Knowledge, action and change

On March 5, students from across the Faculty of Community Services (FCS) gathered at Oakham House for the first annual FCS Student Development Day.

"The aim of FCS Student Development Day was to offer new and exciting opportunities to exchange ideas, research and knowledge across disciplines represented by our nine schools,” says Jennifer Martin, associate dean, faculty development, undergraduate students and SRC, FCS and associate professor, School of Child and Youth Care.  

To kick things off, students from different disciplines put their heads together to address a fictional – yet all too plausible – city-wide flood scenario, as part of an Interprofessional Education workshop.

With the support of Ryerson experts in early years and child care, health promotion, family support, and epidemiology, FCS students were tasked with discovering the issues at hand, finding solutions and prioritizing their response.

“Working interprofessionally emphasizes the importance of engaging in the process of listening to each other to determine what the problem is, before we jump into what the response or the solution is,” says Sanne Kaas-Mason, IPE lead at FCS.

“The workshop presented an opportunity for students to come together and learn with each other, from each other and about each other.”

Next, students gathered for the ‘Human Library’ portion of the event. Just as you might take a book out of the library, students were invited to ‘check out’ student leaders and faculty from across FCS to discuss their work and leadership in various social change initiatives.

Student and faculty ‘books’ with expertise in topics such as sustainable food systems, harm reduction, community health, and more, were grouped at tables based on their areas of interest. Students then had the opportunity to circulate between tables, ask questions and share ideas.

“We don’t always have those opportunities to sit down with everyone and have open dialogue, so, I think that was a very key part of the day,” says Kiran Punjani, a fourth-year early childhood studies student.

Punjani, who acted as a 'book' at the event, shared her experiences working to promote literacy among Syrian refugee children both as a volunteer with the Toronto District School Board and as a tutor with Wroexter Avenue Refugee Project.

“Listening to everyone else was eye-opening,” she says. “I could see where people wanted to be part of these social justice initiatives because they had the heart and the inspiration to do so.”

Discussion at Punjani’s table turned to the difficulty that people with disabilities can have when trying to access resources at Ryerson. “We listened, we talked through the model of disability and how this works in school systems,” she says.

"One of the goals of the Human Library was to recognize students as knowledge-makers in their own right," says Daniel Gomez-Ortega, manager, student experience at FCS. "Students have an incredibly valuable wealth of knowledge and lived experience that we could all learn from."

To finish off the day, students took part in a Community Transformation Cafe which explored the connections between entrepreneurship and social justice through examples of social enterprise initiatives in Regent Park.

“The cafe discussed and debated the deeper meaning of entrepreneurial activities and the tensions these can generate with respect to broader community participation and social justice movements,” says Kiaras Gharabaghi, director and associate professor, School of Child and Youth Care and interim John C. Eaton Chair in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, FCS.

“No single answer emerged, but the need to further explore these issues became clear.”

The next IPE workshop on April 1 will focus on understanding and managing conflict in interprofessional life.

The next Community Transformation Cafe, Enterprising Warriors: A Dialogue with Wes Hall, takes place on May 7. Stay tuned for more information.