��ǰ���Molade Osibodu, creating what she calls “liberatory futures” begins in the mathematics classroom.

An associate professor of math education at �첥��Ƶ’s Faculty of Education, Osibodu focuses her research on how Black students experience math and how education systems can better support equity.

“I want Black learners who enter a mathematics classroom to be fully, completely themselves instead of feeling like they don’t belong,” says Osibodu, who is keenly aware of the persistent and unfounded stereotypes about Black learners’ abilities in math – and how those beliefs intersect with Canada’s colonial legacy and history of immigration.

Osibodu’s teaching experience across three continents has fuelled her interest in and passion for addressing challenges faced by Black students in Canada. Before joining York, she taught secondary school mathematics in South Africa and later taught mathematics and mathematics education courses in the U.S. and Canada. Her research has since documented a range of obstacles faced by Black students in Canadian classrooms.

“It’s impossible to look at course syllabi without realizing that it’s important for equity to be at the core of the teaching practice,” she says. “My ultimate goal is to create math education where Black learners are thriving.”

A key aspect of her work is understanding how Black students experience math, which, in Canada, requires knowledge of the population’s demography. As her colleague Carl James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at �첥��Ƶ, has long emphasized, the Canadian Black community is diverse – including descendants who arrived via the Underground Railroad, families who immigrated from the Caribbean decades ago and more recent immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa – leading to a variety of educational experiences.

Read the full article in the April 10, 2026 issue of Yfile

With files from Elaine Smith

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�첥��Ƶ Faculty of Education Professor Lisa Farley and her research colleagues have developed a reflection guide for museum educators to support their efforts to discuss challenging topics and ideas with children.

The guide builds on the team’s 2025 study of programming and practices at children’s museums in Canada and the United States.

Farley says museum educators are navigating increasingly constrained environments when addressing equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion with young audiences. Often, the idea of “childhood innocence” is cited as a reason to censor or downplay controversial and challenging ideas.

At the same time, Farley says, "children live within the social and political world, and are themselves subjects of and/or witnesses to injustices, violences and inequities."

She adds that the question then becomes "not how to protect them from difficult knowledge, but what it can mean to facilitate meaningful engagements.”

Farley and her colleagues, including York’s Gillian Parekh, associate professor of education and doctoral candidate Suad Ahmed, conducted the original study in partnership with the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM). Their research found that while many children’s museums focus on exploration, play or self-expression, addressing social and historical issues with young audiences were secondary.

Read the full article in the Friday, March 27, 2026 issue of Yfile

Article written by Elaine Smith, special contributing writer

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A new study led by Natalia Balyasnikova, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at �첥��Ƶ, is calling for a shift in how healthy aging is understood globally.

Published in the , the study responds to the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, an international framework aimed at improving the lives of older adults through age-friendly environments, better care systems and efforts to combat ageism. While these priorities are important, Balyasnikova and her co-authors – all co-conveners of the Educational Gerontology Special Interest Group at the British Society of Gerontology – felt it reflected a recurring gap

“Across global health and aging policy frameworks, learning is largely absent or treated as peripheral,” she says. “We wanted to examine this omission more systematically and, importantly, to offer examples that demonstrate how participation in learning environments contributes to healthy aging and well-being.”

To do so, the researchers turned to three real-world learning initiatives in Canada and the U.K. – projects they helped design, lead or facilitate. This first-hand involvement allowed them to analyze participant experiences in depth, rather than observe programs from a distance.

In Canada, older immigrants participated in the Seniors Storytelling Club, a 10‑session, arts-based language-learning program where learners created oral, written and multimodal stories while building community with peers. In the U.K., the team examined two initiatives: a one-day intergenerational co-creation workshop that used movement, drawing and collaborative activities to explore sustainability; and the Ageing Well Public Talks, an ongoing public education series launched in 2019 that has reached more than 90,000 participants worldwide.

Read the full article in the March 20, 2026 issue of Yfile

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Growing up in Scarborough, Stephanie Fearon was raised in a community with a rich tradition of Black matriarchal storytelling.

Through oration, folk tales, music, dance and even cooking, mothers have continued to impart cultural knowledge across generations.

It’s no surprise then, that as the inaugural assistant professor of Black thriving and education at �첥��Ƶ, Fearon wanted to explore the ways Black mothers come together with their children to cultivate leadership and literacy skills within education systems and beyond.

Inspired by her grandmother and grandaunts, who came to Canada from Jamaica in the 1960s with limited access to educational opportunities, Fearon’s research studies how Black mothers use storytelling in community-based literacy programs. 

With an understanding of the barriers these women face in academic research spaces, Fearon was careful to develop a collaborative approach where Black mothers feel valued.

“They’ve complained, lamented, about the extractive nature of the research process,” she says. “And when we look at the histories and the current relationships between researchers in academia and Black communities, it's not positive.”

Fearon centres Black mothers as partners in the research process, grounding her work in respect and co-creation. To honour the cultural significance of storytelling, she uses an arts-informed approach that allows her to reimagine educational research as collaborative and cultural.

Read the full article in the February 6, 2026 issue of Yfile

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Carl James holds the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in the Faculty of Education and Distinguished Research Professor at �첥��Ƶ. His work focuses on how social systems shape the educational experiences and outcomes of Black and other racialized youth — and how those systems can be transformed. Through research, advocacy, public scholarship, and policy advising, he works in close collaboration with his community to advance more equitable education systems designed for all students to succeed.

Seeing youth success beyond the classroom

In his first summer after entering university, Carl began working as a youth worker in downtown Toronto, where he saw firsthand how young people’s lives beyond school — family responsibilities, housing conditions, and economic realities — shaped their educational paths and future opportunities.

He initially turned to social psychology to understand what motivates students, particularly Black students, to succeed. Over time, however, he realized that success could not be understood in isolation. Family, community, and the school system itself play a critical role in shaping outcomes. This realization led him to sociology — a discipline that allowed him to keep community at the centre of his work.

One early interaction continues to shape his approach. A fellow student once challenged him by asking, “What is sociology actually going to do for us?” That question sharpened Carl’s commitment to ensuring that research does more than describe inequity — it helps to change it.

Rather than placing responsibility solely on students to “work harder,” Carl argues that meaningful equity requires society to work harder — by addressing the structural barriers that limit opportunities outside of the classroom.

COVID-19 as a lens on inequity

In 2021, Carl became Co-Chair of the . The role built on his long-standing research into education and inequity and offered a stark reminder of how crises expose and deepen existing disparities.

His findings were clear. Black and other racialized students were disproportionately affected by the pandemic — not because of individual choices, but because of the social and economic conditions shaping their lives.

Many lived in high-density housing, relied on public transportation, and had parents working in frontline jobs that could not move online. These realities increased exposure to the virus while reinforcing harmful narratives that framed racialized communities as inherently “high-risk,” rather than structurally vulnerable.

School closures further strained families. Parents were suddenly expected to support learning at home while juggling work, caregiving responsibilities, and financial stress. The loss of school-based food programs increased food insecurity, while limited access to computers and reliable internet left some students disconnected from school altogether — raising the risk of disengagement and dropout.

At the postsecondary level, the effects carried forward. Many students entered university already feeling behind. Remote learning limited opportunities to build relationships, access support, and develop a sense of belonging. Some delayed or withdrew from their studies entirely, compounding financial pressures on themselves and their families.

As Carl emphasizes, COVID-19 revealed how racism intersects with class, language, gender, and immigration status — and how the consequences of disruption extend well beyond the height of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 highlighted that racism is not just simply racism.”

The inequalities shaping the lives of Black and other racialized youth existed long before the pandemic. COVID-19 simply made them more visible — and more severe.

When recommendations meet resistant systems

As part of the task force, Carl authored Racial Inequity, COVID-19 and the Education of Black and Other Marginalized Students, which outlines nine recommendations for addressing educational inequities. These include reforming education policy, strengthening partnerships between schools and community organizations, engaging parents without shifting teaching responsibilities onto them, improving curriculum accessibility, collecting and using data to advance equity, and better preparing educators to support student well-being.

Yet Carl is realistic about the limits of recommendations when systems themselves resist change.

“We can always make recommendations, but if the system is not ready for that big change — if those systemic issues are not dealt with — then the recommendations become just simply that: recommendations.”

Although COVID-19 has faded from everyday conversation, its effects continue to shape students’ educational and career paths. As Carl notes, we must continue to take into account the long-term impacts of the pandemic and the ongoing role of racism in shaping young people’s trajectories.

Black History Month — and the importance of systems

For Carl, Black History Month is not only about commemoration — it is an opportunity to examine the systems that shape present-day realities. He emphasizes the importance of understanding Canada’s racial history, including colonialism, the experiences of Indigenous peoples, and the fact that Black people are not recent immigrants, but were originally brought to Canada through enslavement, not immigration.

These histories are not peripheral. They are central to understanding how race operates in Canadian institutions today, including schools.

“We need to think of the social, political, and cultural situation of Black people beyond just a month — and beyond just Black people. If we’re thinking of Black people, we should also be thinking of other racialized groups, and how race operates more widely in our society.”

A path toward change

When asked to describe his work in one word, Carl offers two — change and path. Change speaks to the possibility of transformation. Path speaks to movement — how people navigate shifting conditions that shape opportunities, risks, and possibilities over time.

“People are constantly moving and travelling. You can be travelling along a path, but the weather might change — it might be icy and –10 degrees, or it might be sunny and warm. What matters is that we pay attention to these changes and adapt as we continue to walk our paths.”

Carl’s work makes one thing clear — to understand the path, we must understand the systems that shape it. And for real change to occur, those systems must be ready to change as well.

“How we deal with change is important — but so is paying attention to the context of that change.”

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A  led by �첥��Ƶ follows Class of '73 high school graduates over the span of five decades in The Story of a Generation, a book that offers powerful insights on the baby boomer generation.

Culminating in a new book titled , the research marks the longest-running Canadian generational study of its kind, following nearly 50 years in the lives of a cohort of high school students who graduated in 1973. 

The project originated with Paul Anisef, professor emeritus at York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who began with a survey of high school students to help the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities understand and project post-secondary enrolment.

“I didn’t have in my mind at all that this would become a long-standing longitudinal study,” says Anisef. “It started as a ministry-sponsored survey of high school students, and one thing led to another.” 

Encouraged by colleagues after the initial survey, Anisef returned repeatedly to the same group of students – just under 2,500 members of the class of 1973 – surveying and interviewing them in seven waves, from adolescence through midlife and into their early to mid-'60s. 

The final phase, conducted between 2019 and 2021, captured their reflections as many approached retirement, offering a rare, lifespan perspective on Canadians. 

The newly released book is co-authored along with York Faculty of Education professors Paul Axelrod and Carl James, as well as York PhD student Erika McDonald, and includes contributions from Wolfgang Lehmann, Karen Robson and Erica Fae Thomson. It’s a follow-up to an earlier volume, Opportunity and Uncertainty: Life Course Experiences of the Class of ’73 (2000). 

Read the full story in the January 16, 2026 issue of Yfile

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People in the Niagara Region of Ontario have a �첥��Ƶ Faculty of Education alumna to thank for the healthy, reasonably priced food options regularly available to them.

Pamela Farrell, currently an assistant professor at the Werklund Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, earned her BEd at �첥��Ƶ in 2007, the first step in a journey of lifelong learning in the field of education that eventually led her to found , Canada’s first community food literacy centre based in Niagara Falls.

Farrell, a native of Switzerland, met her Canadian husband while she was in London and originally came to Canada through the Youth Mobility Program. She began working for EY Canada in human resources, which included adult learning and diversity training.

“EY was ahead of its time with regard to diversity, and I learned about inequity in the workplace and in hiring, something that transferred to education,” Farrell said .

Her husband inspired her to pursue her interest in education through �첥��Ƶ.

“�첥��Ƶ’s BEd program was transformational; it makes you think about your own learning and is very introspective and reflective. You consider how learning resonates with your own experience and values. I’m not sure that any other program requires you to think about your own experiences and how they affect your principles, as well as how you learn and how others learn.”

The BEd program also emphasized the importance of lifelong learning, a belief that Farrell embraced. She pursued further studies and has since acquired an MEd from Australia’s University of South Queensland and a doctorate in education from the University of Calgary. She is currently pursuing an MA in Educational Leadership from Harvard University.

Where does GROW fit into this picture, one might ask? It grew out of Farrell’s doctoral dissertation, given her specialization in language and literacy. When Farrell came across the term food literacy, she decided to explore the term from a literacy perspective.

“People often approach food literacy from a health and nutrition point of view, but what does it really mean?” Farrell asked. “You need to understand the social context behind literacy. Everyone has food literacies, but they look different across cultures, and some people can’t act or do what they like to do with food.” {GROW defines food literacy and skills as the interconnected information, knowledge, relationships, capacities, and sense of agency, together with the social, cultural, and physical environments, that support healthy eating and informed food choices.)

Through her research, she discovered that many “low-income people have rich food literacy practices, but no access to healthy foods and fresh vegetables.” In addition, she found that only 25 per cent of food-insecure population used food banks and when they do, “they might get three days’ worth of food that isn’t culturally or nutritionally appropriate. Her research illuminates a stark public health crisis; persons with disabilities, especially women, are disproportionately affected by food insecurity.

While living in Niagara, she decided to use this research to make an impact in the community, and in 2020, created a concrete way for the community to access healthier food. Its low-cost market in Niagara Falls provides fresh produce, dairy, and meat, as well as dairy and meat alternatives to community members living on low incomes. The program is supported by grants, program partners and runs with the assistance from volunteers.

“GROW provides food access in a dignified way,” Farrell said. “There’s no prescribing, and we’re not shaming you; we’re just providing access. We know you can cook, so here are the ingredients.”

To meet demand in Niagara, in 2024, GROW added an electric mobile market truck, GROW-on-the-GO, to its programs in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Working with partners throughout the region, GROW-on-the-GO travels daily to locations throughout the region that are identified as food deserts – urban areas with no affordable grocery stores. As GROW-on-the-GO completes its second year of service, Farrell and her team will conduct a formal evaluation of the new addition to determine how it can serve the community better.

“GROW-on-the-Go is Pam’s vision brought to life,” said Lindsay Krahn, the mobile marketing program manager for GROW. “It was her idea of how we could expand in the region without needing more bricks and mortar.

“Pam really brings a unique perspective to this work. She is so involved in the research side of things, but is also dedicated to the practical component. She is really dedicated to this work.”

Farrell, who now oversees GROW from Calgary, says it’s all about education.

“When I think about my own philosophy of teaching and learning, it’s critical to have the literacy to understand our neighbours, our food systems and how the world works.”

Story by Elaine Smith, special contributing writer

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Charles A. Hopkins, an internationally recognized pioneer in education for sustainable development and the inaugural holder of the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability at �첥��Ƶ, has been named a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours. His decades-long leadership in embedding sustainability into education — from shaping curricula and campus practices at York to partnering with UNESCO, the United Nations University and global ministries of education — has inspired learners and educators around the world to make sustainability a core principle of teaching and learning.

The Order of Canada, established in 1967, honours individuals whose contributions have had a lasting impact in Canada and beyond.

Read more about Hopkins and all nine York community members honoured in this year’s Order of Canada announcement: /yfile/2026/01/07/order-of-canada-honours-nine-york-community-members/  

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A program that would have been unthinkable five years ago is strengthening guidance and connections for students pursuing a career in teaching.

The Faculty of Education’s Alumni Network has launched a pilot mentorship program that pairs alumni with �첥��Ƶ BEd students to provide career insights and build professional relationships.

“We relaunched the network after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and we are rebuilding,” says Jason Singh, a 2011 York graduate and director of education for Medix College’s health care programs, who serves as Chair of the group. “Post-COVID, people want to connect and our objective is to engage them and connect them back to the Faculty and �첥��Ƶ.”

Read the full story in the December 17, 2025 issue of Yfile

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