Toronto District School Board launches Teacher Leadership Collective

BY PAUL JUNOR

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is known throughout Canada for providing leadership in the development of programs to address issues of discrimination, inequities and the underachievement of racialized students.

It has engaged in several initiatives to address issues of systemic racism, especially anti-black racism as articulated in its Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP). This plan states at TDSB, “We will effectively integrate the voices, choices, abilities and experiences of our students, into our school programming, and be more responsive to the strengths, interests, gifts and lived realities of our students as we create and design our schools and classrooms.”

One of the initiatives launched is the Teacher Leadership Collective (TLC). The website states, “Its aims is to transform the educational experiences of all students, particularly those from historically and currently oppressed group, by deepening instructional and leadership capacity among a vast network of 200+ K-12 classroom teachers anchored in Indigenous (First Nations, Metis, and Inuit) education, equity, anti-racism and anti-oppression.” 

Teachers who are selected for this initiative will, “Take part in on-going learning and apply their knowledge to: document classroom practice, highlight student voice, and develop co-learning experiences with peers that leverage their passions and differentiate teacher support in: numeracy, literacy, equity and indigenous education.”

The purpose of TLC is, “To strengthen instructional and leadership capacity of classroom teachers to accelerate the widespread learning and adoption of research-based instructional strategies. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) calls to action to enhance student’s learning experiences, particularly for Indigenous, black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ students.”

These selected teachers, “Are exemplary classroom educators who demonstrate commitment to students as whole beings, enthusiasm for professional growth, humility in their approach to learning, and a passion to support the learning of their peers to make a difference to students.” These TLC Lead Teachers will extend their work beyond the classroom to participate in professional activities related to:

• Cultural safety and trauma informed instructional approaches through Indigenous paradigms
• Culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy in the context of literacy, numeracy and global competencies
• Facilitating professional learning anchored in equity, anti-racism amid anti-oppression