Faculty of Education public lecture: Education, schooling and disability studies
Education holds a complicated relationship with ability. In Ontario, K-12 schools are tasked with teaching important skills aimed to ensure youth can participate in future civic, social, academic and employment opportunities. However, when schools suspect a student may not be learning as expected, the determination as to “why” and the decisions that follow can hold critical consequences. Employing a disability studies lens, Parekh’s research examines how student identity characteristics (e.g. gender, race, SES, etc.) and contextual factors can play a role in how ability and/or disability are constructed in schools as well as implications associated to program, pathway and placement decisions. Recognizing the importance of institutional and identity data to monitor student outcomes, Parekh will draw on earlier studies with the Toronto District School Board as well as her own Ontario-wide study, Critical Transitions, to illustrate the need for a relational and intersectional understanding of disability in the examination of K-12 and postsecondary education outcomes.
Gillian Parekh is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Disability Studies in Education within the Faculty of Education at York University. Gillian is also cross-appointed with York University’s graduate program in Critical Disability studies within the Faculty of Health. As a previous teacher in special education and research coordinator with the Toronto District School Board, Gillian has conducted extensive system and school-based research across Ontario in the areas of structural equity, special education, and academic streaming. In particular, her work explores how schools construct and respond to disability as well as how students are organized across programs and systems.
This is a FREE event and all are welcome to attend.
