Teaching Equity through Critical Hope with Dr. Leanne Taylor

About this episode

Dr. Leanne Taylor discusses teaching equity-focused courses and the role of critical hope in education.

In this episode of Podagogies, Dr. Leanne Taylor shares how she teaches required equity-focused courses in spaces where resistance is real, and learning is sometimes hard-earned. She reflects on how critical hope shapes her approach to course design, assessment, emotional labour, and institutional change. From building classroom community to moving beyond traditional essays, this conversation explores how teaching equity through critical hope means holding space for discomfort, sustaining possibility, and playing the long game of change. Dr. Leanne Taylor (she/her), is an Associate Professor at Brock University. She is Chair of the Faculty of Education’s Equity and Social Justice Standing Committee (ESJC) and is affiliated with the Social Justice and Equity Studies Master’s program (SJES). She is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Chair for Teaching Excellence (2024-2027), the Faculty of Education Award for Teaching Excellence, Brock’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and a 3M National Teaching Fellowship. For the past 15+ years, Dr. Taylor has conducted research on anti-racism practices, policy, and programming and has designed and instructed courses on equity, social justice, power…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Leanne Taylor

Topics covered

• equity
• critical hope
• course design
• assessment
• emotional labour
• institutional change

Keywords

• anti-racism
• social justice
• community building
• discomfort
• long-term change

Mentioned in this episode

Products: equity-focused courses, Social Justice and Equity Studies Master’s program

Books & works: Podagogies

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