Ardavan Eizadirad
Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad (@DrEizadirad) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also a community activist and Executive Director of non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community in Toronto. He was an educator with the Toronto District School Board and a member of the Race and Identity-Based Data Collection Community Advisory Panel with the Toronto Police Service. Dr. Eizadirad is the author of Decolonizing Educational Assessment: Ontario Elementary Students and the EQAO (2019), and co-editor of Equity as Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care (2021 with Drs. Zuhra Abawi & Rachel Berman), Counternarratives of Pain and Suffering as Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Oppression in Educational Contexts (2022 with Drs. Andrew Campbell & Steve Sider), The Power of Oral Culture in Education: Theorizing Proverbs, Idioms, and Folklore Tales (2023 with Dr. Njoki Wane), Enacting Anti-racism and Activist Pedagogies in Teacher Education: Canadian Perspectives (2023 with Drs. Zuhra Abawi & Andrew Campbell), and International Handbook of Anti-Discriminatory Education (forthcoming 2024 co-edited with Dr. Peter Trifonas). Dr. Eizadirad is also the founder and Director of EDIcation Consulting (www.edication.org) offering equity, diversity, and inclusion training to organizations. His research interests include equity, standardized testing, oral culture, community engagement, youth violence prevention and intervention, anti-oppressive practices, critical pedagogy, social justice education, resistance, and decolonization.
less
Uploads
Papers by Ardavan Eizadirad
distributed across the country and the big ideas and themes reinforced as official knowledge promoted by the state. The findings reveal both strengths and weaknesses in the textbooks’ content and approach to teaching about global connections. While the textbooks aim to promote global citizenship, cultural understanding, and economic relationships, they also perpetuate nationalistic perspectives, stereotypes, and biased coverage of various forms of inequality and social injustice. Failure to critically analyze diverse cultures, perpetuation of biased views, negative portrayal of Western culture, and a lack of comprehensive coverage of inequality are some of the arising issues and emerging themes identified. Additionally, the textbooks neglect explicit discussions about equity and social justice and connections to the civic engagement of citizens. These findings promote passive citizenship and underscore the need for greater attention to inclusivity, cultural understanding, and comprehensive coverage of global issues and social justice in social studies education in
Turkey and beyond as it relates to international relations.
conditions, IRCAs have the potential to transform the criminal justice system through promotion of alternatives to custody that correlates with reductions in recidivism.
See below for the link to podcast recording:
https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/preventing-and-addressing-violence-in-schools-with-dr-ardavan-eizadirad/
Also below is the link to the article in The Conversation (June 2023) titled "Preventing and addressing violence in schools: 4 priorities as educators plan for next year":
https://theconversation.com/preventing-and-addressing-violence-in-schools-4-priorities-as-educators-plan-for-next-year-207791
are examined as teachable moments on how they collectively symbolize ongoing systemic inequities within educational institutions. We argue for a divestment from the curriculum of denial towards a curriculum of critical consciousness, where the colonizing gaze is disrupted with intentionality, opening possibilities to advance equity and social justice. The curriculum of critical consciousness is defined using three pillars which include grassroots activism, revolutionary pedagogies, and Indigenization and decolonization. Each pillar includes strategies for implementation as a starting point to work towards systemic decolonization.
from the literature review and the case studies indicate that access to education needs to be prioritized on a systemic level supported by various levels of government with funding and resource allocation, as education is a key protective factor in reducing recidivism. A more holistic approach to providing education collaborations with non-profits, community agencies, and post-secondary organizations. The chapter concludes with specific suggestions for what can be changed, altered, and introduced to mitigate some of the challenges and barriers identified.
In 2007, youth and gun violence were hot topics in Toronto with the
death of 15-year-oldgrade nine student Jordan Manners on May 23 at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7reINgAdqI) , a high school in the Jane and Finch community. He died in the school hallway from a gunshot wound. The tragedy was the first of its kind in the City of Toronto and in Canada where a student died within a high school. Fast forward to 2023, and we are still discussing the same issues, this time about how the violence has intensified and occurs more frequently in public settings such as schools, malls, and subway stations.
a rhetoric has been normalized as part of research output expectations for scholars as they navigate the trajectory of becoming a tenured professor. Unfortunately, in many cases outputs- the sheer volume of it- instead of the impact of the research has become one of the major success indicators used to rank universities and their reputations. What is problematic about this approach? What are the implications for
how leadership is perceived and enacted? Why has it not been questioned or disrupted? How does this perpetuate harm and exclude Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC), and other minoritized identities? How does this harm communities that do not access the research findings nor reap benefits from being research subjects? This article is intended to spark reflection and dialogue- as individuals and between institutions- to consider what is the purpose and role of research in higher education? In what ways do the binary of the researcher and the researched need to be
adapted, subverted, and altered to value relationships with community to reduce harm enacted on local communities? What are the complexities navigating a higher education culture saturated with inequitable power dynamics, various forms of privilege, and prioritization of profit?
This article is intended to be more about questions to push us to pause,
decolonize our imagination and spirits, unlearn, think innovatively and counter hegemonically, and identify where we can commit to action short and long term.
https://www.edcan.ca/articles/disrupting-professionalism-in-education/
distributed across the country and the big ideas and themes reinforced as official knowledge promoted by the state. The findings reveal both strengths and weaknesses in the textbooks’ content and approach to teaching about global connections. While the textbooks aim to promote global citizenship, cultural understanding, and economic relationships, they also perpetuate nationalistic perspectives, stereotypes, and biased coverage of various forms of inequality and social injustice. Failure to critically analyze diverse cultures, perpetuation of biased views, negative portrayal of Western culture, and a lack of comprehensive coverage of inequality are some of the arising issues and emerging themes identified. Additionally, the textbooks neglect explicit discussions about equity and social justice and connections to the civic engagement of citizens. These findings promote passive citizenship and underscore the need for greater attention to inclusivity, cultural understanding, and comprehensive coverage of global issues and social justice in social studies education in
Turkey and beyond as it relates to international relations.
conditions, IRCAs have the potential to transform the criminal justice system through promotion of alternatives to custody that correlates with reductions in recidivism.
See below for the link to podcast recording:
https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/preventing-and-addressing-violence-in-schools-with-dr-ardavan-eizadirad/
Also below is the link to the article in The Conversation (June 2023) titled "Preventing and addressing violence in schools: 4 priorities as educators plan for next year":
https://theconversation.com/preventing-and-addressing-violence-in-schools-4-priorities-as-educators-plan-for-next-year-207791
are examined as teachable moments on how they collectively symbolize ongoing systemic inequities within educational institutions. We argue for a divestment from the curriculum of denial towards a curriculum of critical consciousness, where the colonizing gaze is disrupted with intentionality, opening possibilities to advance equity and social justice. The curriculum of critical consciousness is defined using three pillars which include grassroots activism, revolutionary pedagogies, and Indigenization and decolonization. Each pillar includes strategies for implementation as a starting point to work towards systemic decolonization.
from the literature review and the case studies indicate that access to education needs to be prioritized on a systemic level supported by various levels of government with funding and resource allocation, as education is a key protective factor in reducing recidivism. A more holistic approach to providing education collaborations with non-profits, community agencies, and post-secondary organizations. The chapter concludes with specific suggestions for what can be changed, altered, and introduced to mitigate some of the challenges and barriers identified.
In 2007, youth and gun violence were hot topics in Toronto with the
death of 15-year-oldgrade nine student Jordan Manners on May 23 at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7reINgAdqI) , a high school in the Jane and Finch community. He died in the school hallway from a gunshot wound. The tragedy was the first of its kind in the City of Toronto and in Canada where a student died within a high school. Fast forward to 2023, and we are still discussing the same issues, this time about how the violence has intensified and occurs more frequently in public settings such as schools, malls, and subway stations.
a rhetoric has been normalized as part of research output expectations for scholars as they navigate the trajectory of becoming a tenured professor. Unfortunately, in many cases outputs- the sheer volume of it- instead of the impact of the research has become one of the major success indicators used to rank universities and their reputations. What is problematic about this approach? What are the implications for
how leadership is perceived and enacted? Why has it not been questioned or disrupted? How does this perpetuate harm and exclude Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC), and other minoritized identities? How does this harm communities that do not access the research findings nor reap benefits from being research subjects? This article is intended to spark reflection and dialogue- as individuals and between institutions- to consider what is the purpose and role of research in higher education? In what ways do the binary of the researcher and the researched need to be
adapted, subverted, and altered to value relationships with community to reduce harm enacted on local communities? What are the complexities navigating a higher education culture saturated with inequitable power dynamics, various forms of privilege, and prioritization of profit?
This article is intended to be more about questions to push us to pause,
decolonize our imagination and spirits, unlearn, think innovatively and counter hegemonically, and identify where we can commit to action short and long term.
https://www.edcan.ca/articles/disrupting-professionalism-in-education/
This vital text encourages rethinking how narratives of equity and inclusion are constructed and what this means for young children and their families in Ontario, as well as throughout Canada. This is an essential resource for students in early childhood education and care, early childhood studies, and education programs.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-village-and-the-new-jane-finch/id1517419086?i=1000479939405
YVHA was joined by professors Yasir Hameed and Ardavan Eizadirad to overview some of the socio-spatial developments and processes in the Jane & Finch community in North York, Toronto. The podcast looks at the relationship between the Village, York University, and the Jane-Finch community over the course of the last few decades, and how the rise of York University has impacted the broader community. The goal is to identify the social and political barriers separating the Jane and Finch community from the Village and York University, and to analyze the pervasive effects of urbanization in the City of Toronto, and it’s direct/indirect impact on the Jane-Finch community.