How can today’s schools and communities help children and youth, especially those from marginalized communities, deal with the effects of socially-inflicted trauma, which has proven to have long-term negative effects on their mental, emotional  and physical health and well-being? And what can we learn from international contexts about building peace in our communities here in Toronto and across Canada?

As argued by keynote presenter Kwame McKenzie, encouraging and enabling everyone to realise their potential throughout their lives will be crucial for our future prosperity and well-being, but far too many children and youth – a significant number of them from racialized communities – are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, the effects of violence, racism, loss, abandonment, neglect, poverty, incarceration and apathy. So what is a proactive approach to supporting the mental health and wellness of our children and youth, and how can we move beyond the disempowering nexus of academic disengagement, poor mental health outcomes, marginalization of minority groups, and involvement in the criminal justice system?

As detailed by keynote presenter Scot Wortley, rates of violence are low in Canada by international standards, but there is a disturbing trend for violent victimization among young, minority males from disadvantaged communities. How can schools and communities play a stronger role in stopping such alarming trends? And what strategies can be adopted by educators, mental health professionals and others in order to create meaningful social change and community development, so that, as suggested by keynote presenters Sarah Yanosy and Landa Harrison, a new teaching and learning culture is forged that promotes and supports positive change in children, their families and ourselves, and which provides buffers from the impact of repetitive stress?

Taking a comparative international approach to the urgent challenges facing us, are there insights to be gained from community-building initiatives that are reducing youth violence in other parts of the world, such as Jamaica? As keynote presenter Horace Levy demonstrated, it is indeed possible to draw on Jamaica-based “Peace Management Initiative” success stories, as well as benefit from their “lessons learned,” in order to improve the lives of children and youth in our Torontonian and Canadian contexts:

I suspect that the situations in Canada and Jamaica are much the same in this respect: we can learn from each other. The most crucial insight to reach is an appreciation of community. Youth learn from their peers: the peers are their first community. So too do adults: we learn from and teach other adults. Community is where and how we develop as individuals. All our efforts must be on building community. (Horace Levy, keynote presenter, Feb 16, 2012)

Over 200 guests attended the Being Proactive Conference

The conference began with a community event Thursday evening at the C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute. Dr. Horace Levy, professor at the University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica (Mona Campus), was the first keynote presenter. Coordinator of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), which uses community development approaches to tackle urban violence in youth, Professor Levy described how PMI contributed significantly to reductions in homicide levels in Jamaica. Homicides dropped nationally by 15 percent in the first two years that PMI began to function –a fact which demonstrates that the PMI success story offer insights for policy-makers in Canada and elsewhere.

Dr. Scot Wortley, Professor at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, was the second keynote presenter on Thursday evening. Shedding light on the deep, mid-level, and superficial roots of violence, he noted that short-term, one-dimensional approaches do not reduce youth violence. Deconstructing the various “soft” versus “tough” stances on youth violence, his recommendations included the development of community hubs, an anti-poverty strategy, an education strategy, an anti-racism strategy (including the collection of race-based statistics), a mental health strategy, governance and coordination, a “place-based” approach, and evaluation (as a form of accountability).

There is a policy preference to find short-term programs but prevention – intensive, long-term, multi-dimensional programs are more effective (Dr. Scot Wortley, keynote presenter, February 16, 2012)

Devon Jones (TDSB) & Alexis Carty (DOJ)

An electronic opening address was given by Dr. Chris Spence, TDSB Director, who emphasized TDSB’s commitment to helping all students succeed regardless of circumstances. TDSB is widely recognized for its school board leadership in addressing mental health issues in partnership with community agencies and resources:

If we are to accept that schools are a reflection of society, then our collective work to address issues of mental health and wellness at the school level is more urgent than ever. External influences such as drugs, random violence, and racism can have lasting impressions on young children. (Dr. Chris Spence, opening address, Friday, February, 17, 2012)

Jim Spyropoulous, TDSB Central Coordinating Superintendent of Equitable and Inclusive Schools, followed. He spoke of the inequitable treatment of certain groups in our society, and the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the essential principles of fairness, equity and inclusion are integrated into the school system.

The morning keynote presenter on Friday Feb 17^th was Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Psychiatrist, Researcher and Policy Advisor at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Dr. McKenzie illuminated the socially-inflicted trauma that arises out of economic and social inequality, which is endemically experienced by racialized communities. This arises as, for example, targeted marketing of commodities and lifestyles that can harm health (alcohol, tobacco, drugs); inadequate, inappropriate or degrading medical care; internalization of racial stereotypes and negative images which denigrate individuals’ self-worth and adversely affect their social and psychological functioning; and institutional racism that results in stressors that can affect mental health due to living conditions, crime, violence, and poverty. As Dr. McKenzie argues, in our changing, culturally diverse world, we now need to move forward on creating new healthy, trauma-free systems for all.

If we are to prosper and thrive in our changing society and in an increasingly interconnected and competitive world, both our mental and material resources will be vital. (Dr. Kwame McKenzie, keynote presenter, Friday, February 17, 2012)

Sarah Yanosy, LCSW, Director of the Sanctuary Institute at the Andrus Children’s Center in Yonkers, NY, and Landa Harrison, Licensed Professional Therapist and a certified Special Education Teacher, were afternoon keynote presenters on Friday Feb 17^th. They spoke of the Sanctuary Model, which is based on the assumption that many students in conflict have experienced trauma in their lives which contribute to their behaviours and current struggles. Showing that adverse childhood experiences are the leading determinant of the health and social well-being, they champion changing the culture and environment in which care and intervention takes place, so that our organizations and systems no longer replicate the same toxic conditions that caused trauma in the first place.

Dr. Alice Pitt, Dean of Education, York University, offered Remarks in the afternoon. Drawing on article by Governor General David Johnson that had appeared in that morning’s Globe and Mail, (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-diplomacy-of-knowledge/article2341017/), Dean Pitt referenced his definition of “the diplomacy of knowledge” as “our ability to work together and share our learning across disciplines and borders. When people achieve the right mixture of creativity, communication and co-operation, remarkable things can happen.”  She went on to explain that the Being Proactive conference had brought together a novel combination of organizations from the worlds of education, justice, and youth (TDSB, MCYS, DOJ, and YCEC), and that the synergies created from such collaboration collectively enlighten us, as we engage in the diplomacy of knowledge by sharing ideas and learnings across disciplines and organizations.

In addition to the four keynote presentations, there were eight workshops that addressed a wide array of urgent issues on mental health, racialization, justice and education, and which drew interested participants. They were:

• Youth, Mental Health, and Addiction: Identification Strategies and Intervention Strategies for Teachers, Mentors, Community and Frontline Workers, with Dr. Nancy Comeau (Dalhousie University), Curtis Bell (9-Heavens), Ed Matwawana
• School and Community: An Indispensable Link, with Lance McCready (Center for Urban Schooling – CUS) and Carl James (York Center for Education and Community – YCEC)
• Recognizing Early Signs of Vulnerability for Poor Mental Health, with Dr. Chaya Kulkarni (Hospital for Sick Children)
• Educators as First Responders, with Catherine Bancroft (Health and Wellness Coordinator Toronto District School Board)
• Responding When Children and Youth are Hurt, with Lew Golding (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
• Too Tough or Too Soft? The Debate over how to Prevent Youth Violence and Gangs in Disadvantaged Schools and Communities, with Scot Wortley University of Toronto), Betsy Powell (Toronto Star), David Mitchell (Regional Director Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with Dr. Glendon Rayworth (Toronto District School Board Clinical Services)
• Recognizing and Disrupting Traumatic Re-enactment, with Sarah M. Yanosy and Landa Harrison (Sanctuary Institute, Drexel University)

A report on the conference is forthcoming, compiled from the detailed notes taken by graduate students Selom Chapman-Nyaho, Danielle Kwan-Lafond, Desmond Morris, Toni Goree, Julia Samaroo, and Samuel Tecle.

As demonstrated by conference participants’ tremendous interest in wishing to know about proactive ways of supporting children and youth mental health and wellness in schools and communities, this conference set into motion the crucial questions that need to be asked, and pointed to some next steps. Collaboratively and across systems and organizations, we will need to traverse through some uncharted and controversial – yet highly imperative – territory, in an effort to address, and redress, the socially-inflicted trauma that our children and youth – especially those in racialized communities – currently experience on an ongoing daily basis.

Please see YCEC Advisory Council member and TVO Parents host Cheryl Jackson’s March 2nd, 2012 blog “Mental Health in Schools” for more discussion on the issues raised at the Being Proactive conference: (http://tvoparents.tvo.org/blog/tvoparents-blog/mental-health-schools).

Submitted by Louise Gormley, YCEC Research Associate, and Carl James, YCEC Director

Each year, the University of Toronto Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa sponsors the Henry Jackman Award in honour of the chapter’s first president 56 years ago who modeled lifelong dedication to education and a deep concern for the individual student.

The award was based on candidates’ essay responses to the statement: In Motion Leadership: the Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy (2010), Michael Fullan states, “Capacity building concerns the knowledge, skills, and disposition of people individually but especially collectively. It is the group with shared purpose and skills that gets things done (p. 45).” Consider a personal capacity building experience in education and reflect on the role of collaboration in contributing to your personal growth as an educator.

“Benjamin’s essay was selected because of the way he demonstrated his ability to deeply reflect on and learn from his experiences”, commented Linda Massey, consultant, Education Leadership Canada, Ontario Principal’s Council.  “He focused deeply on the topic and clearly articulated the role of collaboration as it related to personal growth and professional learning within the classroom, school and community”.

Founded in the United States in 1906, Phi Delta Kappa is an association of educators dedicated to the promotion of quality education, with particular emphasis on publicly supported education. There are over l00,000 members in 660 chapters throughout the United States, Canada and twelve other countries.

Turbulent times indeed as universities, along with other public and/or publicly funded institutions, have been affected by economic instability, growing government intervention and intensified public scrutiny.  Expected to be key players in the “knowledge economy”, universities find themselves at a critical juncture.  On one hand, postsecondary education is on the “political/policy-making radar” identified by an increasing number of governments as a top policy priority.  On the other hand, being in the proverbial political spotlight has proven to be highly problematic and limiting.  With university education often equated with social mobility and nation states obsessed with global competitiveness, the university is increasingly perceived (and arguably valued) as a place where its primary purposes are to generate research for economic good and prepare a highly skilled workforce expediently, both in time and money.

According to Roopa Desai-Trilokekar and Theresa Shanahan (York University), in the absence of research-informed policy-making, government decisions relating to postsecondary education are overwhelmingly driven by economic agendas with power and influence held by a privileged few.  As a result, contended Nelly Stromquist (University of Maryland) and others, universities, regardless of history or geographical location, have become focused on external rankings, adopted private sector approaches to governance/ leadership and have lost their distinct institutional identities and missions.  The question of whether convergence among universities is as an outcome of globalization was also an issue of much debate.  Qiang Zha (York University) shared China’s unique approach to postsecondary education as one rooted in the Confucian tradition of the “scholar official” where scholarly work is linked with societal/national needs, and Jeroen Hussman (University of Bath) highlighted examples of specific universities with identifies deeply rooted in their histories and regions.

The conference also offered a balanced critique not only of government decision makers but also universities themselves.  For too long, universities placed teaching as a lesser priority, failed to address issues of equal access (particularly by disadvantaged groups), did little to generate research about themselves and avoided quality assurance/ accountability measurement.  Ross Finnie (University of Ottawa), Harvey Weingarten (Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario) and Ian Clark (University of Toronto) provided stark “wake up calls” to the postsecondary education sector.  They recommended that universities acknowledge the new socio-political reality and move towards more effective ways of teaching, doing research, and working collaboratively with government and other key policy influencers.

As a PhD student attending this conference, mainly to listen, learn and meet leading academics in my discipline, I found the two days deeply rewarding.  The scholarship of post-secondary education, while generally eclipsed by the scholarship of K-12 education in most graduate schools of education, appears to be growing during these turbulent times.  Perhaps it is a ripple effect of intensified government and public attention or the result of universities seeking to reposition or reimagine themselves amidst rapid change.  As with all worthwhile conferences, I left the two days with very few answers, a myriad of new questions and the hope that the dialogue will continue.

Yvette Munro is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Education at York’s Faculty of Education

The award is open to all students in Ontario who are completing their BEd in an education program that includes a student teaching component. Undergraduate education majors engaged in student teaching during the summer, fall and spring of the current year are eligible.

“Nehal won the award by submitting her experience filled resume and by capturing our nomination with her visionary goal statement, in particular her ideas about individuality, diversity, and critical thinking skills”, commented PDK Foundation Chair, Pauline Quan.

The following is an excerpt from Nehal’s essay:
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but reveal to them their own.”-Benjamin Disraeli inspired my vision on what it means to become a teacher, to believe in individuality and diversity, by preparing students to achieve success in all challenges set before them. I wish to empower each child to appreciate learning and a desire for growing knowledge. I aim to accomplish this goal by providing a stimulating learning environment that encourages every student to believe in their own opinions, have endless learning opportunities, and promote an open perspective with critical thinking skills.”

Winning essays at the University of Toronto level will be entered in PDK International’s Prospective Educator Award process. Chapter winners will receive a cheque for $100 and a Professional membership in PDK. The Chapter winner’s essay will then be sent to the International level where it will be eligible for an award of up to US$1000.

Founded in the United States in 1906, Phi Delta Kappa is an association of educators dedicated to the promotion of quality education, with particular emphasis on publicly supported education. There are over l00, 000 members in 660 chapters throughout the United States, Canada and twelve other countries.

Drawing on their areas of research and scholarship, representing the Faculty’s diverse research priorities and interests, faculty members respond to the provocative question:  should education count?  Open discussion and Q&A to follow.

Deborah Britzman is a Distinguished Research Professor who works in the area of psychoanalysis and education and is known for contributions in teacher education, studies of the emotional world, studies in difficult knowledge, and clinical formulations of teaching and learning. Author of seven books and numerous articles, Britzman’s most recent book is Freud and Education.

John Ippolito is an Assistant Professor whose school-based scholarship brings minority parents/caregivers and their children’s educators into working research partnerships. The aim of the work is to explore and broaden key adult relationships that mediate student success.

Chloë Brushwood Rose is an Associate Professor whose current SSHRC-funded research examines questions of subjectivity, self-representation, and social difference in the context of community-based media pedagogies with a particular emphasis on theories of aesthetic experience and psychoanalytic theories of learning.

Sue Winton is an Assistant Professor whose critical policy research examines how education policies and policy processes support and/or undermine critical democratic commitments to equity, diversity, social justice, and public participation in policymaking.

Celia Popovic is an Educational Developer with the Teaching Commons at York whose research focuses on comparing students’ demographic data, teacher’s expectations, and actual student performance, exploring preconceptions or stereotypes and exposing a complex picture of multiple factors affecting performance.

Karen Krasny is an Associate Professor and newly appointed Graduate Program Director in the Faculty of Education whose research employs empirical observation and philosophical introspection to examine the contested relationship between the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of literary reading and to further theorize the cognitive structure and function of mental imagery and affect as they relate to reading, writing, and constructing meaning from multimodal representations.

Professor Sharon Murphy will MC the event. All are encouraged to attend.  Light refreshments will be served.

For more information contact:
Breanne Whitwell, Research Officer
416-736-2100 ext. 77363
research@edu.yorku.ca

Research Poster_final_11x14_revised

Despite growing interest in Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics in educational theory and practice, little has been done with the fact that for over 30 years Levinas served as director of a teacher education school in Paris, and that he taught classes there for more than 40 years.

In this presentation Dr. Chinnerywill  attempt to fill that gap by focusing on Levinas’s classroom practices and everyday interactions with students rather than on his philosophical writings. She will sketch three pedagogical approaches, or postures, he embodied and discuss them in relation to ongoing work in teacher education.

Dr. Ann Chinnery is an assistant professor in teacher education and philosophy of education at Simon Fraser University.
Her research draws largely on the work of Emmanuel Levinas to explore ethical issues in teaching and teacher education.
She is also currently working on a SSHRC-funded research study on the role of historical consciousness in preparing teachers for work in increasingly diverse classrooms.

Please RSVP to research@edu.yorku.ca by April 13, 2012.

Visit the conference web site to register and for further information.
http://yugsc.info.yorku.ca/

Full article available at The Owen Sound Sun Times website.
www.owensoundsuntimes.com

The annual award is given to one graduating student in each Faculty of Education in Ontario who has achieved excellence in both the Academic and Practicum programmes, and has demonstrated the attributes of a potentially outstanding French as a Second Language or International Language Teacher.

Wright, who is in the final year of the program, was nominated by her course directors at Glendon College who recognized her high level of commitment and professionalism in her course work and practicum placements.

“During the 2010/11 academic year, Wright took courses at Glendon to help improve her French communication skills, such as “FRLS 3700: Le français oral contemporain” (Contemporary Oral French), as well as others that helped her to better understand how to teach French as a second language, including “FRAN 4289: L’apprentissage de l’écrit et de l’oral en français langue seconde” (Learning to Write and Speak French as a Second Language).

“In addition to maintaining a high academic average, Chantal is actively engaged in a number of endeavours pertinent to Second Language Education”, commented Stefanie Muhling, a course director in the BEd French program.  “She was a key student contributor to an online discussion forum on Second Language Research hosted by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers in collaboration with Dr. Callie Mady of Nipissing College, and she consistently motivates and inspires her classmates through her commitment, enthusiasm and leadership”.

“I am honoured and humbled to have been selected as the recipient of this award”, commented Wright.  “I feel that teaching French and other modern languages requires, dedication, creativity and patience, so being acknowledged by OMLTA is affirmation that I am on my way to a successful career, equipped with all the tools and experience that I have gathered throughout my time at York”.

Wright is hoping to start teaching as soon as she graduates so that she can begin to fine tune her practice and get a better sense of herself as an educator.  “I plan on becoming a French Specialist in the next few years so that I can help French Language programs prosper and grow”, she says.  “Learning a second language is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me so I would like as many students as possible to benefit from this experience for years to come”.

For more information about the Helen G. Mitchell Award, visit the OMLTA web site at http://www.omlta.org/ .