Book by the late R. Patrick Solomon investigates democratic teacher practice in diverse school systems
On Wednesday December 1st, friends, faculty, colleagues and former students of the late Professor Patrick Solomon gathered in the library at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) to celebrate the launch of Brave New Teachers: Doing Social Justice Work in neo-Liberal Times.
The book, published by Canadian Scholar’s Press, is an investigation of democratic teacher practice in culturally diverse school systems. Based on an original study of the Urban Diversity Teacher Education Program at York University, it analyzes the extent to which teachers committed to equity, diversity, and social justice can effectively promote these principles in a climate of conservative school culture, and state-mandated educational reform focusing on standardization and accountability.
Speakers at the event included Mrs. Sylvia Solomon, wife of the late R. Patrick Solomon who welcomed guests and gave a heartfelt and emotional speech about Dr. Solomon’s life’s work and passion for equity and social justice in schools. The welcome was followed by a panel discussion led by Professor John P.Portelli that included several of Dr. Solomon’s colleagues and past students who wrote many of the chapters in the book and completed the project.
The late R. Patrick Solomon was engaged in equity, diversity and social justice works for most of his professional career as an elementary and secondary school teacher, school administrator and university professor. In 1991, he began working in York’s Faculty of Education where he launched the Urban Diversity Initiative in 1994. The first of its kind in the province, this initiative was developed in response to a call by the Ontario Ministry of Education for institutions to make teacher education more relevant to the province’s increasingly diverse population and to integrate issues of equity, diversity and social justice into the schooling process. To date close to 1,000 teachers have graduated from the program and are using what they have learned to engage and empower students in classrooms across Toronto and beyond.