Friday Bailey

Pedagogical Commitments:

As an ECPN pedagogist working on the stolen lands of the Ts’msyen peoples in northern BC, I acknowledge that I am a settler with privileges of race, social class, heteronormativity, ability, and access to the dominant education system. I come into relationships knowing that my understandings, and all understandings, are contaminated by lived experiences. I commit to creating conditions for collective learning in which I listen, share, and experiment pedagogically alongside educators, children, and families.

I recognize that life is dynamic and that my commitments must be in response to the times in which we live, as well as the specific contexts of the communities in which I work. I commit to a praxis of joyful curiosity grounded within attuned relationships and justice-doing. I commit to questioning and disrupting dominant Western education structures that were created as patriarchal spaces and are rife with hierarchies, competitiveness, and pressures to conform. By prioritizing developmentalism and individualism, we risk losing sight of our common world and limiting opportunities for collective learning experiences. I will seek curricular possibilities through inquiry, creativity, hope, and collaboration. It is vital that pedagogical work be visible beyond the walls of classrooms and board rooms; thus, I will seek opportunities for partnerships and platforms for pedagogical engagement with children, educators, parents, and community members.