This thesis explores educator beliefs, attitudes and practices in teaching First Nations, Inuit, Métis and Ethnic students in Canada, including Muslim and Arabic students. Research supports evidence of on-going systemic racism toward the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and New Canadians in society, and therefore, within our schools and our classrooms. Evidence also exists regarding how racism, invisibly instilled in educators as societal norms, permeates classrooms and helps continue to perpetuate marginalization and Othering of students. The research question was: How can teachers begin to deconstruct Euro-Centric, White Dominant beliefs, practices, attitudes and expectations in order to positively impact all students and their academic well-being? I examine the questions: What are some teachers doing which positively impacts learning for all students? What can be done to help teachers realize that some of their teaching practices and ways of dealing with students are disrespectful to the individual children and contribute to systemic racism?

This thesis presents a secondary analysis of findings from a larger community-based participatory research (CBPR) project with the Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) First Nations reserves in Northern Saskatchewan. Initiated at the request of BATC, a three year CBPR project, entitled: “Resilience to Offending: Listening to Youth On-Reserve,” aimed to identify, analyze and disseminate local knowledge about on-reserve youth resilience. This larger project intended to capture the perspectives of First Nations youth, Elders and community stakeholders who work with youth at risk of offending, by identifying culturally specific aspects of resilience. Using arts-based and mixed methods, the focus of this larger study was on personal, relational and environmental risks faced by the youth and the impact of formal and informal services on reserve on youth resilience. Guided by a postcolonial and anti-oppressive framework, this thesis provides a secondary analysis of the in-depth qualitative interviews with the fourteen stakeholders and Elders who work with youth. Using a constructivist grounded theory, this thesis explores the stakeholder’s and Elders’ perceptions of formal and informal services in First Nations communities as well as issues related to First Nations governance. The emerging framework brought to light the continued impact of the colonization process on the federal government’s interactions with First Nations’ members, communities, Aboriginal leadership and governance structures. The research questions for this thesis were: How is the colonization process at play in the federal government’s interactions with First Nations’ members, communities, Aboriginal leadership, and governance structures?”, “What are the impacts of the colonization process in terms of the lived experience of individual First Nation members?”, and “What are the impacts of the colonization process in terms of community life on reserve?”. With these questions in mind, interpretation of the stakeholder interviews resulted in three general themes including: the continued impact of historical and systemic issues on the wellbeing of youth, adults and entire communities; colonized identities, which stakeholders referred to as the internalization of colonization through experiences of othering, and the resulting loss of self-esteem, lack of sense of belonging, and disconnection from traditional culture; and continued oppression through contemporary institutional means, most notably the relationship of control that exists between First Nations communities and the federal government. This thesis concludes that colonialism and neocolonialism, or the processes of domination and control by one group over another, and the continued control of colonized groups, respectively, are still very prevalent within the lives of Aboriginal people, coming to effect their social environments, their lived realities, and the policies and discourses pertaining to them. The institutionalized racism that constituted the colonial process, and continuing neocolonialism, influences the policies, programming and relations regarding Aboriginal people. This control is solidified through the contriving of Aboriginal identity and governance: the federal government still has the ultimate control over legal Aboriginal identity through delegation of titles (such as status Indian or non-status Indian), and the rights and disadvantages associated with each title. Despite the establishment of Aboriginal self-government, community stakeholders and Elders shed light on ways First Nations people on BATC reserves are still answerable to the federal government while they continue to suffer marginality related to housing, employment, socioeconomics and racialization.

Through my research I explored the frontline worker’s perspective of anti-oppressive child welfare practice (AOP). Five frontline workers from the Children’s Aid Society of Brant, Ontario (Brant CAS) were interviewed to share how they view their practice, and the child welfare system, through an anti-oppressive lens. An Anti-oppressive theory perspective was the framework for my research, using a narrative methodology. It is through the stories of the participants that we learn there is a variance in the understanding and implementation of AOP that is affecting the practice of frontline workers, the families they work with and possibly placing children at further risk. An outcome of this research is to hopefully improve training, allowing the frontline worker to have a better understanding of the philosophy of AOP and how it applies to their practice. / Graduate

Förskolans styrdokument är överens om att de grundläggande demokratiska värderingarna ska vara grunden i förskolans verksamhet. Diskrimineringsombudsmannen säger att det ska finnas en plan för att skapa främjande insatser och förebygga diskriminering och kränkande behandling, planen utgår från diskrimineringsgrunderna. Genom normkritik ges förskolläraren kunskap och detta beskrivs som en grund i ett framgångsrikt likabehandlingsarbete. Genom normalisering utvecklar förskolläraren ett normkreativt förhållningssätt. Förhållningssättet hos förskolläraren påverkar barnens roll i likabehandlingsarbetet. Barnen ges inflytande och delaktighet i likabehandlingsarbetet, det är förskollärarens ansvar. Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka hur förskolläraren implementerar likabehandlingsplanen i den pedagogiska verksamheten. Implementering av likabehandlingsplanen kräver medvetenhet.  Studien utgick från intervjuer med verksamma förskollärare. Intervjuerna undersökte betydelsen av likabehandlingsplanen, barnens delaktighet och hur den systematiska dokumentationen genomförs. Förhållningssätt och arbetssätt blev kärnan i resultatet. Likabehandlingsarbetet kräver kunskap om samhällets utveckling, stöd från förskolechef, planering, kreativitet och vidgande av normer. / <p><strong>Fastställt via akademichefsbeslut HIG-STYR 2019/7 den 2019-01-07</strong></p><p><strong> </strong>Daniel Petterson, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik och Erika Björklund, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik går in som examinatorer på PEG700 under veckorna 1 till och med 3, 2019 då Peter Gill, prof. Pedagogik, gått i pension från och med 2019-01-01.</p>

This thesis critiques and describes the prevalent discourses regarding notions of 'difference' in counselling psychologist's talk. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants and were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed. Participants were asked to speak about notions of 'difference' in their counselling psychology practice. Transcripts were then coded and analysed using a critical discursive psychological approach which looked for prevalent interpretive repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. This critical discursive psychology approach seeks to employ a twin focus of discourse analysis, attending to both the micro and macro levels of interactions and constructions. The prevalent discourses were described and critiqued by the researcher. Analysis of transcripts provided a rich range of possible constructions of 'difference' and were then grouped into headings and subheadings and presented to the reader. These notions of 'difference' are explored in relation to counselling psychology practice and the impact that they may have on therapeutic relationships. Interpretive repertoires included constructions of where 'differences' originate, how dimensions of 'difference' were constructed, positive and negative constructions of 'difference', 'difference' in relation to notions of power and prejudice and finally professional discourses on 'difference'. This thesis addresses how important it is for counselling psychologist's to analyse the discourses and constructions available to them so that their clients' are facilitated in the therapeutic encounter and so that practitioners' constructions of 'difference' do not hinder therapy. This study contributes to highlighting the need for counselling psychology's continued commitment to anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practices.

Applied theatre projects that aim to address social justice issues almost exclusively involve those who are experiencing injustice; while members of the state, who actively maintain the status quo, are frequently overlooked, despite the fact that they are essentially gatekeepers of social justice. In projects that do involve current and/or future members of the state, the root cause of social injustice and the systems, institutions, and ideology which support capitalism are only briefly mentioned, if at all. For this arts-based, anti-oppressive research, I facilitated three applied theatre projects that involved future and/or current gatekeepers. For each project, I considered the conditions that provided participants the opportunity to identify and question dominant ideology through the dramatic process. Having analyzed each case, I found that when applied theatre is structured using a revolutionary approach, it can cultivate felt understanding and deepen critical consciousness. In order to truly address issues of social justice with the goal to ending them, I argue for dedicated spaces where future and current gatekeepers can participate in applied theatre to critically examine the ideas that support capitalism, and the tendency and temptation to draw lines in the sand between “us” and “them”. / Graduate

This is a case study on the gender mainstreaming work that has been done in the youth club of Västra Hamnen in the municipality of Malmö. I chose to focus on the activities in this specific youth club since it’s described as one of the more successful ones in the field of gender equality. I’m focusing on gender mainstreaming from an intersectional point of view because I want to find out if the activities that are being done lead to equal and equivalent results for all youths regardless of gender, ethnicity, appearance and other background variables. Through analysing municipal policy documents, interviewing staff and observing activities in the youth club, I’ve been able to conclude that the intersectional approach is absent. There’s a lack of intersectionality in both the policies that frame the municipal work in this field and the actual work that is done in the youth club. The gender mainstreaming work is primarily based on gender analyses focusing on the sex category: woman and man. Other aspects are excluded which leads to different consequences for those youths who are affected by more categories than only gender. Due to this the youth club is hindered from creating equivalent activities. In order to change this there’s a need to highlight how the variable sex interacts with other background variables and what kind of power structures are created when different categories are crossed in different ways. Only then it’s possible to get an overall picture of the complexity of the issue and to identify tools that are needed to create equality for all those different youths that the club is for.

<p>Indigenous populations have experienced vast travesties due to the impacts of colonialism. Colonialism continues to be perpetuated through the services, programs and policies that Indigenous people encounter. This research thesis tackles the question of how non-Indigenous social workers, professionals and interested parties can work with Indigenous people in appropriate and respectful ways. It also reviews how non-Indigenous people can work and think across difference. This research represents my journey towards decolonizing myself to find new ways of being White that are compatible with Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing. Autoethnography, relevant literature and interviews were used to explore ways of working with Indigenous populations. Three participants who had been identified by an Indigenous academic as people who had worked with Indigenous populations in appropriate and respectful ways were interviewed in Canada. An analysis of the three semi in-depth interviews produced several recommendations for non-Indigenous people in working with Indigenous populations. Results acknowledge the complexity of working and thinking across difference. Suggestions for working with Indigenous populations are highlighted and include such themes as acknowledging tensions and privilege, understanding that there is a large diversity within Indigenous populations, recognizing that there are aspects of dominant ways of knowing that are compatible with Indigenous ways of knowing, the importance of not being afraid to take risks and of trying not to make assumptions. Decolonization is an uneasy pursuit that is fraught with tension and this research hopes to encourage other social workers, professionals and interested parties to engage in similar processes.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>As child welfare practice in Ontario attempts to move toward increased partnerships with families, and recognition of the ways in which social work is implicated in perpetuating marginalities through the application of an anti-oppressive lens, direct social work practice with children lacks a similar critical discourse. Social work practice with children in care in Ontario occurs in the context of a guided practice model, Looking After Children, and within numerous audited standards and compliances. It is a bureaucratic and managerial environment which can constrain the social work agenda with children whose voices are easily silenced. This qualitative research study looks at the plans of care or social work recording for 10 Crown Wards in Ontario, in a search for a ‘real child.’ A critical analysis revealed that children are known in the recordings created about them in limited and prescribed ways. A “looked after” child is revealed: a child known according to the specific developmental dimensions of the Looking After Children model, and within “compliant” social work practice. What is lost is a child who exists in their child welfare record, in all of their complexities, contexts and relationships, while the social work relationship is rendered invisible.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP) has become one of the most influential approaches to contemporary social work practice. Despite its widespread significance it seems that there is confusion, and a lack of consensus, regarding what AOP actually is. This research, therefore, examines how social work educators understand AOP in order to determine what AOP looks like and whether it has since acquired a fixed and defined identity. Data gathered from eleven qualitative interviews with social work educators at three Canadian universities revealed that AOP is understood as having nine core tenets; and yet, AOP is also understood as being a highly fluid and ambiguous epistemology. The research also showed that AOP's fluidity and ambiguity are not weaknesses to be resolved, but rather are intentional and purposeful as they enable it to resist and dismantle dominance, and pursue social justice.</p> <p>AOP's fluidity and ambiguity was theorized as mirroring the fluidity and ambiguity of human identities and identity categories-both resist being fixed and reified, as they are more than the sum total of these parts. In this regard, it is proposed that AOP can be understood as occupying multiple subject positions. Analysis of AOP's subject positions revealed that when AOP tends toward becoming fixed and fully known it becomes co-opted and compromised by structures of dominance and is used as a tool of oppression. In other words, when AOP is definitively located it ceases to be anti-oppressive. It seems, therefore, that we must constantly dislocate AOP through critical dialogue in order to ensure that it is a means of dismantling dominant structures of power and pursuing social justice.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)