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Race & Inequality in School Systems
May 3, 2022 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Join the Dean of Education, Dr. Jan Hare, for an online speaker series focusing on important questions and significant priorities that are engaging educators today.
This dynamic series brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, youth, and you—the participant—to discuss how educators and students are making a difference every day.
We will explore how, as a community, we can support and empower young people to face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
About the keynote
Dr. Bathseba Opini is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, UBC Vancouver. Her areas of research and teaching interests are in critical race and anti-racism education pedagogies and practices, anticolonial education and thought, critical disability studies, teacher education, teaching practices and cultural knowledges. Dr. Opini is the recipient of the Murray Elliot Service Award for Outstanding Service to the Teacher Education Program, as well as the Faculty of Education Lecturer and Sessional Faculty Teaching Prize. She has taught in the K-12 system, locally and globally. Dr. Opini is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. She most recently authoured the local open online course Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-Racism: From Awareness to Action, which launched in September 2021.
About the Educator
Ravinder Johal was born in London, England and grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. He worked as a classroom teacher, department head, and school-based administrator in Brampton and Mississauga before moving to BC in 2016. Since then, Johal has been a secondary school Principal, District Principal, and is now a Director of Instruction with Learning Services in the Richmond School District.
Johal has a wide range of research interests, and earned his PhD in education at York University, focusing on the lived realities of second generation youth in suburban Toronto. His dissertation examined the intersecting notions of racial identity, gender, social class, and religion, while analyzing the role of school, family as well as community in the lives of youth. Johal would like to engage in further research in the area of race and sport, particularly the experiences and participation of Sikh Canadian youth in hockey.
About the Student
Diya is a Grade 10 student at RC Palmer Secondary School who is involved in various school and community projects. Climate, health, and social equity are main themes of the clubs and initiatives she manages like Eco Team and First Responders. She is thankful to be part of an important and relevant discussion of race and inequity and how the school system can create a more inclusive and diverse space for all.
