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Ecojustice in Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Thematic Literature Analysis
Full text linkIntegrating ecojustice into pre-service teacher education is critical to addressing the interconnected challenges of environmental degradation and social inequality. This study examines the incorporation of ecojustice principles into teacher education programs, emphasizing their importance in preparing educators to engage students with sustainability and equity issues. Key findings reveal that while ecojustice is gaining theoretical recognition, its practical application remains limited. The research recommends the implementation of experiential learning, culturally responsive pedagogies, and Indigenous knowledge systems to enhance ecojustice education. Findings underscore the necessity of comprehensive frameworks that equip pre-service teachers with the theoretical and practical competencies required to promote sustainability and social responsibility. This research contributes to transforming teacher education to address 21st-century environmental and social challenges.
Keywords: Literature Review, Ecojustice, Pre-service Teacher Education, Environment Education, Experiential Learning, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Indigenous Knowledg
Creative Groundedness: Life through Brokenness and Breaking through in Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians
Full text linkThis article offers a reading of Michelle Goods’ novel Five Little Indians (2020) with an emphasis on the representation of what I term creative groundedness. I draw on a combination of contemporary Indigenous scholarship (Coulthard, Justice, Simpson) and materialist feminist theories of affect (Ahmed, Berlant, Stewart) to examine the characters’ reinvention of their utterly broken lives through solidarity, respect and mutual support. Focusing on the potential interconnections among these diverse conceptual fields, this article probes the production of situated, relational, reciprocal and community-based practices and their potential to navigate “crisis ordinariness” (Berlant) through positive attachments in Good’s nove
Power Disruptions: Delany’s and Okorafor’s Lyric Energies
No full textScience Fiction has become an especially significant site for analyses of the discourses of energy extraction, production, and use. The present essay aims to add to these studies of genre, energy, and environment by turning to Afrofuturism and africanfuturism, two distinct yet generically connected forms that centre Black futures. I study two formative authors from both traditions: American writer Samuel R. Delany, often hailed as a foundational figure of Afrofuturism, and Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor, who coined the term africanfuturism. Delany’s “We, in Some Power’s Strange Employ Move on a Rigorous Line” (1968) and Okorafor’s “Spider the Artist” (2011) and related works stage battles between different energy narratives, only to ultimately deploy forms of lyrical intervention that disrupt all such narratives
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in admissions: a critical qualitative inquiry on faculty leaders’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators at a Canadian health sciences institution
Full text linkBackground: There is an ongoing need for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)-focused admission reform in Canadian health sciences programs. Extensive literature on critical race Theory (CRT) and Postcolonial Theory (PCT) have provided frameworks to understand and challenge existing inequities. However, there is a lack of research regarding specific challenges and dynamics involved in the application of CRT and PCT to admissions in health professions education.
Methods: This study investigates systemic factors influencing EDI-focused admission reform through the perceptions of Canadian health sciences faculty leaders. Using a critical constructivist lens informed by CRT and PCT, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six leaders and applied critical thematic analysis, which uses theories of racism, coloniality, and power, to interpretate participants’ views and institutional discourses.
Results: Participants acknowledged bias in traditional admission metrics (e.g., GPA, MCAT) but continued to prefer them over equity-based alternatives, perceiving the former as better indicators of curricular and professional success. Admission reform was perceived to be a resource-intensive add-on that was difficult to prioritize. Broader societal and institutional forces, such as accreditation, peer institutions, and leadership discourses shaped support for equity initiatives.
Conclusion: We conclude that the concurrent reliance on traditional measures of merit in admissions, curriculum, and practice reinforces the cultural currency of those colonial measures. Admission reform efforts should be accompanied by parallel initiatives across other academic domains and appropriate funding and regulatory support to break the self-fulfilling cycle of bias and inequity
Developing a national competency framework for pediatric hospital medicine in Canada using the Delphi method
Full text linkBackground: Over the past three decades, the field of Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) has expanded rapidly in North America in response to the increasing complexity and acuity of the pediatric inpatient population. While 78 fellowship programs and a published PHM Core Competencies framework exist in the United States, Canadian fellowship programs lack a national competency framework to guide curriculum and practice. This absence creates uncertainty in defining the scope of practice and training expectations for PHM in Canada. The purpose of this study was to define this scope.
Methods: Using Delphi methodology, a national panel of experts in PHM iteratively rated potential competencies, on a 5-point scale, to determine their priority for inclusion. Responses were analyzed after each round. Competencies that were assigned a rating of three or less by ≥80% of the panelists were removed from subsequent rounds. The remaining competencies were re-sent to panelists for further ratings until consensus was reached, defined as Cronbach’s α ≥0.95 and after a minimum of two survey rounds. At the conclusion of the Delphi process, competencies where ≥80% of the panelists assigned a rating of ≥4 were included.
Results: Two rounds of the Delphi process were required to reach consensus. Thirty-five panelists completed both survey rounds. The panelists represented 13 Canadian pediatric tertiary care centers and five community hospitals. Of 176 initial competencies, 109 PHM competencies achieved consensus, spanning the seven CanMEDS roles.
Conclusion: This is the first study to define competencies for PHM in Canada. The competencies identified provide a framework for PHM fellowship program directors to shape local curricula. The results may also be used to inform the development of comprehensive national PHM fellowship curricula
How are we preparing doctors for their roles as patient educators? Exploring undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in Canadian medical schools
Full text linkBackground: Although patient education (PE) has been identified as an important strategy to support patients with low health literacy, medical trainees report feeling ill-prepared for this responsibility. Our goal was to explore how PE training is incorporated centrally into undergraduate (UGME) and postgraduate (PGME) education across Canada, with the aim of proposing a PE curriculum.
Methods: We circulated a web-based survey to all Canadian UGME and PGME Associate Deans, subsequently expanding the scope of our investigation by surveying Family Medicine and Pediatrics program directors. Data analysis involved a combination of frequency calculations and conventional qualitative content analysis.
Results: According to survey respondents, PE was taught centrally in 72% of UGME curricula, 25% of PGME curricula, and 25% and 82% of Pediatrics and Family Medicine programs respectively. PE was predominantly incorporated into communication skills curricula, and role modeling was the most common teaching modality. Barriers included lack of time and low curricular priority; facilitators included embedding PE into communication skills training and use of patient partners and standardized patients.
Conclusions: PE has not been uniformly implemented in a centralized manner across Canadian UGME and PGME curricula. Based on our survey data and the relevant literature, we propose a sample longitudinal curriculum spanning UGME and PGME and recommend that PE be explicitly framed as a communication skill.
Assessment burden by design: exploring the variability in competence by design assessment forms
Full text linkBackground: The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s (RCPSC) Competence by Design (CBD) framework has been criticized for increasing assessment burden due to the high number of required Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) assessments. Another contributing factor may be the inefficient design of assessment forms. We explored variability in form design to identify differences that could impact learners’ and assessors’ experience with CBD.
Methods: Annotated assessment forms for the ‘Core 1’ (C1) EPA were collected in March 2023 from all (n = 14, 100%) RCPSC emergency medicine (EM) residency programs in Canada that had implemented CBD. Forms were divided into six sections to analyze their design. The variability between form sections was described relative to RCPSC guidance on form design.
Results: EPA assessments were completed within six learning management systems. Variability was found throughout the form including: the number of context variables, included milestones, milestone rating criteria, and narrative feedback text boxes; phrasing of narrative feedback prompts, milestone descriptions, and entrustment score criterion; visual presentation of the entrustment score; arrangement of form components; and the components’ selection format. The mandatory completion of form components was inconsistent. Some forms could be partially completed by residents. One form added a global performance rating scale. The number of clicks required to complete a form ranged from 12 to 47.
Conclusion: We found considerable variability in the design of the EM C1 EPA assessment form. Variations that make completion more challenging could increase assessment burden. CBD programs should be aware of this and seek to optimize their form design
Élaboration de modèles pédagogiques de responsabilité sociale en résidence de médecine familiale : protocole d’analyse logique
Full text linkSur mesure pour le patient : étude qualitative sur l’apprentissage de la prise en charge de la multimorbidité en médecine de famille
Full text linkIntroduction: The rising prevalence of multimorbidity poses a significant challenge to healthcare systems. However, medical education predominantly emphasizes single-disease frameworks, offering limited guidance on how learners can navigate the complexities of managing co-existing health conditions. Given the high incidence of multimorbidity in family medicine, this study aimed to explore the experiences of family medicine residents in managing multimorbidity, with the goal of informing curriculum development.
Methods: We conducted a qualitative study comprising four focus groups (mean duration 47 minutes) with a convenience sample of 28 family medicine residents learning in urban and rural settings. Data were analyzed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis. We drew on generalism and adaptive expertise as sensitizing theoretical lenses to support thematic development and our final interpretation.
Results: Participants described a shift from their undergraduate focus on "getting the list" of diagnoses toward a more nuanced, patient-centred approach to multimorbidity, which they characterized as "bespoke to the patient." Throughout residency, learners reported increased confidence conducting more flexible consultations—incorporating social determinants of health, the unique patient’s context, realizing and navigating how healthcare structures impact, and sometimes impede, patient care. Balancing competing priorities became a key feature of their evolving practice, supported by exposure to diverse patient populations, meaningful preceptor relationships, and varied clinical environments. Residents increasingly identified their role coordinating the patient’s care team, leveraging a generalist perspective to organize care and address complexity.
Conclusions: Family medicine residents described learning to manage multimorbidity as a developmental process of acquiring generalist adaptive expertise, supported through working in a variety of learning environments. Encouraging preceptors to explicitly share strategies—such as managing limited time and navigating health system constraints—may further enhance resident education in caring for patients with multimorbidity