Anti‑oppressive and Transformative Education

To achieve an equitable, diverse, and inclusive teaching and learning environment, we must first transform that environment. Like any western post-secondary institution of education, what we teach and how we teach advantages some students, but significantly disadvantages or marginalizes many others. Social inequities and structures are reproduced and reinforced in our classrooms, content, syllabi, assessments, and in our institutional language and policies.

Two primary foci of this portfolio are to work with others, through equity and social justice lenses, to:

  1. identify unnecessary institutional and classroom barriers to student learning and
  2. challenge systemic racism and oppression within the institution, that are reinforced or reproduced through teaching and learning, policies, and programs/curricula. 

The fundamental paradigm shift is a much-needed move away from deficit perceptions of students, and to turn attention instead to how the learning environment could prohibit all students from attaining “success” (the term “success” must be defined by more than academic performance and include a more holistic understanding of students’ journeys through higher education), and to how these possible barriers can be removed.

To further explore the above, please contact Tereigh Ewert, Senior Educational Developer (Anti-Oppressive and Transformative Education) at Tereigh.Ewert@dal.ca. We look forward to supporting your work.