With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1484213
"The K-12 DEI movement has been initiated to shift mindsets, behaviours and practices towards more equitable and inclusive systems," Chamberlin says. "DEI demands we create more meaningful and purposeful commitments and action plans to include the equity needs of a diverse school community. We aim to ensure all community members feel a sense of belonging." An important challenge independent schools face is that the BC curriculum and schooling system is embedded in a colonized model of education. "It can be difficult to ensure resources across all subject areas provide positive representation of marginalized identities," Chamberlin adds. "It is also a challenge to assess and address how structural systems reinforce lack of opportunities for marginalized identities. GLENLYON NORFOLK Glenlyon Norfolk School, an IB school in Victoria, has begun using data collected through the Middle School Development Index surveys and from internal parent surveys in the fall and the spring to measure if students feel a sense of belonging and safety when they are at school. "If students can see themselves in their learning, that can strengthen their sense of belonging and help ensure each person in the community has a voice," says Cole Carlson, deputy head of school – academics. "It means GNS can continue to be a safe place for all our students and staff. For example, younger students, in Nature School, learn about connections to the land and Indigenous principles, and grade ones focus on a Unit of Inquiry based on the theme: We Are All Connected, which examines family, culture, traditions, celebrations, similarities and differences. "In our Individuals and Societies classes, students learn through historical contexts relating to race, culture, gender and sexuality awareness," Carlson says. Another challenge can be finding the time to add these meaningful things into an already full curriculum. "There is an overwhelming amount of content that could be included, and we want to be able to offer it in an authentic way that does it justice," Carlson says. "It takes time to do this well." MULGRAVE SCHOOL, THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF VANCOUVER Head of School John Wray says Mulgrave School in West Vancouver is committed to ensuring every student achieves their personal best and fully embraces, among others, the values of global citizenship, inclusion, respect and empathy. "Our goal is to ensure that all our students, whatever their talents, backgrounds, identities, and intersectionalities, are supported to feel safe, seen and have a strong sense of belonging in their personalised journey to achieve their full potential in education and life," he says. Implementing these initiatives authentically and across the curriculum and school community means all hands must be on deck. To do this work, people require self- reflection, openness, authenticity and a willingness to be vulnerable—both in their personal and professional lives. "There are difficult questions about how and why we do the work, and we have to be a part of those discussions while not letting them derail our efforts," Wray says. "We always come back to our values and goals. Initiatives such as the appointment of a Director of DEIJ, creation of DEIJ curriculum standards, and courses and workshops for faculty, parents, and guardians also help us meet this challenge as we are being deliberate and intentional." UNISUS UNISUS is an IB World School, and that forms the lens through which it approaches diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. "We approach DEIB with a desire to understand and celebrate differences within our community, while recognizing and valuing the things we have in common with each other and the rest of the earth," says Dr. Beverley von Zielonka, Head of School. The connection between belonging and the IB's mission is to create a better world through education is clear—and the power in diversity manifests in measurable ways, with students coming at a problem in many different ways. As a home away from home for students from 11 different countries, UNISIS staff know that diversity makes the team smarter and more innovative, but it can also make things more complex. "Diversity gives us an opportunity to collaborate effectively through our differences, acknowledging and respecting multiple world views and experiences," von Zielonka says. "We challenge and empower our students to build intercultural understanding and respect, celebrate similarities and differences while realizing their potential together." PHOTO: STRATFORD HALL PHOTO: MULGRAVE SCHOOL Continued on page 50