Towards a critical co-construction of equity communities of practice in education

Abstract

Students in Canada have unequal access to safe environments and learning in schools, which impacts their participation in education and their achievement of educational goals. Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) courses for future educators are one way to help them see that the benefits of schooling are not equally available to all students. The authors describe how post-secondary students, who were members of equity-seeking communities and their allies, worked together with instructor guidance to co-create EDI courses. The students were already familiar with the fully online learning community model (FOLC) where student voice and agency feature prominently. As the students co-designed new EDI courses, the critical co-construction of equity model was developed. The model is anchored in human rights and relies on a shared spirit of equity humility. The model recognizes the need for student safety as well as the necessity of potentially uncomfortable conversations. While, in the past, equity teaching tended to focus on distinct aspects of oppression in society as individual topics, the co-construction of equity model relies, instead, on building bridges of equity concepts that cross oppressions. These cross-equity understandings can help future educators see the importance of dismantling oppression and rebuilding safer and more inclusive learning spaces in education.