symposium invited participation by all Ontario district school boards, education stakeholders, and scholars focused on educational equity and human rights to allow for sharing of promising practices around equity-based initiatives, along with providing space to reflect on and commit to action towards enhanced equity for elementary school students. At the symposium, in partnership with podcast host Stephen Hurley (voiceEd Radio), we hosted a powerful series of ‘Speaker’s Corner’ podcast conversations with equity leaders across the province.
Each Educational Equity Podcast episode explores the ongoing work of dismantling systemic barriers in education and highlights the lived experiences, insights, and calls to action from advocates and educators working to make education more inclusive and equitable.
Educational Equity Podcast #2: Speaker’s Corner – Relationships, Dialogue, and Listening with Atala Andratis
In this episode, Atala Andratis, Equity Lead for the Grand Erie District School Board, shares about the essential role of dialogue in breaking down barriers and building inclusive environments. Drawing from her multilingual background and experiences as an educator, Atala advocates for an asset-based approach to supporting diverse student populations.
Some key messages from this episode include:
Educational Equity Podcast #3: Speaker’s Corner – Community Voices and Appreciating the Whole Fruit Salad with Ingrid Palmer
In this episode, Ingrid Palmer, founder of Focus on Ability and Principal IDEAL Advocate at Realize, shares about the importance of educational equity for students with disabilities, drawing from her personal journey, extensive experiences, and as a passionate advocate for inclusive practices.
Some key messages from this episode include:
Educational Equity Podcast #4: Speaker’s Corner – Culturally Relevant Pedagogy with Karen Murray
In this episode, Karen Murray, System Superintendent for Equity, Anti-Oppression, and Early Years at the Toronto District School Board, discusses her book My Best Idea: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and the everyday practices that support equity in classrooms. Karen emphasizes the value of educators embedding culturally relevant approaches in all aspects of teaching.
Some key messages from this episode include:
Educational Equity Podcast #5: Speaker’s Corner – Human Rights and Equity Initiatives with Pam Agawa
In this episode, Pam Agawa, Human Rights and Equity Lead for Keewatin Patricia District School Board, discusses the shift from research to actionable steps, the importance of community relationships and innovative approaches to overcoming systemic barriers. With a background in both education and government, Pam shares about the challenges and possibilities of ongoing efforts to create inclusive and supportive learning environments.
Some key messages from this episode include:
To listen to the podcast, review the transcript and for more information, head to https://www.torontomu.ca/educational-equity-symposium/podcasts-/
Congratulations to all of our undergraduate and graduate students who convocated in Fall 2024! We are celebrating Jane Cervi, who was a student in Dr. Sejal Patel’s graduate Internship in Early Childhood Studies course, and an alumna of the Masters in Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.
We would also like to acknowledge Martha Friendly, who has been a leading member in the child care movement since the 1960s, recently becoming an appointee to the Order of Canada and receiving a Key to the City of Toronto. Martha is the founder and executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit in Toronto where Jane Cervi was a graduate student intern in Winter 2024.
Martha has led the child care movement in Canada advocating for an equitable, universal, high-quality child care sector. A social science researcher by education, she started working on early childhood education and child care research in the late 1960s and became a part of grassroots child care activism in the 1970s. Martha founded the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies in the early 1980s, which has a mandate to work towards a universal child care system. The CRRU is now an independent non-profit organization continuing to do this work. Martha is the author of numerous publications and the recipient of many awards, including an honourary doctorate from Trent University.
On behalf of Jane Cervi and the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, we wish to personally congratulate Martha on her tremendous accomplishments.
During Jane Cervi’s time at the CRRU, Martha taught her many valuable lessons about leading the way and advocating for children and families, and the role of research and policy in the early learning and child care sector.
Martha and the CRRU team inspired Jane Cervi to continue with this important work and to be an advocate for a universal child care sector that we can all be proud of. “Having spent significant time listening, reading and learning throughout my time as an intern with the CRRU team I soon began to realize there was a major piece of the early learning and child care puzzle missing. This piece is to look deeper at prioritizing expansion for children and their families through the lens of a professional who understands and cares deeply for the early learning and child care sector.”-Jane Cervi
Click here to read more about the need for child care expansion in Ontario’s Niagara Region.
To promote mobilization of the ideas and resources that were shared during the EEOEE Symposium, one-page summaries were created based on each panel. To view these summaries, click on the blue links below or visit https://www.torontomu.ca/educational-equity-symposium/panel-summary-reports/ for more information.
Panel A: Equity for Black Students
Panel B: Equity for Students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)
Panel C: Equity for Disabled Students
Panel D: Equity for 2SLGBTQIA+ Students
Panel E: Equity for Indigenous Students
Panel F: Equity for Students Living in Low Sociodemographic Neighbourhoods
The first episode of the Educational Equity podcast, titled Indigenous Perspectives on Learning and Unlearning, is now live!
Hosts Stephen Hurley and Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook are joined by young Indigenous knowledge keepers, Kiera Brant-Birioukov, Kyrstin Dumont, Stephanie Sanders, Marissa Magneson, Roxanne Gillis, and Melissa Somer. In this podcast, participants shared their perspectives on equity, informed by their Indigenous worldviews and lived experiences. The discussion was guided by the following questions:
•What is equity for each of you in terms of your lived experiences and in terms of your current work in relation to settler colonial K-6 public and private schooling systems in Ontario?
• What are some of the historical and/or ongoing individual, structural, systemic and societal barriers?
• What is some of the professional (un)learning work taking place to support students?
To listen to the podcast and for more information about each speaker and their work, head to https://www.torontomu.ca/educational-equity-symposium/podcasts-/
The Enhancing Equity in Ontario Elementary Education Symposium was held virtually and in-person at Toronto Metropolitan University, on October 11th and 12th, 2023. Enhancing Equity in Ontario Education is a project led by Dr. Sejal Patel (Early Childhood Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University), in partnership with Dr. Alana Butler from Queen’s University, Dr. Adam Davies from University of Guelph, Dr. George Dei from University of Toronto, Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook from University of Ottawa, Dr. Vidya Shah from York University, Dr. Janelle Brady and Dr. Kathryn Underwood from Toronto Metropolian University, Tesa Fiddler from Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Max Cooke from EdCan Network, Stephen Hurley from voicEd Radio, Courtnay McFarlane from Regent Park Community Health Centre, and Annie Kidder and Dr. Robin Liu Hopson from People for Education.
The Symposium invited participation by all Ontario district school boards, education stakeholders, and scholars focused on educational equity and human rights (considering Black and Indigenous students, newcomer/international students, racialized students, students living in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods, student who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled students, and other intersectionalities), to allow for sharing of promising practices around equity-based initiatives, along with providing space to reflect on and commit to taking greater action in support of enhanced equity for elementary school students.
Video Recap:
As we begin 2024, we reflect on the inspiring conversations that took place at the Enhancing Equity in Ontario Elementary Education symposium. The symposium provided opportunities to share and consider promising practices regarding enhancing equity for elementary students. We received wonderful feedback about the logistics, moderated discussions, panels, and presentations, and are grateful for all of the dialogue and action that the symposium attendees continue to inspire.
Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of the presenters, symposium staff and volunteers. Your collaboration, support, and effort helped to ensure that the symposium ran as smoothly as possible.
Thank you all for your participation in this important event. Stay tuned for podcasts and symposium proceedings, which will be mobilized through this website.
Meet Sarah Saeidpour, the Research Manager on the GEEC team. Sarah is in her second year of the Bachelor of Education program at York University, and holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Sarah has experience working in a variety of educational settings with children and families, such as in preschools with specialized programming for children with disabilities, elementary classrooms, and resource consultation.
As an Ontario Certified Teacher, Sarah highly values inclusion and accessibility. She is always looking for ways to increase student and family engagement in education, and is passionate about compiling or creating resources that are relevant to each child’s/family’s individual needs and experiences. Sarah strives to follow and advocate for frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning, and hopes to create spaces where children and families feel a sense of belonging and community.
As a member of the GEEC team, Sarah is looking forward to gaining more insight into the world of research, and discovering new resources that are relevant to her practice and goals. Sarah is excited to build and share her passion for equity and accessibility in education throughout her participation on the team.
Join us at the upcoming two-day Enhancing Equity in Ontario Elementary Education symposium on October 11th and 12th, 2023 (information about the organizing research advisory committee and two-day program can be found at https://www.torontomu.ca/educational-equity-symposium/ ). The in-person symposium will include representatives of school boards and community organizations.
We will be live-streaming the in-person symposium to a virtual event management system and are opening up registration for anyone to attend virtually. We are hoping that virtual registration will improve accessibility of this event across Ontario.
All attendees will have access to French-English and ASL interpretation options, along with captioning in French and English.
Registration can be completed online at https://tmu-emarketplace.paymytuition.com/enhancing-equity-in-ontario-elementary-education-symposium . Select from the virtual participation options.
Virtual registration is currently scheduled to close on Friday, October 6th, 2023.
If you have any questions, please contact: educationalequity@torontomu.ca
Meet Aalim Makani, Research Manager of the GEEC team. Aalim completed his Honours Bachelor of Science majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Toronto, Scarborough. He is currently a second-year M.A. student in the psychological science program at Toronto Metropolitan University. His research focuses on emotion and decision-making across the adult lifespan.
As a member of the GEEC research team, Aalim looks forward to experiential learning with research outside the realm of Psychology. He is excited to bring a unique perspective to enhance equity and hopes to bring about change from the ground up for children in marginalized communities.
Meet Rimsha Ahmad, a Project Manager on the GEEC team. Rimsha will be starting her Master of Education in Fall 2023, having recently completed the requirements for her B.E.d. in the concurrent education program with York/ Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), and graduated with a B.A. in Early Childhood Studies at TMU. As a teacher, Rimsha is passionate about making education accessible to children in marginalized communities.
Rimsha recently volunteered at Pathways to Education, an organization that aims to provide equitable education to students in low-income communities. She is also a volunteer at The Citizens Foundation, a registered charity that aims to provide educational opportunities for unprivileged children across the world. Rimsha is excited to combine her experience working in such organizations with her passion for equitable education.
Rimsha has practical experience working with children in K-6 school settings and has completed various practicums with the Toronto District School Board. Through her work in the GEEC research group, Rimsha is excited to bring forth her experiences in the education system to enhance equity for marginalized communities.
We are pleased to share that SSHRC invited Dr. Sejal Patel to be interviewed about GEEC research in November of 2022. This was shared through SSHRC’s Research Stories on their website, and through the SSHRC ‘Dialogue’ e-Newsletter.
Click here to read the Research Story.