8P15

1. Narratives of Systemic Barriers &
Accessibility:
POVERTY, EQUITY, DIVERSITY
& INCLUSION, AND THE CALL
FOR A POST -PANDEMIC NEW
NORMAL
A Summary Only – Not to be Cited

2. The Situation:
“Despite policies, declarations and goals set in place,
Canada still faces dire issues of youth and family poverty
that sustain conditions of social and economic
marginalization. The pandemic, unfortunately, has
magnified exponentially pre-existing disparities for
diverse student populations living in poverty.” (p.3)
Vulnerable populations include students from low-
income & single-parent families, students from
immigrant, refugee, ethnic minority & Indigenous
backgrounds, students with diverse gender identities &
sexual orientations, and students with special needs
(OECD, 2020a)

3. Pandemic
Problems
Lack of social contact – particularly impactful for
vulnerable students: Those from broken families, abusive
homes, foster care, suffering from food insecurities, or
lacking housing (OECD, 2020 a) (p.9)
Many students lack access to vital necessities offered by
school systems, and within their communities at large (i.e.,
counselling, social and medical services… Illustrates the
need for a comprehensive & equity-oriented mental health
strategy (Jenkins, Gadermann, and McAuliffe, 2020)
Mental health challenges are magnified for oppressed
students due to aspects of their identity, such as their
gender, income, ethnicity & socioeconomic status (DCP,
2015) (p.9)

4. Poverty in
Education
It’s imperative that we “reframe out thinking & push
past preconceived notions of class, race, culture &
stereotypes of what it means to be poor. We must focus
on conditions of poverty, rather than attributing the
problem to students and families who experience
poverty.” (DCP, 2015, p.1)
Poverty is the root cause of many systemic
barriers…ranging from students’ lack of technology to
systemic biases, prejudices held against marginalized
and/or oppressed youth; these barriers set the
precedent for students’ access to curriculum knowledge
(e.g., the type of curriculum work assigned) & academic
success (e.g., academic achievement in terms of grades
attainment). (p.10)

5. The ‘Hidden
Curriculum’ is
Problematic.
Curriculum inequities illustrate how the hidden barriers
students from low-income [families] have to overcome
have a lasting impact on their educational & career
aspirations, and success. (p.12)
Streaming is a discriminatory practice rooted in biases ,
especially for BIPOC students, but also for gender, age,
race, ability, language, socio-economic variables, family
dynamics, dwellings, home support, & students’ behaviour
in class; it amounts to PROFILING. (p.12)
There’s a disturbing correlation, an intrinsic connection
between 1) systemic streaming that offers limited and
fewer academic opportunities for students, and 2) a child’s
SES. (p.14)

6. “Superstars” vs
“Dropouts”
The practice of streaming students “is one way the public
education system serves to restrict access to some
advanced forms of knowledge and legitimates political, and
economic inequality.” (Clandfield et al, 2014, p.298) (p.17)
Jarvis & Okonofua (2020) looked at biases of school leaders
and its affect on discipline and managing white/black
misbehaviours in class, and found principals endorsed
more severe discipline for black students after the second
misbehaviour compared with white students. (p.18)
Resilience training is put forward as a supposed solution to
support marginalized and vulnerable youth, but the
system, itself, is a barrier, preventing them from achieving
to their fullest potential. (p.20)

7. Post-Pandemic:
We’re Primed
for a New
“Normal”
(p.21)
The ACDE’s 5 Markers for education’s new ‘normal’:
 1. Addressing mental health, post-pandemic
 2. Ensuring the prioritization of Indigenous Education
equity, post-covid.
 3. Capacities and capabilities related to ensuring on-
going PD for new and experienced teachers
 4. Connectedness & cohesion associated with teachers’
participation in community-based, post-pandemic
initiatives & educational research
 5. Resilience & transformation through investment in
research within the fields of education, human capital,
embracing innovation, leadership & knowledge transfer

8. A ‘Lived
Curriculum’
(p.22)
Current study is a ‘lived curriculum’ of teachers working
alongside students during covid-19 where relational stories
inform an urgent need for schools to recreate systems of
care, equity, diversity and inclusion for all.
Narrative Inquiry – use of a 3 dimensional inquiry space to
describe facets of narrative, storied experiences as
research is conducted
3-dimensional space helps researchers attend to:
 temporality – pre-, during, and post-pandemic
 sociality – interactions between teachers & students,
which help to deepen the understanding of each story
told
 place – the topological setting – makes each narrative
tangible

9. Narrative
Inquiry & the 3
Rs (p.23)
Narrative Inquiry is the research form as well as the research
method; that is, it is both method and phenomenon (Connelly &
Clandinin, 2000)
Storied data was deconstructed using the 3 Rs –
Narrative Reveal (used to help excavate participants’ stories
that surface in the living and telling of experiences of teaching in
systems that have barriers affecting under-represented
students.)
Narrative Revelation (shows, once a story has surfaced, how it
can be interrogated further against systemic issues in schools, to
gain further perspective of students’ and teachers’ lived
curriculum.) &
Narrative Reformation (shows how lived narratives of educators
can begin to help reform newer understandings through an
awakened mindset towards change.)
Using the 3 Rs helps untangle how teaching & learning get
enacted when assumptions also get enacted in classrooms,
schools and larger communities.

10. Ethic of Care
Nel Noddings (1995) advocates for the reorganization of
school curriculum to encompass themes of CARE in the
classroom. (p.24)
Not superficial – it’s a teacher’s vocation to ensure
students feel cared-for and learn to reciprocate that
from of care towards others. (p.24)
Ethical Standard of Care (OCT, 2016) = compassion,
acceptance, interest & insight for developing students’
potential; positive, professional, empathetic (p.25)
There is a profound connection between care and
commitment to student success. (Noddings, 1995)
(p.25)

11. Identity &
Teacher-Learner
Relationships
It’s important to foster both student & teacher
identities within the realm of an ethic of care.
(p.26)
An educator who doesn’t know themselves
can’t know who their students are; therefore,
an educator’s identity is fundamental to
knowing each unique student and advocating
for their individual needs through equitable
practices that address vulnerable & oppressed
students. (p.26)

12. Method &
Participants
Qualitative study approach – experiential narratives (p.26)
Narrative Inquiry – contributing method; case study lens (p.27)
School site – large, suburban high school; mixed SES, mostly
white with 20% of the population identified as Black,
Indigenous, Asian, or Indian (p.28)
Participants: Kelsie - retiring HS teacher; Catherine – in charge
of equity and inclusivity for her board (p.28)

13. Data Sources &
Analysis
Interview (2 hrs), conversation, emails (10) (p.28)
Background context – data from 2015-20 relating to
barriers in schools et al. (p.28)
Question: How has schooling been successful, or not,
during this global pandemic, and in already challenging
circumstances for the most vulnerable students? (p.29)
A bottom-up approach was used to analyze data; multiple
data sources were sought & open-ended interview
questions used; narratives that explored participants’ core
values – to more deeply understand narratives (p.29)
Culled all sources, ready and coded the issues, identified
patterns, & then collapsed those into themes (Creswell,
1998, 2005) (p.30)

14. Limitations &
Findings (pgs.
30-31)
Limitations –
 Small sample size
 Story as a portal to meaning & significance in Narrative
Inquiry
Findings – 5 Themes
 1) Pandemic Spotlight on Systemic Barriers:
Uncovering What was Always There
 2) Breaking Rules to Create a New ‘Normal’
 3) Lived Curriculum – Teacher-Learner Relationships
 4) Students at the Table: A Move for Reforming
Streaming Practices
 5) Resilience: Connection to Identity & Breaking
Down Barriers

15. 1) Pandemic
Spotlight on
Systemic
Barriers:
Uncovering
What was
Always There
(p.32)
Kelsie identified decades-long shortcomings:
Schools need to provide the requisite tools
for learning (i.e., chromebooks & internet)
to ensure equitability and level the playing
field
Scheduling needs to be reimagined at the
high school level
Children need a schedule – reduces anxiety,
adds structure

16. 2) Breaking
Rules to Create
a New ‘Normal’
(p.33)
Kelsie - We might need to think outside the
box
Abandoning curriculum planning to have class
discussion about feelings and coping with
Covid-19

17. 3) Lived
Curriculum –
Teacher-Learner
Relationships
Catherine – what teachers believe about
students can either cripple or empower them
(p.34)
Kelsie – If you share your stories with your
students, to some degree, they see you as a
person, they connect with you , which affords
you the opportunity to have greater influence
– don’t be afraid to show you’re human. (p.35)

18. 4) Students at
the Table: A
Move for
Reforming
Streaming
Practices (p.35)
Catherine – the ‘applied’ courses have been
offered to ‘behaviour problem’ kids, & the
academic courses to the kids who do their
homework (p.35)
Kelsie – we label kids & then limit them (p.36)
Catherine – kids need to be included in the
conversations about their educational
pathways (p.36)

19. 5) Resilience:
Connection to
Identity &
Breaking Down
Barriers
Kelsie – We’re seeing a different type of resilience;
we’ve had to disconnect from everything we’ve
normally done & find a whole new way of reconnecting.
Our education system is important to the fabric & fibre
of our country, teachers are essential for this – we’re
teaching our students to cope in a different way. (p.36)
Catherine – Resilience gets a lot of lip service, but our
efforts are undermined by systemic barriers, policies
and rules. The identity piece is huge; knowing yourself
& being comfortable enough to share and build trust &
connections with your students; show them what
resilience looks like & break down barriers for them.
(p.37)

20. Discussion of
Findings
Pencils & paper are no longer the basic necessities
required for learning – now it’s a chromebook &
internet, bandwidth & tech tools because of the
pandemic; it’s highlighted outdated systems that tout
middle-income assumptions that all families have access
to tools & technology, which is the furthest from the
truth: Technology is not accessible to at least 1 in 7
Ontario students because of low-income living, alone.
(p.38)
The pandemic has forced a recognition of the
inequities, & ‘leveling the playing field’ has been
required (p.39)
Question: Is it ‘breaking the rules’, or ‘breaking down
barriers’? (p.39)

21. Discussion of
Findings (con’t)
Catherine – a lived curriculum gives value to student’ experienced
context, where educators need to take note of, and honour, that
context, rather than judge the capability of a learner with implicit
bias or stereotypical understandings of students’ lives (p.39)
Catherine – sees herself, and teachers, as human beings who
assist students “in the next step to wherever they’re going in life.”
(p.39)
Catherine – believed streaming devalued and oppressed students
and families; she advocates for students to be present at the
table, sharing their own stories, to talk openly & intimately about
their hopes & dreams for their own pathway, and for teachers to
support, rather than dismiss by assumption, the possible pathways
for students. (p.40)

22. Discussion of
Findings (con’t)
(p.41)
Those of us with white privilege can’t presume to
understand their experiences. We need to listen, and
learn.
Kelsie – students need their relationship with their
teacher to be grounding to help foster resiliency
Catherine – there’s a danger in teaching & preaching
resilience to (especially minoritized) students of
reducing it to ‘lessons on empathy’ in the face of
systemic barriers; it hinders success
Catherine’s Solution: Identity – knowing it well, being
comfortable enough to share & build trust &
connections with students; model resilience and break
down barriers

23. Discussion of
Findings (con’t)
Resilience for all students can only work if it is
immersed in identity: Identity of students’
lived contexts & learning; identity of teachers
& their understanding of their own context,
vis-à-vis their students’ context of living ; and
breaking down barriers to be able to realize
the full potential of resilience, which is to be
able to have a pathway to success for all
students. (p.41)

24. Recommendations
(p.42)
3 Pillars of Opportunity:
1) Enhancing professional practice
2) Building a school culture of care
3) Developing partnerships & relationships

25. 1) Enhancing
professional
practice (p.42)
Offer/mandate PD in equity , diversity& inclusion, poverty, anti-
racism, gender, sexual orientation, disadvantaged learners,
language learners & immigrant experiences
Implement equity-based action research projects by practicing
teachers alongside youth to promote an equity-rich & resilient-
positive conceptualization of students
Offer tutoring & peer tutoring within schools by teachers, teacher
candidates, trained volunteers & specialists, for students requiring
academic support, including support for accessibility to learning
tools (e.g., technology)
Educate with high expectations, rather than lowering the bar on
implicit bias; teach using HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)

26. 2) Building a
school culture
of care (p.43)
Begins with knowing intimately the environment, make-up, and people
within the community where educators serve; believing that it’s a privilege
to service a community of learners within their community helps to create
a safe, engaging, & inviting school culture
Recommendations:
 Reconsider school rules & policies that strip dignity from youth
 Address systemic barriers & discrimination as an educational system, &
in classrooms. Pay attention to the lives of students & offer reprieve for
those living in challenging circumstances
 Consider resources & school policies – we can’t assume that everyone
has equal access to resources
 Implement innovative, school-based strategies for educators & leaders,
such as parent-teacher-student meetings where the student has voice
and is affirmed for their learning
 Consider more funding for youth with disabilities, challenges, trauma-
related learning disadvantages, etc. that offers sustained learning in a
caring community

27. 3) Developing
partnerships &
relationships
(p.44)
Engage youth with determination, continued effort & rigour;
successful teachers do not give up on their students; successful
schools do not give up on their communities
Pay attention to the life narrative of youth and use HOTS to enrich
their learning; connect through TRIC (Trust, Respect, Integrity &
Care) to respect student dignity
Enrich & foster social services & health-related community
agencies for both physical & emotional well-being of youth
Combine an ethic of care with a pathway to resilience that is
understood through the life experiences of each student, by
listening to, and understanding contexts that are not always
similar to your own

28. Conclusion
The pandemic has amplified existing barriers &
disparities faced by our most vulnerable youth. (p.44)
Study findings reaffirm that the following inequities are
pervasive in school systems:
 Access to technology
 The academic streaming of youth
 Perpetuating stereotypes & systemic biases that
serve as an impediment to student success beyond
high school
 Complexities associated with proposing resilience
training as a ‘catch-all’ solution for students,
especially those most vulnerable & minoritized (p.45)

29. Conclusion
(con’t) (p.45)
Fundamentally, there remains an undeniable
& intrinsic connection between resilience &
the identity of both students & educators
Deepen the relationship, deepen the potential
for influence