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About FESI 2020

FESI 2020 will aim to highlight the oppressive policies and practices, rooted in White Supremacy, espoused by a variety of sectors that influence the lives of young people, with the end impact being on the bodies of the same children. The urgency to recognize and act to address these systems that continue to harm and disenfranchise marginalized children must be given the highest of priorities, given the cumulative impact across these diverse sectors. The inequities as a result of these systems and structures have further been exacerbated by policies and responses to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Webinar panelists will be asked to address a combination of the questions below:

  1. How might a critical, community- centered approach to design thinking support decision-making, accountability and transparency for schools and school boards in Ontario?
  2. How do current values and ideologies continue to subject youth to oppressive practices and pose barriers to achievement and wellbeing?
  3. How can all aspects of curriculum (including hidden and null curricula), teaching and learning perpetuate stereotypes, biases and assumptions about racialized, marginalized and Indigenous students?
  4. Which voices are consistently and historically ignored, silenced and omitted in our curriculum, classrooms, schools and communities?
  5. How have historical practices influenced current policies and practices that have manifested in discrimination, especially anti-Black racism and anti-Indigenous racism?
  6. How might the knowledge of families, students, staff and community partners be honoured and how can these groups be consulted and engaged in meaningful ways to imagine and enact different practices and beliefs in education?
  7. How might we promote and encourage collaboration, solidarity and movement building in the current climate of a global pandemic?
  8. What possibilities are being presented to us during these times to learn and support all learners?

The Faculty of Education at York University's annual Summer Institute (FESI) addresses very timely and relevant needs for students, communities, school boards and the Ontario Ministry of Education. Our belief is that a variety of stakeholders must contribute to this dialogue in meaningful and powerful ways to ensure that collective knowledge is generated and mobilized, resulting in a plan for action towards significantsystemic changes for all students.

FESI intentionally aims to highlight local knowledge and local solutions that are relevant to young people in Ontario, with a belief that harnessing the wisdom of the local collective is key to enacting change for the betterment of our most vulnerable students. These discussions happen with a recognition of discourses, dialogues and actions operating globally, historically and presently.