UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Dr. Karen Ragoonaden has been teaching and researching within the Faculty of Education of the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus since 2004. She is currently on-leave as she is joining the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Education as their new Dean, effective July 1, 2021. She has lived, studied and worked in North America, Europe and Africa. Her publications and research interests lie in the area of mindfulness and well-being, culturally responsive pedagogy and conceptions of teaching and learning. As a qualified Yoga instructor, the concept of Mindful Educational Practices is an integral component of her research and her practice. As a university teacher and researcher, her focus and commitment to educational leadership and curricular innovation have been recognized by virtue of her on campus, professional and community work relating to equity, diversity and inclusion.

• Mindfulness and Well-Being
• Conceptions of Teaching and Learning
• Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Wellbeing and Resilience in Humanist Teacher Education: Literature, Pedagogy, and the Modelling of Mindful Futures

These times of uncertainty, anxiety and overwhelming information, mean that many of us are seeking to find a sense of calmness. The global upheavals of a virulent pandemic, a very real climate crisis, the instability of economic and political powers and the emergence of anti-racist movements like Black Lives Matter are all issues that call to people to engage responsively with our world.

A mindfulness practice, the simple act of pausing, taking a breath and becoming aware of our mind, body and heart, may offer some respite as well as a way to support one’s desire for action.

As a yoga teacher, mindfulness practitioner, former high-school teacher and now scholar, I have seen the benefit of mindfulness personally and professionally. My practice has taught me how to respond to strong emotions, bad behaviours and forceful words. I have also witnessed how leading mindfulness practices in a community of mostly white education students can create greater space for social justice issues, like racism, classism and sexism. A growing body of scientific research supports my observations indicating that when one learns to examine long-held opinions and cultural assumptions towards the self and others, one can free the mind to unlearn and to re-learn, to story and to re-story, to revise and to recognize. This takes time, effort and commitment.

Despite anti-racist policies in teacher education, access, equity and equitable representation remain ongoing challenges. White, middle-class, able-bodied, heteronormative students populate the majority in faculties of education across Canada. For some of teacher candidates, gaining insight into the lives of “other people’s children,” as education scholar Lisa Delpit puts it, can support multiple ways of reaching out to the diversity of students. By disrupting notions of assumptions, biases and prejudice, teacher candidates can become more aware of existing inequalities in their communities and the white-centeredness of curricula.

Ragoonaden, K., Macintyre Latta, M., Hanson, K., Draper, R. & Coble, J. (2020). Broadening, Burrowing, Storying and Re-storying Indigenous Narratives: A Holistic Exploration of an Arts Based Curricular Experience. Alberta Journal of Educational Research.

Makaiau Strong, A; Ragoonaden, K.; Leng, L; Mangram, C; Toyoda, M. (2019). The Handmaid’s Tale: Using Literature and Online Journaling to Facilitate a Self-Study of Feminist Identity in an International Research Collective. Studying Teacher Education 15(3) 334-354 https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2019.1669553

Ragoonaden, K., Moralejo, L., & Kennedy, L. (2018). Critical Friendship and Inter-Faculty Collaborative Inquiry: Teacher Education and Nursing Education. In Education 24(1) 72-87.

Macintyre Latta, M., Cherkowski, S., Crichton, S., Klassen, W., & Ragoonaden, K. (2018) Investing in communities of scholar-practitioners. Teacher Learning and Professional Development. 2(1) 32 – 44.

Ragoonaden, K., & Mueller, L. (2017). Culturally responsive pedagogy in higher education: Indigenizing curriculum. Canadian Journal of Higher Education. 47(2), 22-46. http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/187963

Ragoonaden, K. (2017). Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Education: Indigenizing Curriculum. Canadian Journal of Higher Education. 47(2), 22-46.

Ragoonaden, K. (2017). A Pedagogy of Well-Being: Introducing Mindfulness to First Year Access Students. Journal of Contemplative Inquiry. Center for Contemplative Mind in Society.

Ragoonaden, K. (2017). smartEducation: Developing stress management and resiliency techniques. Learning Landscapes. 10 (2) 241-255.

Books

Ragoonaden, K. & Kitchen, J. (2019). Mindful and Relational Teacher Approaches to Social Justice, Equity and Diversity in Teacher Education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. An Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield.

Ragoonaden, K., & Bullock, S. (Eds.) (2016) Mindfulness and critical friendship: A new perspective on professional development for educators. Lanham, MD:Lexington Books. An Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield.