Progressive Practice (Asynchronous Session)
The Illusion of Social Transformation in South African Sex and Sexuality Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jane Rossouw
A continuous challenge in post-apartheid South Africa is the construction and teaching of sex and sexuality in school to be aligned with diversity, inclusion, and social transformation. The objective of this research is to determine how sex and sexuality content is represented in South African high school textbooks, focusing specifically on the learning areas of Life Orientation and Life Sciences. Although not as extensively examined as Life Orientation regarding sex and sexuality education, Life Sciences was included in this study as it does contain sex education content, specifically that related to reproduction. The purpose of examining the two subjects was to determine how, collectively, these subjects represent sex and sexuality. A critical discourse analysis of the textbooks for both learning areas revealed a common theme of epistemic ignorance- a notion that the text claims diversity, inclusivity and social transformation, yet actively reproduces hegemonic narratives of heteronormativity and christonormativity, and the expectation of students to be contributing members of a heteronormative and christonormative society.
Social Emotional Learning as a Pedagogy of Protest View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session A. Suzie Henning
This paper shares the initial year-one results of a research study embedding Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as a pedagogy of protest and equity in a rural town in the USA. Using a three-year research-design, this study utilizes Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) in a step-by-step collaborative model emphasizing research and practice questions measuring the impact of SEL interventions on student and teacher behaviors, schooling cultures, and competencies in SEL practice with the intent to use SEL as a lever of change to reduce inequality in a rural region of one US state. The central research question of the study is: What are the impacts of systematic SEL interventions as a lever of change to reduce inequality?
And Then Came Tango: Inclusion Through Theatre for Young Audiences View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adriana Dominguez
The play, And Then Came Tango, which is based on the book, And Tango Makes Three is the true story of Roy and Silo (Chinstrap male penguins) that raise a baby chick in a zoo in New York City and reinforces that families come in all shapes, sizes, and combinations. The book has topped the American Library Association’s 10 most challenged books for over ten years; parents are often demanding that this text be removed from school and public library shelves. And Then Came Tango was performed for the community at the local public libraries, downtown performance space, a dedicated LGBTQI center, and the local zoo in the border city of El Paso, Texas in May of 2022. The book, And Tango Makes Three, is one of the many books under investigation by a Texas state representative for removal from Texas school libraries. The study focuses on the production process and community response to this play that served the very clear purpose of promoting inclusivity in a very conservative state (Texas).
University and College Diversity and Inclusion Action Groups in STEM: An Auto-evaluation Frame View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mirjam Fines Neuschild
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are implementing many initiatives to foster equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Based on a community-driven approach, I take the case of local action groups such as departmental committees. Most of these groups rely on volunteer work and do not necessarily have available extensive resources to justify and validate the effects of their actions. I use an ethnographic approach combining observations and nine interviews with members of a “Diversity in Physics” committee launched in 2014 in a French-speaking university in the province of Quebec (Canada). I present four committee roles as perceived by its members. This provides insights about the members’ aimed repercussions and the collective underlying intentions behind the committee’s numerous actions. To support an identity work analysis, I argue that when individuals interact about EDI issues within their organization, they revisit their own systems of values and beliefs. From this analysis emerges an alternative auto-evaluation frame for EDI action groups. This frame is centered around two evaluation criteria: “create change in individuals from the community” and “adopt a reflexive process as a group”. These criteria can offer insight to EDI action groups on the process of integrating EDI in a university context.
How Do You Know It's Working? Conducting Organizational Assessments for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Aerial Ellis
Organizations need to create environments in which people can thrive. In order to measure the effectiveness of any training and education in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, organizations must assess the emerging factors that have become catalysts for improved work performance and culture. This paper proposes a set of organizational practices that leaders must adopt as a measurement/assessment resource for evaluation and accountability to embed intercultural competence in their DEI practices. This solution includes an organizational assessment that serves as a companion piece to senior leaders who complete DEI training programs to carry to their organizations and administer to their teams. The organizational assessment has five objectives informed the continuing needs and opportunities of the affirmed organizational assets: 1) assesses how effectively the organization communicates; 2) determine how the organization is meeting the needs of a diverse consumer base through communication; 3) identify common problems and obstacles in diversity and inclusion practices; 4) validate organizational understanding of diversity and inclusion in the workplace; 5) reveal opportunities for improvement, growth and innovation. The organizational assessment also allows leaders and their teams to work in partnership with the organization’s human resources and learning/development departments to support an integrated learning approach. Additionally, this solution is aimed at helping organizations use intercultural competencies to more effectively design, implement and execute DEI practices.
Towards LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Support: A Community Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities within 4-H View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joseph Rand
LGBTQ+ youth experience health disparities compared with heterosexual and cisgender youth. Community-based, positive youth development organizations are an important resource to support and affirm LGBTQ+ youth. This study aims to identify the opportunities and challenges in supporting LGBTQ+ youth within 4-H. Participants included 4-H staff, support staff, adult volunteers, and youth participants. The majority of participants were White and middle class with direct connections to the 4-H program. The study took place in one state in the U.S. within a 4-H program and employed qualitative, community-based methods using SWOT analyses and focus groups of 4-H staff, support staff, volunteers, and youth participants. Thematic analyses were conducted by multiple analysts until consensus was reached. Challenges and opportunities emerged in three themes: 1) organizational climate; 2) policies and procedures; and 3) training, education, and resources. Two additional themes included opportunities only: 1) community engagement, and; 2) youth-specific resources. This study has important implications for the 4-H program, rural community practice, and research including strategies to improve LGBTQ+ inclusivity through education, programs and policies, hiring, and community partnerships. Additionally, this study highlights the opportunity and unique positionality of the 4-H program to amplify youth voices in the creation of youth-specific resources.
