Research

Call for Survey Participants who are K-12 Educators:

My name is Remy Klein. I’m an adult educator and researcher. I spent almost 10 years as a professor in a college program that helps adult learners who face barriers to education because of challenges with mental health and/or substance use transition to post-secondary with dignity and support — up until recently, when my position was closed in a wave of mass layoffs in the Canadian college sector.

One of the courses I developed and taught in that college program was called Learning for All, which explored learning strategies with learners who have never really fit the mould of standardized education and who, because of that, often had very difficult experiences in school. The lessons I learned from students in a decade of teaching that class have transformed into a passion for understanding and remedying what Dr. Kirsten Olson calls “school wounds”.

Right now, I’m writing a book about the institution of school: how adult learners’ past difficult experiences in this complicated institution can linger with them throughout their lives, and travel with them into their adult learning experiences. But in the chaos of these last few years of financial crisis in the Ontario college system, my mind has been whirring, expanding the focus of this book to include an analysis of how learning institutions from kindergarten through post-secondary can be wounding for teachers, too.

For one, in a book about school wounds, I want to make sure that the blame for learners’ wounding experiences isn’t placed on teachers, but rather on the dreadfully underfunded and under-resourced school system (and, in some ways, the logics of the institution of Western schooling itself). Many of the books about radical teaching that have changed my life don’t talk about teachers’ working conditions, and I think that’s a shame. 

But I also believe that my writing can serve to challenge a long-standing division, one that asks us to think about teachers and learners as somehow different species, even though our bodies are navigating the same spaces. I believe that seeing ourselves and students as uniquely, differentially, but simultaneously vulnerable within a harmful environment can produce an incredibly powerful understanding of solidarity that is not often taken seriously.  

Here’s where this survey for K-12 teachers comes in:

My hope is that if I can learn from K-12 teachers about the systemic factors that get in their way despite their best efforts, I can paint a stronger picture of the working conditions all of us must fight for if we’re invested in learners of all ages AND educators at all age levels being safe, respected, and celebrated. Because let’s be honest: as a college educator, I was up against some (though certainly not all!) of the same problems as you are. And if we can’t fix these problems, then nothing’s ever going to change.

The ask:

If you’re open to it, please fill out this survey.

The survey will ask you to reflect on a moment that you can remember as a K-12 educator where you now look back and think: “Wow. That wasn’t my best moment. I think I may have unintentionally hurt that kid/those kids.” To be clear: Every single person who works with human beings has for sure had a moment like that. Every single person. Myself included.

The survey will ask you some non-shaming questions about what happened in that moment. It will then invite you to zoom out and explore the contextual factors and labour conditions that may have contributed to or exacerbated that moment.

I’ll ask you some non-identifying questions about who you are and the context that you teach in, but your survey responses will be totally anonymous.

The benefit:

This project is not a part of my paid work, so I don’t currently have funding to compensate people for participating in this survey. But here’s what I’m hoping you’ll get out of the experience of contributing:

• I hope you’ll walk away from this experience with a little more self-compassion around how you navigate difficult moments as a teacher.
• I hope you gain a little more insight into yourself as an educator, and more language to describe the working conditions that you need in order to be your best self at work.

I’m very aware that what I’m asking for is very vulnerable, and that I’m likely a stranger to you. If you have questions about who I am, my perspective on education, and the project I’m working on, I’d love to hear from you: info@remyklein.ca

Thank you.