Beyond Book Clubs and Hashtags

It snowed overnight in the corner of the world where I now live. Quiet days like this one give me time to look back even as I look ahead.

The photograph of chocolate dipped strawberries is what I used to prepare for the Volunteer Tea at the school where I worked the longest -14 years of my 22 year career in Ontario’s education sector.

The Volunteer Pathway

The turning point of my volunteer experience that led to my application to the B. Ed programmes in the GTA came through the arrival of a new vice-principal to the school. Mrs. Z’s appointment appeared in the newsletter. After a day of volunteering, I went to greet her, and she invited me into her office for a chat a few days later. The caretakers were putting up her framed academic degrees and we sat on the couch as they worked. Mrs. Z asked me about my qualifications and when she learned that I had an undergraduate degree in science, she connected me to teachers in the school who needed someone to read with their students or help with other academically aligned tasks. She also encouraged me to apply to the B. Ed programme and requested some newly hired teachers to guide me through that process. In May 2002, as I was waiting with other mothers and grandparents to pick up our children at the end of the day, something quite curious happened. Mrs. H came over and invited me to present some workshops in South Asian art and also set up the display case in the front foyer to commemorate South Asian Heritage Month (Karnad-Jani, 2021).

Volunteering With LDAYS

I began my volunteering outside the school space with the Learning Disabilities Association of York-Simcoe in 2002. I remember I used to read with students who needed support. I used to sit in the hallway at a table with the books and assessment sheets the teacher had prepared and students would join me. One day, I met someone from LDAYS (then LDAYR) who was there to support for the ABC-123 Program that was offered in schools. I asked about it and was very interested. So on a day when I had someone to pick up the children after school, I took one bus to Yonge Street and took another bus that brought me to Richmond Hill to attend the Volunteer Orientation and Training. I connected with the work of LDAYS then and continued to learn and embed this into my practice when I read with students at schools in the hallway. I remember at the volunteer appreciation luncheon, the principal of the school said in his speech ” We are grateful that our volunteers give us their time because you could have spent it doing something else”. I had not thought of it that way.

The Transcripts Saga

Although it may seem that I came to Canada in January 2002 and applied to the B.Ed programme that November, it was not as easy as all that. I applied for transcripts first (and since then have applied for them in 2004 June, in 2010 for my M.Ed, in 2011 for M.Ed, and in 2015 for my Ph.D). My siblings who lived in Mumbai then, helped with the application and couriered them to the universities I planned to apply to. I shall write about transcripts in another blog post soon, I promise. I need to spend more time on that.

After the acceptance letter was received in April 2003 – it was a day of freezing rain and we had to scrape the mailbox open to get the letter out. I went on to do my B.Ed starting in September 2003, supported by a well paying full time job our family had with one parent, and the encouragement of Mrs. H, the vice-principal of my daughter’s school in 2003. With a Math, Science, Technology B.Ed and a B.Sc from Bombay University, I was soon able to get a job, 20 years ago and was now an Ontario Certified Teacher or OCT. 

Some intentionally planned Additional Qualifications later, I went on to do my M.Ed and then in spite of a rapidly unravelling marriage, my Ph.D because my dreams were impatient and waiting to be realised. My children’s unwavering support got me through every twist and turn as also the love and care of dear friends. 

I am acutely aware as I look back and look ahead, that although I do not have racial privilege in this place I now call home. My linguistic abilities are frequently erased by my age, race and perceived abilities in socially dominant mindsets as well as internalised racism among my own demographic. Sometimes people would say “I follow you on Twitter”  (now X).

So why this, and why now? Early on, I had realised that due my institutional privilege, I have access to information and due to the social organisation of knowledge have been able to make educational outcomes more accessible to my children and to friends’ children when they reach out. 

Accurate Information and Informed Decisions

My deep commitment to educational equity comes from an understanding that incomplete information shared with families is an inequitable practice that is rarely examined deeply and reflectively. My research and that of other scholars highlight that educators experience push back in dominant systems when they engage in anti-racist equity focussed education work along with limited funding due to a variety of reasons. My recent experience in working within a teacher education programme have also shown the gaps that exist in equity, diversity and inclusion including disability justice for pre-service teachers and embedding that work alongside curriculum delivery is not seen as an added value to professional practice.  

Why “Beyond Book Clubs and Hashtags”

While sitting under a tree at the 2023 Humanities and Social Sciences Congress, York University, a colleague suggested that I should take my vision of educational equity and social change and convert it into action by offering partnerships to families, education sector workers etc in accessible spaces where the institutional burdens of us and them do not hinder progress. 

I wanted a straightforward name for the website and consultancy with a clear focus to support all the driving gears that will make this work: educators, settlement services sector, families of students, early career administrators, Employee Affinity Groups and so on.  Karnad-Jani Consultancy Services is therefore the place where I shall prepare the ground to plant seeds of social change by supporting clients, strengthening educational advocacy, and everyday work geared towards equitable outcomes.The tagline of this website is “Beyond Book Clubs and Hashtags” as this phrase always comes to mind for me when I hear discussions, many of which remain strings of big words and assertions without becoming actionable work with measurable outcomes for students, families and education sector workers.

 At the start of the website you see a photograph of sunflower seeds in my hand. That is what I do – I plant seeds with care and nurture them through the stages. So also with professional learning and system navigation – it is the same idea of preparing the conditions in which the seeds take root and can thrive. 

 I invite you as parents, educators, pre-service and in-service teachers, school settlement sector workers and community developers or early career scholars and higher education students to dig deep with me.

With You, In Solidarity

Dr. Rashmee Karnad-Jani