Hello Fellow Travellers,
Much in the news. A lot of fluctuations that put the current weather patterns in the Greater Toronto Area to shame. I am not even looking elsewhere as I am busy with my own life. Therefore the question “why does anything matter?” became my title this time.
It is human nature perhaps to reassure ourselves that we are okay.
We’re not that other country.
We’re here, we’re okay, we are safe, we are well.
We say this to ourselves and to people in our lives especially children in our families or students in our classrooms.
But the events around the world – both near and far, send ripples into the calm waters that flow past us here in Ontario.
Publicly funded education does not operate in a vacuum and the decisions made in one country, one sector, one industry, one policy impact the guiding decisions made in another. This we know.
ETFO’s Response to Tariffs
As always, after my work day, before the evening takes over with meals and other chores, I read my non-Board emails. On April 9th, ETFO released this statement.
The section that stands out for me :
“Public education will not be immune to the ripple effects of this economic downturn. As government revenues come under pressure, there is an increased risk that funding for vital publicly funded services and institutions, including public education, will be scaled back. At the same time, Ontario families, many of whom are already struggling, will face even greater financial strain. For students, this can mean heightened barriers to learning and well-being, including hunger and stress, which compromise their ability to learn and thrive.”
How can I and we be mindful of this in our everyday work?
Mothering for Schooling
In the 1970s and 1980s, Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith and her research partner, Alison Griffith began to notice the everyday ways in which their lives as mothers were interconnected with the regulation of the schooling practices that surrounded their children. They began referring to the gendered labour that gets done in homes as Mothering for Schooling (Griffith and Smith, 2005).
Over many decades, until their last collaboration published in 2022, Griffith and Smith spoke about how work that is done in one location impacts and influences the work that is done in another. They referred to this as translocal work processes. Educational work is filled with interconnected tasks and processes. This we know.
Amidst all this, our students and their families are as impacted as everyone else by these global and translocal changes that regulate their everyday lives.
Every fund raiser, every field trip, every bake sale will impact families in ways that are invisibilized in the everyday busyness in work spaces. Let’s pause and think about that.
The Impact of Courageous Colleagueship
Let’s say I’m co-teaching with you, my colleague in your classroom and I have chosen a book or a topic that reflects my lived reality. I am excited to be teaching with you. You introduce me to your students and I begin to speak.
As a middle-class, professionally trained and gainfully employed cis-het woman with a confident manner and excellent fluency in the language of instruction, I may not be aware that the lived realities of the families in the classrooms don’t necessarily mirror mine.
After all, when I drove down the street to the school many times, I may have seen homes that are well constructed with sleek facades on ample lots. This led me to believe that all is well here. You, on the other hand, may know it is not the case. Especially now, in many places.
As I am busy with many aspects of my work, I make it through the work day with no time to spare for anything more than the absolutely essential pieces, so I haven’t read up about the neighbourhood in which your school is located. I may live far away from this neighbourhood, so I do not know what I do not know.
Steady Me & Guide Me
If I don’t step out of my bubble, I may continue the conversation in your classroom, speaking of my summer plans to visit this place or that, or some aspect of my life because I’m trying to be have a conversation.
As you are the colleague who knows the community and students well, please feel free to step in. Please speak about alternative experiences. Guide me, please.
Stand With and Walk Beside Students and Their Families
- When you stand with and walk beside your students by introducing a counter narrative, you show them that you able to make their learning space safe and pleasant.
- When you hold up a mirror to my presence and actions in your classroom, you will have given me an opportunity to examine my ignorance and bias. I shall be ever grateful.
- You will have invited me to revisit ETFO’s invitation to engage with my professional learning and improve my professional judgement, not just in subject knowledge but also in anti oppressive practices. I shall not say ” I have taught for 21 years” and I will never walk away. I shall learn and improve my practice. I promise.
- If I begin to speak about a student in their presence, feel free to whisper “later” and I’ll follow your lead.
Don’t let me stumble when I get wobbly.
I thank you for your colleagueship because that’s the collective heartbeat of our work as ETFO members.
If I lose my way, even for a little while, please lead me back to the path of equity and disability justice.
I shall do the same for you. I promise.
With You, In Solidarity
Rashmee Karnad-Jani
Well written as always. I wish we all had colleagues like this and I hope to be a colleague like this.
Agreed! Well written.