Conference Sessions

The trend known as neoliberalism entails an economic, political and ideological project that is marked among other things by unfettered corporate capitalism, imposition of austerity, and attacks on unions. In educational domains, neoliberalism manifests itself in commodification and corporatization of education, credentialism, precarious educational work, union-busting, restrictions on free speech and critical engagements, among others. How are the current educational centers coping with these challenges? The session will explore this question by presenting concrete examples of neoliberalization policiespractices in the field of education and the ways in which they are resisted.

The trend known as neoliberalism entails an economic, political and ideological project that is marked among other things by unfettered corporate capitalism, imposition of austerity, and attacks on unions. In educational domains, neoliberalism manifests itself in commodification and corporatization of education, credentialism, precarious educational work, union-busting, restrictions on free speech and critical engagements, among others. How are the current educational centers coping with these challenges? The session will explore this question by presenting concrete examples of neoliberalization policiespractices in the field of education and the ways in which they are resisted.

Schools and classrooms are being encouraged to adopt “21st century” pedagogies, policies, and practices. However, just what those pedagogies, policies and practices entail remains unclear. The time is now ripe for concretely detailing which components of education appear to be advancing, and which appear to be stalling. Just what exactly does “educational innovation” look like today? How is it being implemented? What kinds of challenges are arising? We invite both qualitative and quantitative papers that can advance research on the impacts of innovations such as the use of digital technology, robotics or artificial intelligence in schools. Do these innovations allow educators to ‘do school’ differently? If so, how? Participants should leave this session with a deeper understanding of the impact of educational innovations on many features of schooling experience.

This session focuses on the resettlement of refugees through Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugee pathways (i.e., Blended Visa Office Referral Program, Sponsorship Agreement Holders, Groups of Five, and Community Groups). The program is over forty years old, yet relatively little is known about three themes that blend issues of civil soceity, initial integration and settlement: 1) who volunteers to help resettlement, why, in what ways, and for how long, what infrastructure volunteers build or build upon, steps taken to welcome and sustain volunteers, how volunteers use professional skills, 2) how volunteer assistance helps refugees navigate significant institutions in education, health and so on, and 3) what are the consequences for refugees or for policy of the various Sponsorship pathways. Presenters may use a variety of analytical techniques including, but not limited to, focus groups, case studies and survey analyses.

Environmental threats to human health and well-being may take various forms, including, chemicals in the environment, infectious disease agents and natural hazards.  In this session, we discuss case studies both within and outside Canada that sociologically analyze these threats.  Within this context, this session focuses on those issues and implications related to: the social dynamics involved in dealing with, responding to, and recovering from, environmental health impacts; how environmental health issues and narratives are socially constructed in various settings, including the conflict setting, the Global South, and the industrialized Global North; and how environmental risks are unevenly distributed within society, including issues of environmental justice.