Current Research Team
Tara GoldsteinPrincipal Investigator
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Tara Goldstein is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto (UofT). She currently teaches undergraduate students in the Equity Studies program housed in New College at UofT and graduate students at OISE. Tara has been trained as a critical ethnographer and her current program of research makes use of performed ethnography to raise critical consciousness about equity and social justice issues both inside and outside of schools. Performed ethnography involves turning ethnographic research findings into play scripts that can be read aloud and performed by a variety of different readers and performers. Tara’s ethnographic research and play scripts have taken up issues around multilingualism, language choice and racism in schools (Hong Kong, Canada); homophobia and heterosexism in schools (Snakes and Ladders); anti-Semitism and xenophobia (Lost Daughter) and issues facing transnationally adopted LGBTQ families (Harriet’s House and Ana’s Shadow). Tara’s plays Harriet’s House and Ana’s Shadow have been professionally digitally recorded by Pam Baer (see below) and are available for download along with discussion guides at www.gaileyroad.com. Harriet’s House has been translated into Spanish and performed for teachers, students and activists in Bogotá, Colombia, in August 2013 and 2014. Tara's latest performed ethnography is called Out at School which is a script of verbatim monologues based on the research from this project.
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Pamela BaerResearch Manager (2014-2017, 2018-2020)
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Pamela Baer is a theatre and media artist with a focus on community engaged work. Drawn from a young age to storytelling as a way of connecting people and building community, her work revolves around personal narratives, oral histories, and life stories. Pamela has facilitated community arts projects with diverse groups, and wide reaching themes, in England, Ghana, and Canada. Her current work focuses on LGBTQ families, stories, and representations, and explores the role of collective community creation in the the production of participatory media. Pamela has a B.F.A in Theatre and Development from Concordia University, a M.A. in Theatre and Media for Development from the University of Winchester, and a M.A. in Education from The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Pamela is the Research Manager on the LGBTQ Families Speak Out project, a PhD Student in Education at the University of Toronto and the Program Coordinator at Charles Street Video, an artist-run video production facility in Toronto.
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Austen KoecherResearch Manager
(2017-2018) 
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Austen Koecher is a PhD student in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at OISE. Austen's research is in the area of gender and sexual diversity teacher education, specifically studying the use of gender and sexual minority family narratives in teacher education classrooms. Austen's past research has included life history analyses of the ways that student experiences of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in schooling intersect with contact with mental health systems. Austen has a BA in Anthropology and Equity Studies from the University of Toronto and a MA in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development from OISE. Austen is currently working as the Research Manager for the LGBTQ Families Speak Out project.
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benjamin lee hicksResearch Assistant, Artist Researcher
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benjamin lee hicks is a visual artist, elementary school teacher and graduate student. They taught JK-grade 6 classrooms in the Toronto District School Board for 8 years prior to beginning graduate work in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto in September 2015. benjamin has written and designed curriculum materials for elementary schools on topics of sustainable community building, queer/trans inclusion and arts-based activism. They are interested in how we might better support teachers to expect queerness and prepare for multi-dimensional gender identity in elementary school classrooms. benjamin’s current research focuses on how faculties of education can teach pre-service teacher candidates to learn about queer identities with direct permission and support to discuss their own feelings, fears and reservations about this topic. They are interested in slowing down the pace at which social justice education is addressed in early teacher training – making room for heart-based processing alongside social and political theory.
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Kate ReidResearch Assistant, Artist Researcher
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Kate Reid is currently working on her PhD in Education at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. She has a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s of Arts in Social Justice from the University of British Columbia. Kate combines musical activism with teaching by facilitating workshops and giving concerts in secondary schools, post-secondary institutions. She also provides training for educators and community service providers, and performs at live music venues, music festivals, Pride festivals, conferences, and people’s living rooms. Kate has produced five albums: Kate Reid (ep, 2005), Comin’ Alive (2006), I’m Just Warming Up (2009), Doing it for the Chicks (2011) and Queer Across Canada (2013). You can find out more about Kate and her music at www.katereid.net
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Jenny SalisburyArtist Researcher
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Jenny Salisbury is a SHRCC funded PhD candidate at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Her teaching and research interests include contemporary Canadian play creation and devising processes, with a focus on audience, community-engaged theatre, and the role of the artist as researcher. She is a co-founder and associate director of The Centre for Spectatorship and Audience Research. Recent publications include “When Qualitative Research meets Theater: the complexities of performed ethnography and research-informed theater project design” which she co-authored with Tara Goldstein, Julia Gray, and Pamela Snell for qualitative inquiry, and “Political Acts and Public Voices: Paying Time and Attention to The Public Servant” in vol. 166 Canadian Theatre Review. Her professional work involves project-based arts management, play development, directing, and community engagement, especially for Common Boots Theatre (formerly Theatre Columbus). She has enjoyed sessional work at Huron University College, Western University, as well as serving as the program coordinator for Ask & Imagine, a leadership program for youth and youth leaders.
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Edil Ga'al
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
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Edil Ga’al is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, with a BA in African Studies and Political Science, with a minor in Equity Studies. She joined the team in February 2018. Edil is interested in equity issues and the arts.
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Yasmin Owis
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
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Yasmin is a Master of Teaching student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Her research at OISE focuses on the Human Development and Sexual Health component of the Health curriculum (“sex ed”) and the lack of representation given to queer and trans identities. She is currently researching in schools how to work with teachers and queer-identified students to co-construct learning within the classroom to holistically represent LGBTQ+ students when teaching sex education. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Young Women’s Leadership Network, a Junior Fellow at Massey College, and the co-facilitator for Queer at OISE. She also facilitates anti-homophobia, transphobia and biphobia workshops in middle schools with Planned Parenthood as a member of the TEACH team, and works as an external educator with the Sex Education Centre at UofT delivering sex education workshops within the UofT community and beyond. She is passionate about social justice education, LGBTQ+ advocacy and creating equitable spaces for women of colour in educational and political spaces.
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Ty Walkland
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
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Ty Walkland is a writer and social justice educator who works with teachers and youth to confront issues of power and privilege. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at OISE, University of Toronto, where his research explores the intersections of teaching, learning, and equity—particularly through the lenses of work and labour. Before pursuing full-time graduate studies, Ty taught secondary English, Social Science, and Special Education for the Simcoe County District School Board, where he continues to work as an occasional teacher. He helped to organize Simcoe County’s first-ever “Pride Prom” for LGBTQ+ students and their allies in 2014 and has developed numerous resources for colleagues to better support queer and trans youth. As well as being a new member of the LGBTQ Families Speak Out team, Ty is a lead research assistant for Addressing Injustices, a critical practitioner research project that involves students and teachers co-creating social justice curriculum (www.addressinginjustices.com). He continues to facilitate professional development for education workers across the province to better meet the needs of diverse youth and families.
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Past Members of the Research Team
Tianyue Ma, BA student, Equity Studies, University of Toronto
Worked on the team from 2018-2019 with the support of the Work-Study Program
Helgi Audarson Gudmundsson, MEd student, OISE, University of Toronto
Worked on the team in 2018 with the support of the New College Initiative Fund
Katie Cook, BA student, Contemporary Studies and Classics, University of King’s College, Halifax
Worked on the team from 2017-2018
Tarra Joshi, BA student, Major in Equity Studies, University of Toronto
Worked on the team from 2014-2017 with the support of the Research Opportunity and Work-Study Program
Worked on the team from 2018-2019 with the support of the Work-Study Program
Helgi Audarson Gudmundsson, MEd student, OISE, University of Toronto
Worked on the team in 2018 with the support of the New College Initiative Fund
Katie Cook, BA student, Contemporary Studies and Classics, University of King’s College, Halifax
Worked on the team from 2017-2018
Tarra Joshi, BA student, Major in Equity Studies, University of Toronto
Worked on the team from 2014-2017 with the support of the Research Opportunity and Work-Study Program
Consultations
The Research Team has consulted with the following people and would like to thank them for their guidance:
Lee Maracle Traditional Teacher, First Nations House, University of Toronto
Jean-Paul Resoutle Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Maya Chacaby PhD student, Department of Social Justice, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Alec Butler BA student, Double Major in Aboriginal Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto
Worked on the team in 2016-2017
Lee Maracle Traditional Teacher, First Nations House, University of Toronto
Jean-Paul Resoutle Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Maya Chacaby PhD student, Department of Social Justice, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Alec Butler BA student, Double Major in Aboriginal Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto
Worked on the team in 2016-2017
Acknowledgments
The Research Team would like to acknowledge the following people and organizations for their support in helping us find LGBTQ families to participate in this study:
LGBTQ Parenting Network, Toronto
Ten Oaks Project, Ottawa
Allison Andlar, Sudbury
Anna Maria Barsanti, Sudbury
Andrew Allan and Finney Cherian, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor
LGBTQ Parenting Network, Toronto
Ten Oaks Project, Ottawa
Allison Andlar, Sudbury
Anna Maria Barsanti, Sudbury
Andrew Allan and Finney Cherian, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor