Student agency highlighted Tuesday’s Staff Professional Development Day. Months of preparation, research and bravery resulted in one of the most rewarding professional developments at VIS. Student representatives from the Anti-Racism Club, Black Student Union, Gender Sexuality Alliance and DEIJ CEESA Student Collaborative came together to address topics including but not limited to inclusive pedagogies, equitable curriculum, anti-racism, and culturally responsive teaching.
This workshop is deriving from the journey that the School has recently embarked on, aiming to incorporate the DEIB platform into its strategic plan. DEIB stands for:
- DIVERSITY refers to differing traits and characteristics that make people unique. Linked to equity, diversity’s function can decenter dominant approaches to knowledge, ways of thinking, being and acting in the world. EQUITY involves distributing resources based on the needs of the recipients so that all members of a community are afforded the same opportunities to achieve equal outcomes.
- INCLUSION refers to behavioural practices and social norms in a community that are ‘co-productive’, including and integrating everyone in activities and processes so they feel a sense of BELONGING and purpose. These include virtuous and ethical acts of extending oneself through reciprocal ways of sharing and receiving when engaging with ‘other’ knowledge, ways of thinking, and cultures of learning.
The student-led workshop was followed by an educator presentation on Neurodiversity and Using Inclusive Language. A big thank you and congratulations to our students organising the workshop for their teachers: Tariro Chinondo, Anna Bures, Lucy Asfaw, Hyunseo Lee, Michelle Karani, Sarah Ahmethodzic, Alina Busuioc, Judith Edo, Julia Nagel. Well done!