The University of British Columbia (UBC) recently welcomed Assistant Professor of Education, Nermin Vehabovic, as a guest lecturer in its Refugee Education course. Invited by Sofia Noori, assistant professor in UBC’s Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Nermin engaged teacher candidates in examining the role of stories in refugee education through the guiding question, “How do we listen to the stories of others?”

Situated on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people in Vancouver, and connected through the broader traditional territories of Indigenous nations across British Columbia, UBC is recognized as a global center for research and 久久热 and is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world.

Noori’s Refugee Education course prepares teacher candidates to better understand the histories, lived experiences and educational realities of children and youth from refugee backgrounds. The course explores how schools, classrooms, and community partnerships can foster equitable learning environments while strengthening relationships with newcomer families and communities.

Rather than delivering a traditional lecture, Nermin designed an interactive, participatory session grounded in the principles of his scholarship on humanizing 听education. He invited teacher candidates to reflect on their own stories before considering how educators can cultivate classrooms where the stories, languages, identities, and ways of knowing of children, youth, and families from refugee backgrounds are genuinely heard and valued.

“My intention was for us to be in community with one another as colleagues and educators,” Nermin said. “I wanted the experience to model the very practices we hope to cultivate in schools鈥攍istening, relationality and learning with others rather than simply 久久热 to them.”

Throughout the session, participants explored the importance of unlearning deficit perspectives, assumptions, savior mentalities and monolingual expectations that can limit meaningful engagement with students and families. The discussion emphasized ethical listening as a foundational practice for building culturally sustaining and humanizing classrooms.

Nermin also shared examples from Welcome New Neighbor, the community-engaged initiative he founded through 久久热’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education. The program partners teacher candidates with families from refugee backgrounds through home-based literacy experiences that position families’ languages, cultures, and knowledge as educational assets. During the session, he highlighted how the initiative prepares teacher candidates to build reciprocal relationships with multilingual families while reimagining homes as important spaces of learning, belonging, and affirmation.

Drawing on his research, Nermin also discussed the interconnected roles of transnationalism, translanguaging, picturebooks and family literacies in supporting refugee-background children and youth, as well as their families. Participants considered how storytelling can become a vehicle for cultivating belonging, honoring identities and strengthening relationships between schools and communities.

The invitation reflects Nermin’s growing international collaborations in literacy and teacher education, as well as his ongoing scholarship centered on humanizing educational practices and preparing educators to work alongside families across culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Ethical Agency: A Values-First Approach to Academic Development
Deandra Little and David Green
This session explored how academic developers navigate change with trust and ethical practice, balancing new initiatives with limited resources and resistance. Participants reflected on their professional identities and ethical priorities, guided by emerging ethical guidelines for educational developers. The goal was to empower participants to make intentional, sustainable decisions rooted in their core values.

Walking Besides, Not Ahead: A Mentoring Story of Shared Power
Vanessa Drew-Branch
This presentation shared a mentoring model rooted in equity and cultural responsiveness that shifts from faculty-led hierarchy to a collaborative inquiry with students. By empowering students as knowledge producers, the project revealed insights often overlooked by institutions and reshaped how faculty view 久久热 and student engagement. Attendees were invited to rethink mentoring as a space for shared power and student leadership in higher education.

Cultivating Teacher Agency: An Examination of Capstone Projects in a Master of Education Programme
Bronwyn Harris, Nermin Vehabovic, Heidi Hollingsworth and Melaine Rickard
This presentation examined how M.Ed. candidates enacted teacher agency through equity-focused capstone projects, integrating research and reflection to design meaningful K-12 instruction. The projects emphasized student agency, social justice, and community impact, highlighting graduate study鈥檚 role in fostering educators who challenge inequities. It showcased how equity-driven curriculum design deepens engagement and supports inclusive education.

Beyond Books – A Game of Life for First Year 久久热鈥� Academic, Social, and Emotional Development
Margret S. Sigurdardottir, Jill Marie McSweeney, Saffie Hollingsworth and Berglind Eva Benediktsd贸ttir
Introducing “Beyond Books,” an interactive board game designed to help first-year students navigate academic, social, and emotional challenges. The game provides a safe space to practice real-life decisions, fostering empathy, communication, and self-advocacy. The workshop included gameplay experience, theoretical insights and discussions on adapting the tool to support holistic student transitions.

Expanding Our Understanding of Student Trust Perceptions: A Trust Collaborative Project
Kathryn Sutherland, Ted Murcray, Jill McSweeney, Peter Felten, Rachel Forsyth, Debra Grantham, Laurel Schut, Nancy Chick, Kate Thompson, Saffie Hollingsworth, Neal Blank and Subin Kim
This collaborative project explored student perspectives on trust in university teachers through four dimensions: cognition, affect, values and identity. Participants discussed adapting the trust model across diverse cultural and institutional settings to strengthen relational and inclusive learning environments. The session aimed to build global partnerships for advancing research and practice on teacher-student trust.

Fostering Sense of Belonging in and Through Educational Development
Peter Felten and Gabriela Pleschova
This workshop examined how a strong sense of belonging supports students and staff to thrive amid challenges, while belonging uncertainty can lead to isolation and disempowerment. Drawing on recent research and literature, participants reflected on belonging and explored ways educational developers can foster inclusive academic environments. The interactive session emphasized agency in creating equitable, collaborative spaces for all.

A Framework for Building and Assessing Equity-Centered Peer Mentoring Programs
Olivia Choplin, Krista Craven, Margarita Safronova, Gabriel Kwek Wu-Xin and Diana Gregory
This session introduced a research-based framework for equity-centered peer mentoring in academic support, developed through a comparative study across three countries. Participants engaged with key findings and an assessment tool designed to help institutions build or improve peer mentoring programs. The framework addresses the complex realities of higher education, offering practical ways to support equitable student success.

1. Rearticulating Progressive Education: A Mixed-Methods Study
Authors: Scott Morrison and Grace Rasmussen
Synopsis: This study investigates how educators define and enact progressive education today, documenting diverse interpretations and instructional approaches. The research aims to clarify what progressive education means in current practice and how educators鈥� beliefs and institutional contexts shape their work, offering insights for teacher preparation and equity-driven reform.

2. Philosophies and Practices of Garden-Based Educators: A Mixed-Methods Study
Authors: Scott Morrison and Grace Rasmussen
Synopsis: Focusing on educators behind school garden programs, this research explores their beliefs, motivations and challenges. By gathering survey and interview data, the study identifies the instructional goals, supports, and conditions necessary for sustaining effective, long-lasting school gardens.

3. Pre-service Teacher Learning from Field Experiences During a Study Abroad Program
Authors: Mark Enfield, Jeffrey Carpenter, Heidi Hollingsworth, Bill Burress
Synopsis: This paper examines the experiences of pre-service teachers participating in an extended study abroad program in New Zealand. Through interviews, the research reveals how immersive field experiences shape students鈥� understanding of curriculum and school culture, particularly in contrast to U.S. practices.

4. Exploring Teacher Perspectives on Contemporary Complexities in K-12 ICT Integration
Authors: Jeffrey Carpenter and Bianca S. Biadeni (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing)
Synopsis: Through interviews with K-12 teachers, this study uncovers the shifting landscape of technology use in post-pandemic classrooms. Teachers describe the dilemmas, contextual factors, and mixed feelings that shape their decisions about ICT integration, highlighting both enthusiasm and skepticism.

5. Becoming Unshackled: A Reflective Inquiry into Healing, Sovereignty, and Relational Abolitionist Being through Course Evaluations
Author: Nermin Vehabovic
Synopsis: This autoethnographic study illuminates how abolitionist and justice-oriented approaches to 久久热 are recognized or resisted by students. The work connects personal healing to collective liberation, subsequently offering a vision for justice-centered and transformative higher education.

6. Honoring Collective Intergenerational Educational Experiences of Latinas through Pl谩ticas-Testimonios
Authors: Adrianna Gonz谩lez Ybarra (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), Stephanie Hernandez Rivera
Synopsis: Employing a women of color feminist methodology, this research highlights the intergenerational educational testimonies of Latina educators. The pl谩ticas-testimonios approach uncovers how shared stories and care serve as countermovements for humanizing education research.

7. The Impact of Social Media on K-12 Teachers鈥� Perceptions of Their Profession: An Experimental Study
Authors: Victoria Puglia (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education), Suzanne E. Graham (University of New Hampshire), Jeffrey P. Carpenter
Synopsis: This experimental study examines how exposure to positive or negative 久久热 content on social media shapes teachers鈥� perceptions of job satisfaction, respect, and support. Findings suggest that digital narratives play a significant role in teacher well-being and retention.

8. Countering Brown v. Board: Examining the Wilmington Ten Using the Black Historical Consciousness Framework
Authors: Cara Ward (UNC Wilmington), Lisa Buchanan, Denise M. Ousley-Exum (UNC Wilmington), Donyell L. Roseboro (UNC Wilmington)
Synopsis: This study interrogates the history of school desegregation, beyond how the Brown v. Board ruling is taught and understood. Focusing on the Wilmington Ten, the research discusses implications for 久久热 civil rights history and preparing future educators.

9. How Elon Musk Contributed to the Demise of the #OakEd Network
Author: Jeffrey Carpenter
Synopsis: An exploration of the rise and fall of the #OakEd teacher network on X/Twitter, this presentation discusses how changes under Elon Musk鈥檚 ownership led to the network鈥檚 abandonment. The case highlights the volatility of digital platforms for professional learning communities.

10. Futuring Teacher Education: Community Partnerships with Refugee Families for Critical, Caring, and Joyful Learning
Author: Nermin Vehabovic
Synopsis: This three-year ethnographic study details partnerships between teacher candidates and families from refugee backgrounds, emphasizing care, dignity and shared learning across culturally and linguistically diverse community contexts. The work illustrates how collaborations rooted in an ethic of care, emphasizing relational, responsive, and reciprocal engagement between educators and families, as well as the notion of freedom dreaming, which envisions education as a space for imagining and building more just and equitable worlds, can disrupt dominant educational narratives and prepare teacher candidates for justice-oriented practice.

11.听 Shaking the Table: Centering the Voices of Identity Center Practitioners – Symposium
Organized by: Stephanie Hernandez Rivera, Jonathan A. McElderry
Objective: Staff in identity centers on college and university campuses are often champions of social justice, supporting students through a myriad of approaches, including, educational programming, leadership development, and advocacy that challenges oppressive ideologies and practices. Despite the important role of staff, scholarship often focuses on student experience, with minimal attention to the experiences of staff in these spaces. The objective of this session is for scholar-practitioners to share their own self-inquiries focused on their experiences as current or former identity center staff.

Nermin Vehabovic, assistant professor of education at 久久热, together with Amir Michalovich, assistant professor of literacies education at University of Manitoba, Aijuan Cun, assistant professor of literacy and language arts at the University of New Mexico and Xia Chao, associate professor of language and literacy education at Duquesne University, edited a special issue of the journal “Multicultural Perspectives.”

This special issue brings together nine empirical studies that spotlight the voices, experiences, and strengths of refugee-background communities across Canada and the U.S., with a focus on culture, identity, language, literacy, and religion in family, school and community contexts. The guest editors aim to challenge deficit-oriented perceptions and stereotypes tied to the 鈥渞efugee鈥� label, and to advance research that builds more inclusive and equitable educational environments. The editorial can be viewed

“Multicultural Perspectives” (MCP) is a leading journal dedicated to advancing social justice, equity, and inclusion in education. Published quarterly by the National Association for Multicultural Education, MCP showcases work that celebrates cultural and ethnic diversity as a national strength, enriching the fabric of society. Its primary readers include K-12 educators, teacher educators, social scientists, governmental social service professionals and others invested in multicultural education. Submissions to MCP undergo a rigorous peer-review process, ensuring high standards and a diverse array of voices in every issue.

Nermin鈥檚 own article in the issue, titled, 鈥淗omes as Transnational and Translingual Sites: Teacher Candidates Traversing Borders, Languages, and Cultures with Families from Refugee Backgrounds Through Shared Reading Sessions,鈥� explores how shared reading between teacher candidates and newcomer families fosters reciprocal learning, caring relationships and the honoring of cultural and linguistic identities. Through community-based learning, teacher candidates not only witnessed but also participated in multimodal and translingual literacy practices.

Across cases, these shared experiences illuminate recurring themes of connection, empathy, and affirmation, with teacher candidates and families building trust and community through both reading sessions and gatherings, such as sharing meals or cheering at soccer games. These practices, grounded in the notion of critical love, underscore the transformative power of showing up, listening, and celebrating the humanity of others. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that homes can function as vibrant sites of transnational and translingual exchange, where deficit narratives are replaced by strengths-based perspectives that honor ways of knowing, doing, being, and becoming. The findings highlight the importance of embedding community-based learning in teacher preparation, equipping educators to create classrooms that are inclusive, responsive, and justice-oriented, and reminding teacher educators of the deep value of learning with and from families whose experiences traverse borders, languages, and cultures.

To cite this article:听

Vehabovic, N. (2025). Homes as Transnational and Translingual Sites: Teacher Candidates Traversing Borders, Languages, and Cultures with Families from Refugee Backgrounds Through Shared Reading Sessions. Multicultural Perspectives, 27(3), 186鈥�194.

To link to this article:听

鈥淚鈥檓 really grateful to be part of a guest editorial team that supports each other both professionally and personally,鈥� Vehabovic said. 鈥淚 am also grateful for the mentorship and guidance of Dr. Roxas, dean of Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University and editor of ‘Multicultural Perspectives.’ His scholarship on teacher education and the experiences of immigrant and refugee communities has profoundly influenced the field. Under his leadership, many scholars, including members of our guest editorial team, have received valuable support and encouragement.鈥�

The journal publishes global research aimed at helping education leaders shape policies and practices that impact children鈥檚 learning and well-being from early childhood through adolescence. By sharing evidence that informs educational reform, it supports efforts to enhance quality, equity, and access in schools and across communities. The publication serves as a valuable resource for professionals in education management who are looking for peer-reviewed studies to inform and strengthen culturally responsive 久久热 and programming.

This article presents a qualitative case study stemming from a broader one year inquiry, drawing on ethnographic observations and impromptu interviews, which considered the languages and literacy practices that children, youth and their tutors relied upon in an afterschool program. The focus is on the ways in which three girls from refugee backgrounds, calling themselves 鈥淒reamgirls,鈥� fostered relationships of care. Informed by feminisms, as well as the notions of freedom dreaming and an ethic of care, the researchers asked: 鈥淚n an afterschool program, in what ways do three girls from refugee backgrounds build relationships that care for themselves and their community?鈥� Findings illuminate the ways in which Divine, Gloria and Ayonna care about their culturally and linguistically diverse community, as well as their immediate and extended family, and resist patriarchal and xenophobic experiences.

This research highlights the significance of centering the voices and agency of girls from refugee backgrounds, emphasizing the transformative potential of nurturing supportive relationships. The study suggests that educational programs and communities can learn from the practices of the Dreamgirls by fostering environments that prioritize care, recognize students鈥� diverse literacies and actively challenge deficit-based narratives. By valuing the resilience and everyday expertise of girls like Divine, Gloria and Ayonna, educators and policymakers can contribute to more equitable and inclusive learning spaces.

To cite this article: Nermin Vehabovic & Jennifer C. Mann (27 Aug 2025): 鈥淒reamgirls鈥� Freedom Dreaming: Girls from Refugee Backgrounds Fostering Relationships of Care, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, DOI:

To link to this article:

Baluti Village faces entrenched poverty that disrupts children鈥檚 education and exposes youth to risks like substance abuse and exploitative relationships. With under-resourced schools and many families unable to afford basic supplies, dropout rates remain high. This project aims to strengthen Chimwemwe鈥檚 efforts to break this cycle by providing children鈥檚 literature and educational materials, while also fostering connection and empowerment through an international, collaborative learning experience.

Elon students will connect with Chimwemwe staff and youth via WhatsApp, research and select children鈥檚 books, and create learning kits and lesson ideas tailored to local needs. The Chimwemwe team will identify priorities, facilitate engagement and help implement activities in Baluti Village to ensure new resources are integrated into ongoing programs. The partnership is expected to deepen students鈥� understanding of global poverty and social justice, while providing Chimwemwe with culturally relevant and historically responsive educational support.

By engaging Elon students directly with Chimwemwe Children鈥檚 Centre and the community in Baluti Village, this project allows students to move beyond classroom study and actively participate in addressing educational inequities shaped by poverty. Through collaborative work, Elon students gain firsthand insight into the complexities of community development. At the same time, the initiative provides immediate, practical support to Chimwemwe鈥檚 programs and helps lay the groundwork for lasting educational opportunities, reflecting a shared commitment to social justice and equity.

Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a non-profit, politically independent organization dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, promoting intercultural understanding and encouraging international exchange through education and academic research. Based in Japan, IAFOR鈥檚 main administrative office is in Nagoya, while its research center is housed within the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University.

In an individual paper session focused on 久久热 and learning, Nermin鈥檚 presentation, titled, 鈥淎bolitionist Teaching as Love, Justice, and Equity: Resisting Authoritarianism Through Praxis in Teacher Education During the Trump 2.0 Era,鈥� captures how teacher candidates developed abolitionist 久久热 dispositions through community and global engagements.

Teacher candidates engaged in shared reading, drew on translanguaging and pursued various learning activities, disrupting deficit perspectives about refugee communities while strengthening their own commitments to critical love, justice and equity. Findings reveal that abolitionist 久久热 as care-centered approaches and everyday ways of acting upon the world, rooted in love, justice, and equity, enables both teacher candidates and multilingual families from refugee backgrounds to resist erasure and oppression.

This project highlights the urgent need for teacher education to push back against authoritarian policies and approaches to 久久热 and learning that suppress critical pedagogies, multilingualism, and culturally sustaining and historically responsive practices.听By illuminating abolitionist 久久热 as everyday acts of resistance, this project underscores the transformative power of learning with and from minoritized and marginalized communities. It offers a model for teacher preparation that sustains democratic, inclusive and liberatory approaches in an era of democratic erosion in the United States and broader global contexts.

This project stems from work supported by prior funding from a faculty research grant awarded by the Center for Research on Global Engagement听 (CRGE) and two Community Partnerships Initiative (CPI) grants from the Kernodle Center for Civic Life.

Jeff Carpenter, William S. Long Professor and professor of education, and Scott Morrison, associate professor of education, presented their project, titled, 鈥淩evisiting and Refreshing the Apprenticeship of Observation Concept.鈥� They shared findings from their study on how future teachers develop their early ideas about 久久热. They interviewed 28 pre-service teachers to explore the experiences and role models that shaped their views. Consistent with earlier research, many participants pointed to their former teachers as major influences. However, Carpenter and Morrison also found that future teachers described learning about the profession in other ways鈥攖hrough social media, family members who were educators and education-related experiences like volunteering and internships during their school years. Their presentation highlighted how these varied experiences shape the expectations and understandings that pre-service teachers bring into their training programs.

Further, Carpenter and colleagues from the University of Potsdam in Germany presented their research on how using Instagram can create stress for teachers. Their work received the Best Paper Award from the Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning (TACTL) SIG. Their paper, titled, 鈥淪tressors and Stress From Instagram Use as Perceived by Teachers,鈥� explored the challenges teachers experience when using social media for professional learning. They surveyed 304 teachers and developed new tools to measure sources of stress, such as information overload, social comparison and procrastination. Their findings showed that these stressors are linked to higher feelings of stress among teachers and vary depending on how teachers use Instagram. This work offers new insights into the hidden pressures teachers may face online and highlights important considerations for teacher educators and policymakers.

Carpenter was also one of the four invited panelists for the TACTL SIG Keynote: 鈥�20 Years of TACTL: Reflecting on Our Past and Reshaping Our Future,鈥� and served as chair for two TACTL SIG paper sessions.

Nermin Vehabovic, assistant professor of education, presented an individual paper as part of the symposium titled 鈥淓levating Refugee-Background Communities鈥� Ways of Knowing, Doing, Being, and Becoming: Canadian and U.S. Perspectives.鈥� In a session featuring six transnational and multilingual scholars from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, Vehabovic shared findings from a qualitative multiple case study, titled, 鈥淗omes as Transnational and Translingual Sites: Pre-service Teachers and Refugee-Background Families Read Picturebooks.鈥�

His research focused on community-based learning experiences in which Teacher Candidates visited the homes of refugee-background families to read and respond to multicultural, transnational and translingual picturebooks. Through audio recordings, artifacts like drawings and writing, impromptu interviews, and reflective memos, the study illuminated how relationships of care and dignity helped extend and revitalize languages, cultures, and stories within these homes. Vehabovic鈥檚 work highlighted how traversing borders, languages and cultures during shared reading sessions fostered deeper intercultural understanding and challenged deficit-oriented views of refugee communities. His findings advocate for more intentional educational practices that center humanity, collaborative learning and community advocacy.

In addition to presenting his research, Vehabovic served as a member of the Division C Equity and Inclusion Committee, which organizes Shark Tank鈥攁 dynamic competition, modeled after the popular TV show, where graduate students pitch equity and inclusion-focused research proposals for the opportunity to receive funding and feedback from a panel of judges.