Four new Provostial Fellows have taken up their roles this year. The program is now in its second year running, with current fellowships in place until spring 2023.

As an initiative led by the provost, each of the Fellows will build capacity across the institution to advance the University Academic Plan and 91亚色鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Challenge. At the same time, the program offers tenured faculty an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with University leadership. Here is a look at what the Fellows will be doing in Fall 2022 through to Spring 2023.

Ensuring LGBTQ2S+ students can access support to successfully launch careers

Jen Gilbert
Professor
Faculty of Education

Jen Gilbert鈥檚 project, 鈥淟GBTQ2S+ Students鈥� Experiences in their Professional and Clinical Placements,鈥� will engage the 91亚色 community in identifying new ways to better support early career nurses, social workers and teachers.

The project will support University Academic Plan priority 鈥淔rom Access to Success鈥� and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities.

This work will look at the experiences of LGBTQ2S+ professionals as they embark upon clinical placements and positions in their field. Often, as students leave the university and begin working in their professions, they can enter less LGBTQ2S+ positive spaces. These students frequently enter the field full of excitement only to encounter homophobia and transphobia from supervisors, co-workers, clients, patients or students.

Faculty, staff and students will meet to talk about what kinds of supports should be put in place to best prepare these students in their professional education. A pan-University advisory group will also be created, alongside focus groups and consultations across the 91亚色 community.

During Pride Month in June, 2023, meetings will be held over the course of a day to formally identify ways to support 2SLGBTQ+ students through experiential education. Students, program administrators and representatives from professional accrediting associations will meet, share strategies, and hear from student representatives. The project will conclude with a report on best practices for supporting 2SLGBTQ+ students in experiential education.

Changing transportation patterns to reduce 91亚色鈥檚 carbon footprint

Burkard Eberlein
Professor of Public Policy and Sustainability
Schulich School of Business

Burkard Eberlein鈥檚 project, 鈥淎dvancing Carbon Neutrality at 91亚色: Reimagining Mobility,鈥� targets carbon emissions from commuting and travel related to studying, research and other University business activities. 

The project will support University Academic Plan priority 鈥淟iving Well Together鈥� and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action.

The of this project identified best practices for reducing emissions from other universities around the world. Data from 91亚色鈥檚 carbon inventory was also weighed to understand the dynamics of 91亚色鈥檚 current carbon footprint. This data analysis will enable the project to match innovative ideas and best practices with 91亚色鈥檚 emissions profile so that proposals for action can target relevant areas and make an impact. The next phase of this project will involve a community-wide transportation survey, set to roll out this October. The goal of this survey is to gain a better understanding of community鈥檚 support for reducing mobility-related emissions. Overall, the project aims to find opportunities to reduce emissions within 91亚色鈥檚 current carbon footprint, so that the University can right the future on climate change.

Diversifying and decolonizing curriculum at 91亚色

Lalai Ameeriar
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Lalaie Ameeriar鈥檚 project 鈥淒iversifying and Decolonizing Curriculum鈥� sums up the progress made at 91亚色 in this area and looks to identify opportunities to further maximize impact. As an anthropologist and ethnographer with more than 10 years of experience in research and teaching, Ameeriar brings unique expertise to this work.

In order to understand more about the experiences and viewpoints of various units and faculties who have implemented these efforts, a wider consultation will take place. Meeting with members of the Indigenous Council and the Advisory Council on Black Inclusion, the project will examine what efforts are making a difference at 91亚色. A report will identify these experiences and create a benchmark for action.

Ameeriar will also review the literature, exploring what is meant by decolonizing the curriculum. Texts written on decolonizing and Indigenizing the curriculum in Canada, such as Sheila Cote-Meek鈥檚 Colonized Classrooms: Racism, Trauma and Resistance in Post-secondary Education (2014, Fernwood Publishing), will guide the review.

Supporting international student success after the pandemic

Saskia Van Viegen
Associate Professor
Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Saskia Van Viegen鈥檚 project 鈥淓ngaging the Multilingual University鈥� sets out to improve experiences and support for bilingual and multilingual international students at 91亚色.

The pandemic had a disproportional impact on international students. Restrictions to global travel interrupted access to campus life and many of the benefits of studying abroad.

This project examines levels of support that are currently available to students and will identify opportunities to enhance the student experience, with a particular focus on factors that drive academic success and persistence towards graduation. It will delve into how students navigate and access the University鈥檚 support networks.

Van Viegen will consult with students and stakeholders from across the primary faculties, departments and programs that admit international students. The project will also identify critical networks of support and effective changes to program delivery models within an equity, diversity and inclusion framework. Finally, the project will provide a concrete set of recommendations that align with University Academic Plan priorities on 21st Century Learning and Next Generation Student Supports, and contribute to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education.

The post New Provostial Fellows engage community to lead on Sustainable Development Goals appeared first on Faculty of Education.

Three 91亚色 Region hospitals will be adding pronouns into their electronic health records in an effort to improve care for LGBTQ2S+ people.

Southlake Regional Health Care, Oak Valley Health (formerly Markham Stouffville Hospital) and Stevenson Memorial have announced starting Aug. 10, patients will be asked, 鈥渨ould you like to share your pronouns?鈥� at patient registration.

鈥溾�� the hospitals said in a joint statement released Aug. 11.

Tristan Coolman, president of Pflag 91亚色 Region, calls it an 鈥渋ncredibly important鈥� move, one that could provide assurance to marginalized groups they will be treated with dignity, as individuals, rather than assumptions based on appearance.

鈥淎 lot of people in the queer community avoid engaging with the health-care system for fear of being treated poorly or based on past experiences,鈥� he said.

All three hospital presidents called it a step in the right direction and a sign of respect.

Jen Gilbert, a professor with 91亚色鈥檚 faculty of education, says pronouns can be powerful and can play a role in fostering a .

鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 just words, maybe it鈥檚 one small thing, but it鈥檚 the acknowledgement that the world is a lot different from what we imagined it to be.鈥�

Read the full story in .

The post In the media: He? She? They? 91亚色 Region hospitals to ask for preferred pronouns appeared first on Faculty of Education.

As teens venture out to explore and experiment with sexuality and forge their new, post-pandemic identities, let鈥檚 not begin every conversation about sexuality with worries about pregnancy and disease, writes Associate Professor Jen Gilbert in an article for the .

For the past year, the pandemic has shaped how young people have been forced to consider risk. Masks, social distancing, hand washing, staying home 鈥� these are new norms of safety for life as what's popularly been dubbed a "quaranteenager."

As parents work to support teenagers鈥� emotional and physical well-being this spring and summer, let鈥檚 not forget the ways this pandemic has interrupted their sexual development. Teens are supposed to be establishing new intimate relationships outside of the family.

Just as COVID-19 has required parents to have difficult and frank conversations with the teens about health risks, the pandemic provides an opportunity for parents to have frank conversations about sexuality and safety as well.

The post The Conversation Canada: Parents, for your 鈥榪uaranteenager鈥檚鈥� sexual health, talk to them about taking risks appeared first on Faculty of Education.

The lessons learned from changes to these curriculums in 2015 and 2019 are outlined in a new report, , launching April 27.

Although most teachers interviewed for this report welcomed changes to the 1998 health, sex and physical education curriculum, they felt highly surveilled and stressed, and frustrated with the way the new curriculums were rolled out without adequate supports, training and resources. In the space of several years, they were asked to teach three different curriculums.

The researchers wanted to know how teachers at the frontlines of this confluence of ideological battles between governments, parents, teachers, human rights and students were navigating this charged political environment, and what could be done differently next time.

鈥淲hile we collected the data pre-COVID, in many ways I think so many of the recommendations that are coming out of this report in terms of the kind of supports that teachers need, and more supportive work environments, are even more salient today,鈥� says Flicker, 91亚色 Research Chair in Community-Based Participatory Research in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to navigate teaching and learning and communicating around health and safety in this new environment, in this very changed landscape, thinking about sexuality, risk and relationships. I don鈥檛 think public health has had a moment when more of us were paying attention to things like hygiene and setting boundaries, understanding consent, and understanding the well-being of ourselves and others.鈥�

Health and physical education teachers play an important role in helping young people think about their bodies, their well-being, making safer decisions and reducing risks, but in many ways, teachers are even more surveilled now as they Zoom in from their homes into their students鈥� homes, says Flicker.

The report will launch at a virtual event 鈥� Teaching Health & Physical Education in Uncertain Times 鈥� on April 27, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The event will include a talk by Flicker on the key findings of her study, followed by Faculty of Education Professor Sarah Barrett sharing her final report, Emergency Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers鈥� Perspectives, released last month. To register, visit the Zoom conference registration .

For the Changing the Rules study, Flicker and her team, including Faculty of Education Associate Professor , interviewed 34 teachers who had taught health and physical education in K-12 Ontario schools for at least five years. They hailed from 17 school boards, including public school boards, independent First Nations boards, Catholic boards, and French boards. 

Almost all teachers interviewed agreed the curriculum needed updating and the proposed changes were important. They felt young people need to be able to talk about how things like cell phones and the internet impact their lives, including sexually and romantically, and have teachers be able to discuss these issues with them as part of the curriculum. Many felt that sharing information about substance use, STIs, pregnancy, hygiene, and healthy relationships would help young people make decisions that would help them grow up to live happier or healthier lives.

Teachers said they need more resources particularly in the context of changing demographics in Ontario.

鈥淎s the province becomes more diverse, teachers need resources that reflect that diversity and help them have health and physical education conversations in ways that honour very different cultural traditions and understandings around the body and health, and well-being,鈥� says Flicker.

Some of the suggestions for the future included changing the curriculum incrementally on a regular basis to ensure it remains relevant and responsive to the changing realities of Ontario students. Diverse stakeholders should be included in future consultations to ensure the curriculum is meeting the needs of all students and their communities. In addition, policies, templates and strategies need to be put in place to accommodate those students not participating in sex education classes. A culture of learning and support for teachers and students should be fostered.

Watch Flicker discuss the results of her study and their relevancy to today in the series of videos below:

Article from the April 21, 2021 issue of .

The post Report shows lessons learned from changes to sex ed curriculum relevant during COVID-19 appeared first on Faculty of Education.