Diversity, Accessibility and Social Justice

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Presented in reappointment professional dossier, August 2022.

Half a century ago, higher education institutions were primarily reserved for elites (Bracken & al. 2019). In Canada, full-time enrollment in post-secondary institutions increased significantly from 91,000 in 1951-1952 and to 1.7 million in 2015-16 (Andres 2016, HESA 2019). This is mainly explained by better access to post-secondary education for equity-deserving groups and, more recently, international students. In this way, students in our classrooms are more diverse than ever before, and diversity and inclusion have become a central question in higher education. As an Educational Leader, I have reflected on ways to promote accessibility and social justice in the classroom, School, Campus, and higher education. I draw on my diverse experiences working with equity-deserving groups and take active roles in building knowledge, sharing and taking action.

Queering Schools of Social Work and Higher Education

In Canada, there has been a failure to address queer individuals and communities, queer-based theories, and queer issues in social work education and the social work profession

(Hillock and Mulé 2016)

Advancing social justice is a core value of the UBC SSW and the SW profession in Canada (CASW, Code of Ethics, 2005). However, there are essential gaps in sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) education in schools of Social Work. Much remains to be explored in the literature on SOGIE instruction in SW (Mulé et al., 2017; Gezinsky, 2009). SOGIE education has been limited and often led by students or individual instructors, while some schools of SW only offer elective courses on LGBTQ2S+ content. Unfortunately, LGBTQ2S+ populations continue facing diverse forms of discrimination, which have negative health and well-being outcomes (Mulé, 2015). SW students will work with LGBTQ2S+ people during their careers but are not provided with sufficient training to address these populations’ needs and intersecting identities (Mulé et al., 2017). Furthermore, SW students who identify as LGBTQ2S+ experience homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism within SW schools (Dentato et al., 2016).

A key pillar of my EL leadership is to improve SOGIE education in schools of SW to prepare students better to work with LGBTQ2S+ populations, while also exploring how higher education can be made a safer learning environment for LGBTQ2S+ students. To do this, I am involved in several initiatives:

  • Presentations on SW with LGBTQ2S+ populations to professionals and SW students:
  • Advocating for Queer inclusion within the SSW and Campus, for example by co-creating the SSW’s statement on transphobia in 2019;
  • Principal Investigator on the research project, Queering the School of SW, funded by the UBC CTLT Seed Grant;
  • Recipient of the Dean’s Award for EL and Innovation Project, Queering the School of Social Work and Higher Education; and
  • Co-Lead of Queering Schools/Faculties of SW in Canada Initiative, CASWE-ACFTS, Queer Caucus.

Teaching Climate Justice in Social Work and Community Organizing

Social Workers and community organizers (CO) play a crucial role in helping people confront various forms of inequity, injustice, and discrimination by assisting them to heal, reflect and improve their lives, communities, and society. This work is foundational to addressing oppression and supporting social justice and inclusionary solutions, particularly in response to transformational issues such as climate change. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized populations facing other forms of inequity and injustice (Dominelli, 2013). In this area of my EL, I reflect on our responsibility as instructors to prepare SW and CO students to work on climate justice. Consequently, I have integrated more and more of these topics into my teaching:

  • Collaborated with three passionate MSW students to reflect on and design teaching strategies and modules to train SW students on Climate Justice:
    • Mik Turje in SOWK550 (2020);
    • Jamin Short in SOWK335 (2021);
    • Shannon Murphy in SOWK440C/529A (2022).
  • Awarded a Climate Education Grant from UBC Sustainability to improve the inclusion of Climate Justice inSOWK440C/529A: Community Organizing for Climate Justice (2022).

Universal Design for Learning

From 2013 to 2015 I was part of the working group in Montreal on the research project, “Projet interordres sur les applications pédagogiques de la conception universelle de l’apprentissage” (Research Project on the Pedagogical Applications of Universal Design for Learning, CRISPESH, Montreal).  The project’s main goal was to adapt the UDL model to francophone higher education teaching practices and implement practical and transferable applications. I led one of the UDL teaching pilot projects at a Montreal CEGEP, one of five CEGEPs and universities invited to participate in the pilots.

The applied research experience provided me with direct insight and experience with UDL principles. I now consistently apply UDL principles in my pedagogy and course design to make them universal and accessible to the broadest diversity of students possible. Incorporating UDL principles into course content and delivery makes them more accessible to a diversity of student learning abilities and styles and contributes to lowering anxiety and greater student engagement.

  • Offered workshops on UDL at the UBC CTLT (2019, 2022) to introduce instructors to this model:
    • Coulombe, A. (2022). Introduction to Universal Design for Learning: What? Why? And How? 13th Annual Celebrate Learning Week, UBC.
    • Coulombe, A. (2019). Universal Design for Learning: A Teacher’s Perspective. UBC CTLT Summer Institute.
  • Maintained relationships with experts in UDL by attending the Pan-Canadian UDL conference at Royal Roads University in 2019 and connecting with UBC colleagues who work on UDL (ISoTL).

 

  • Bracken S., Novak K. (2019). Transforming higher education through universal design for learning: An international perspective. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Dentato, M. P., Craig, S. L., Lloyd, M. R., Kelly, B. L., Wright, C., & Austin, A. (2016). Homophobia within schools of social work: The critical need for affirming classroom settings and effective preparation for service with the LGBTQ community. Social Work Education, 35(6), 672-692.
  • Dominelli, L. (2013). Environmental justice at the heart of social work practice: Greening the profession. International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(4), 431-439.
  • Gezinski, L. (2009). Addressing sexual minority issues in social work education: A curriculum framework. Advances in Social Work, 10 (1), 103-113.
  • Hillock, S., & Mulé, N. J. (2016). Queering social work education. Vancouver; Toronto: UBC Press.
  • Mulé, N. J., McKenzie, C., & Khan, M. (2017). Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (LGBTQ) and the CASWE-ACFTS accreditation standards and procedures. Queer Caucus, CASWE-ACFTS.
  • Mulé, N. J. (2015). Much to be desired: LGBT health inequalities and inequities in Canada. In Julie Fish, & Kate Karban (Eds.), (1st ed., pp. 27) Policy Press.