An associate professor of math education at �첥��Ƶ’s Faculty of Education, Osibodu focuses her research on how Black students experience math and how education systems can better support equity.

“I want Black learners who enter a mathematics classroom to be fully, completely themselves instead of feeling like they don’t belong,” says Osibodu, who is keenly aware of the persistent and unfounded stereotypes about Black learners’ abilities in math – and how those beliefs intersect with Canada’s colonial legacy and history of immigration.

Osibodu’s teaching experience across three continents has fuelled her interest in and passion for addressing challenges faced by Black students in Canada. Before joining York, she taught secondary school mathematics in South Africa and later taught mathematics and mathematics education courses in the U.S. and Canada. Her research has since documented a range of obstacles faced by Black students in Canadian classrooms.

“It’s impossible to look at course syllabi without realizing that it’s important for equity to be at the core of the teaching practice,” she says. “My ultimate goal is to create math education where Black learners are thriving.”

A key aspect of her work is understanding how Black students experience math, which, in Canada, requires knowledge of the population’s demography. As her colleague Carl James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at �첥��Ƶ, has long emphasized, the Canadian Black community is diverse – including descendants who arrived via the Underground Railroad, families who immigrated from the Caribbean decades ago and more recent immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa – leading to a variety of educational experiences.

“It’s something I hope to explore,” Osibodu says. “In the United States, many scholars in mathematics education have studied the racialized experiences of Black learners and can trace these experiences through generations. In Canada, that isn’t the experience of most Africans, who are largely first-generation immigrants with a fairly young population.

African-born parents tend to be trusting of education systems, she notes. “I want to understand how these parents navigate the mathematics education of their children in the Canadian system. I want to collaborate with and support these parents with more tools to advocate for their children better.”

Osibodu is also examining how math education can address broader social and economic realities. Together with Alexandre Cavalcante at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, she has findings from their Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant exploring critical financial literacy among Black youth. The work highlights the importance of teaching financial literacy in response to Ontario’s 2020 mathematics curriculum, which introduced financial literacy expectations.

The research emphasizes that financial literacy should be taught through a systemic lens (e.g. discussing barriers to financial systems) rather than focusing exclusively on personal responsibility (e.g. budgeting).

Osibodu’s scholarship often draws on decoloniality as a theoretical and analytical lens, particularly for work directly connected to sub-Saharan Africa. One of her examined the impact of coloniality through the widespread use of the British-developed Cambridge Assessment International Education curriculum throughout anglophone Africa.

Across her work, Osibodu returns to the same principle for math education worldwide.

“It is imperative for equity to be at the core of a mathematics education practice and to constantly challenge deficit narratives about who belongs and who doesn’t,” Osibodu says. “We need to be very intentional in pushing against those narratives.”

With files from Elaine Smith

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When Lakeshore Teachers’ College was absorbed into �첥��Ƶ in 1971, McCarthy was among those who became founding members of the Faculty of Education at �첥��Ƶ.

She brought to the University a holistic approach to teaching, focused on all aspects of the child – including home and community – and grounded in a belief, increasingly shared at the time, that strong teacher-student relationships were central to learning.

She spoke to this in a 1969 article in Catholic News Service, saying: “The teacher has to be prepared to reveal his own self – his own moral viewpoints, so long as he does not seem to impose them. Otherwise there is no relationship, no feedback."

Colleagues remember McCarthy for her approach to teaching. “She shared her deep passion for teaching with her BEd students,” says Professor Emeritus Ron Owston.

“She was also a warm, caring colleague,” adds Owston. Professor Emeritus Donald Dippo also remembers her for the value she placed on creating connections not just with students, but within the Faculty. He recalls her as the first person to greet him when he joined �첥��Ƶ in 1987, and how until her retirement, she hosted a year-end event at her home. “It served as a rare and important opportunity for colleagues to engage as more than people passing in a corridor,” he says.

McCarthy taught at York for more than 25 years, demonstrating deep dedication to the success of her students – one eventually recognized through the MarySue McCarthy Bursary, established by the Faculty of Education Alumni Association in her honour. Since 2000, 49 recipients have been supported through the award.

In this way, she lives on in the students she taught, in those who have received awards in her name.

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The guide builds on the team’s 2025 study of programming and practices at children’s museums in Canada and the United States.

Farley says museum educators are navigating increasingly constrained environments when addressing equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion with young audiences. Often, the idea of “childhood innocence” is cited as a reason to censor or downplay controversial and challenging ideas.

At the same time, Farley says, "children live within the social and political world, and are themselves subjects of and/or witnesses to injustices, violences and inequities."

She adds that the question then becomes "not how to protect them from difficult knowledge, but what it can mean to facilitate meaningful engagements.”

Farley and her colleagues, including York’s Gillian Parekh, associate professor of education and doctoral candidate Suad Ahmed, conducted the original study in partnership with the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM). Their research found that while many children’s museums focus on exploration, play or self-expression, addressing social and historical issues with young audiences were secondary.

However, they also found that this trend is changing.

“Museum programmers and educators are thinking carefully about how to better address topics that might conventionally be considered difficult for younger audiences,” Farley says. “We found a strong desire among educators for resources that can support their efforts to represent difficult knowledge in truthful ways, while also recognizing the unique considerations involved in working with children.”

The new reflection guide is a collection of resources chosen for their currency, relevance and accessibility. Articles, videos, strategies and frameworks provide questions, issues and/or examples of programming and practices that represent controversial, diverse and/or difficult knowledge.

For example, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights offers frameworks and strategies for addressing such topics as 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, war and genocide, systemic racism and wrongful convictions, while the Museum of Toronto suggests resources to help museums become good allies in learning from Canada’s Indigenous communities.

There are also curricula developed to teach children about topics such as Black history and life, and articles offering guidance about how to broach painful experiences, such as grief and loss, with children in an age-appropriate manner.

Farley hopes the reflection guide will support museum decision-makers, exhibition creators and educators to engage difficult knowledge while also opening possibilities for children to become new people in relation to the legacies they inherit. The content of the guide has been informed by the team’s research along with the participating children’s museums.

Farley, who is also a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Resources at York, says childhood is a theme that runs through all of her research.

The project reflects her broader commitment to research that engages directly with communities, she says, and her drive to understand how scholarly work can support educators traversing complex issues.

“I began my career doing individual research with child psychoanalysis to foreground a productive tension between emotional conflict and transformation. The psychoanalysis part hasn’t changed, but I have branched out to work in collaboration with childhood scholars in Canada and the United States, and in this particular project, expanded my scope to include a community partner,” she says. “I was excited to see where impact can happen in community, and specifically how the scholarly interests of our research team could serve museum educators in thinking about the significance of their work.”

With files from Elaine Smith

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From 2021-24, Silver was principal investigator on a project that explored how global discourse around gendered risk during the COVID-19 pandemic did – or did not – relate to the lived experiences of young people in Malawi. At that time, the small African country was also contending with the 2020 decision by the U.K. – one of several countries providing educational aid to Malawi – to cut a significant portion of its support as part of austerity measures.

Silver, is also a faculty affiliate in the Faculty of Graduate Studies Development Studies program and examines power dynamics in international development and humanitarian aid structures. She had the opportunity to observe how funding reductions ripple through relationships in schools and programs, which inspired a larger project: investigating how Malawians working in the education sector navigate shifts in austerity.

Silver and her colleagues also wondered what new possibilities for funding, partnerships and education might exist in the wake of these changes.

In December 2024, Silver returned to Malawi to meet with colleagues and explore research focused on post-aid futures. They piloted the study through interviews and discussions with local educators and then, something unprecedented happened, she says.

In March 2025, President Donald Trump shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, the world’s largest bilateral funder of education, removing support accounting for more than 13 per cent of Malawi’s 2024-25 national budget.

These events prompted a paper – – funded in part by the 2025 Seed Grants in Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health Research.

The study examined the emerging impacts of aid cuts and found that while aid can improve lives, it often reinforces unequal power dynamics rooted in colonial histories. Conducted by a transnational team, the pilot explored whether such cuts could open space to rethink international development and support more locally driven approaches.

Silver, however, wanted to take the project further and has now received funding from the Spencer Foundation. The U.S.-based organization that supports education research will provide more than $500,000 for a three-year study entitled Reconfigurations and Refusals: Forging Futures Beyond Aid in Malawi’s Education Sector, allowing Silver to expand on the 2025 paper.

“We were pretty shocked and elated,” Silver says, noting that only nine projects out of 380 submitted for consideration received funding. “It feels very meaningful to be able to do this.”

The research will include three longitudinal case studies involving Malawian educational organizations: a girls’ education NGO, a university and a basic education NGO. Silver and her partners will conduct an extensive interviews with individuals across government and the non-profit sector, capturing a broad range of perspectives from Malawi’s education landscape. The funding will also support local collaborators and enable the hiring of graduate students from �첥��Ƶ and Malawi-based institutions, ensuring the research remains collaborative and grounded in the communities it studies.

The goal is to further understand how educational organizations and communities in Malawi respond to evolving pressures from international donors. “The consequences of aid cuts are very harmful,” says Silver, “but there is also much to be learned from how people respond, as it presents a chance to reimagine possibilities.”

New opportunities may emerge if organizations are no longer required to align closely with donor priorities. The project will examine how these changes create space for local actors to set their own agendas, explore new approaches and potentially redefine education in Malawi. Early insights point to several pathways, including shifting decision-making and funding power to local organizations, developing alternative financing models such as regional partnerships, diaspora support, and private capital and diversifying funding sources to reduce reliance on U.S. aid.

Silver hopes the work will amplify how Malawian organizations are navigating this period of uncertainty and that insights will inform responses from remaining funders, including the Canadian government and international NGOs.

She also aims for the research to reach Canadian, North American and global audiences, offering new perspectives on how education systems can be designed and delivered in times of change. She notes that this is especially important in the current moment of global uncertainty. “Thinking about aid, responsibility and power – and how our world operates – is always important, but it is particularly crucial at this moment of rupture and change,” she says, noting that austerity measures are affecting countries beyond the U.S., including the U.K. Germany.

Despite the potential global reach of the work, for Silver there is also a personal dimension. She has conducted research in Malawi since 2012 and the country holds significance for her. Initially drawn to Malawi as a space to reconsider international development because of the high concentration of international interventions relative to its size, she has come to appreciate how those in the country navigate an inequitable playing field – with lessons that may now serve as a model for the world.

“Seeing how people are navigating this period and the creative ideas they’re developing is both interesting and meaningful to me,” she says.

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Published in the , the study responds to the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, an international framework aimed at improving the lives of older adults through age-friendly environments, better care systems and efforts to combat ageism. While these priorities are important, Balyasnikova and her co-authors – all co-conveners of the Educational Gerontology Special Interest Group at the British Society of Gerontology – felt it reflected a recurring gap.

“Across global health and aging policy frameworks, learning is largely absent or treated as peripheral,” she says. “We wanted to examine this omission more systematically and, importantly, to offer examples that demonstrate how participation in learning environments contributes to healthy aging and well-being.”

To do so, the researchers turned to three real-world learning initiatives in Canada and the U.K. – projects they helped design, lead or facilitate. This first-hand involvement allowed them to analyze participant experiences in depth, rather than observe programs from a distance.

In Canada, older immigrants participated in the Seniors Storytelling Club, a 10‑session, arts-based language-learning program where learners created oral, written and multimodal stories while building community with peers. In the U.K., the team examined two initiatives: a one-day intergenerational co-creation workshop that used movement, drawing and collaborative activities to explore sustainability; and the Ageing Well Public Talks, an ongoing public education series launched in 2019 that has reached more than 90,000 participants worldwide.

Because the researchers were embedded directly in these initiatives, they collected varied forms of data. For the storytelling club, this included in‑class narrative work and follow‑up interviews conducted over several months. The one‑day workshop was video recorded, supplemented by participants’ immediate reflections and post‑event surveys. The public talks incorporated continuous feedback loops – short surveys after each session, annual questionnaires and voluntary testimonials – creating a multi‑year record of participants’ learning experiences.

Taken together, these cases offered insight across different time scales: from a single immersive day to a multi-week program to an ongoing, multi-year public learning platform.

Across all three, Balyasnikova explains, they found that “older learners pursue education for diverse purposes, often closely tied to well-being and social engagement.” The study did not measure clinical outcomes such as physical health or functional ability; instead, it focused on perceived improvements in social connectedness, cognitive engagement, empowerment and sense of belonging.

Participants consistently reported increased confidence, stronger social ties and a renewed sense of purpose. Learning later in life, the study shows, supports cognitive, emotional and social growth – helping older adults challenge age-related stereotypes, remain mentally active and participate more fully in their communities.

The findings challenge the dominant policy perspective shaped in part by the World Health Organization, which defines healthy aging primarily in terms of maintaining functional ability. Balyasnikova says this narrow focus contributes to reductive narratives about older adults.

“Dominant narratives continue to cast older adults either as privileged individuals seeking only leisure or as vulnerable people in cognitive decline,” she says. “These framings obscure the richness of learning later in life.”

The study argues that overlooking learning as a core component of healthy aging is a missed opportunity in global policy. When learning does take place, it is often framed narrowly in terms of workforce participation rather than as a tool for well‑being and inclusion.

Balyasnikova emphasizes the broader implications of the work. “Major policy frameworks on healthy aging rarely engage seriously with education. Addressing this gap is essential for rethinking what learning can look like across the life course,” she says.

By calling for learning to be explicitly integrated into global frameworks, Balyasnikova and the study advocates for a more holistic, inclusive approach to policy.

“I hope the article contributes to shifting both policy and practice,” she adds. “It makes the case for recognizing learning as integral to healthy aging frameworks and offers language to support advocacy for programming. But overall, we hope to add our voices to the growing global dialogue challenging reductive narratives about older adults.”

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The study, published in , examined what insights two of the most commonly used English‑language proficiency assessments – IELTS Academic and TOEFL iBT – offer in predicting how undergraduates perform in university studies.

Because universities around the world accept multiple tests as equivalent demonstrations of readiness, Barkaoui, who teaches in the Faculty of Education, wanted to determine whether IELTS and TOEFL function similarly in correlations with academic achievements. He did so by exploring new ground.

“There is a lot of research looking at the relationship between English-language proficiency (ELP) and academic achievement for international students in English-speaking universities, but most of it looks at this relationship in the first year or semester of study,” he explains.

Barkaoui sought longer-term understanding of the correlation as it can influence the resourcees they need and receive. “Understanding these long-term effects has important implications for university admissions policies and policies regarding English-language support for international students,” he says.

Barkaoui used archival data of 6,481 undergraduates over as many as 10 semesters, analyzing grade point averages alongside language assessments scores, prior scholarly performance and academic programs. He then examined how performance changed as their studies progressed in relation to the ELP test used for admission.

The results show that initial assessment scores do not always indicate learning outcomes in the same way. IELTS scores were more closely linked to first-semester grades and to how students’ scholarly performance changed over time, with lower scores often corresponding to early dips and higher scores to more stable results. In contrast, TOEFL results were only weakly associated with academic results and did not reliably predict either first-semester grades or longer-term GPA trends, suggesting the two tests capture different aspects of language readiness.

This underscore that success is multi-faceted and shaped by more than language alone, says Barkaoui. In programs with heavier reading and writing demands, such as social sciences and humanities, proficiency scores were more strongly tied to grades. In quantitatively oriented fields, such as business and economics, the relationship was weaker or sometimes negative, pointing to the role of discipline‑specific skills. Other factors – such as prior education experiences, program requirements and support networks – also contribute to how students navigate university.

For that reason, Barkaoui’s conclusion points toward helping institutions continue to refine how and when academic and language‑learning supports are offered. The study suggests that undergraduate who enter with lower English-language proficiency may benefit from services that extend across multiple semesters, and that those resources may need to differ over time.

The research highlights why understanding IELTS- or TOEFL‑specific patterns matters. If universities understand how each test relates to learning experiences, staff supporting students can proactively tailor resources that foster success for all learners.

“Understanding the long-term effects of ELP on academic success in different fields of study can inform policies regarding the use of ELP tests for admission and English-language support for these students and when it needs to be provided – whether early in their studies or throughout,” Barkaoui says.

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Genomic Evidence for Precision Medicine for Selected Chronic Diseases Among Black Peoples in Canada – developed through collaboration with the Centre for Applied Genomics, at SickKids Hospital and McGill Genome Centre – is an effort to sequence the genomes of 10,000 Black Canadians to ensure equitable health care for an often-understudied population.

By sequencing the nucleotides that make up the participants’ DNA and RNA, researchers will gain a better understanding of how diseases affect Canada’s Black population and develop better precision medicines to target their conditions.

“We need to encourage these approaches for research, since medical studies often miss the racial diversity of health care recipients,” says James, a renowned sociologist with a research focus on race and ethnic relations. “In fact, we need to understand differences in all populations.”

The study is led by four prominent medical researchers: Upton Allen, division head at SickKids Hospital’s Infectious Diseases and professor at the University of Toronto; Loydie Jerome-Majewska, McGill University Department of Pediatrics professor and co-founder/program lead for the Canadian Black Scientists’ Network (CSBN); Juliet Daniel, McMaster University cell biologist and cancer researcher; and OmiSoore Dryden, professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University.

James’ contributions are rooted in his strengths in public education and work on the diversity of Black communities in Canada. He will work toward strengthening community outreach and participant recruitment, helping to ensure that diversity among Black community members is reflected in the project. Additionally, he will help disseminate findings to Black communities and assist in developing education programs based on those findings.

The invitiation to join the project aligns closely with James’ work, as he is finalizing the fifth edition of his seminal textbook, Seeing Ourselves: Exploring Race, Ethnicity and Culture, due out in October 2026.

In the textbook, he reminds students that reporting one’s race as Black or white, for example, does not tell us about their genetic makeup, because race as a social construct materializes in individuals’ lives in different ways. Researchers have found that race as “a biological marker” – and related experiences with stress based on trauma, discrimination and economic hardship – contribute to higher levels of inflammation and poor health, he writes.

At the project launch on Jan. 27, Jean Augustine volunteered to enrol in the study and expressed appreciation for James’ involvement, noting that programs like these advance community education and health, which speak to her vision for the holder of the endowed Chair in her name.

As the project unfolds, James says, “I want to make sure we pay attention to the heterogeneity within the Black community in Canada. For example, third-plus-generation Black Canadians��are most likely��to be of Caribbean descent, while most first- and second-generation Black Canadians are likely continental Africans. There are cultural and environmental differences that likely account for genetic differences.”

Once the 10,000 genomes are sequenced and the results analyzed, researchers will be able to offer medical professionals, researchers and Black community members more information on disease patterns. The new data can be used to inform health education programs, as well as health screening and treatment.

“The ultimate goal is to address some of the social disparities and gain cultural understanding and treatment and to improve Black health,” says James.

With files from Elaine Smith

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Through oration, folk tales, music, dance and even cooking, mothers have continued to impart cultural knowledge across generations.

It’s no surprise then, that as the inaugural assistant professor of Black thriving and education at �첥��Ƶ, Fearon wanted to explore the ways Black mothers come together with their children to cultivate leadership and literacy skills within education systems and beyond.

Inspired by her grandmother and grandaunts, who came to Canada from Jamaica in the 1960s with limited access to educational opportunities, Fearon’s research studies how Black mothers use storytelling in community-based literacy programs. 

With an understanding of the barriers these women face in academic research spaces, Fearon was careful to develop a collaborative approach where Black mothers feel valued.

“They’ve complained, lamented, about the extractive nature of the research process,” she says. “And when we look at the histories and the current relationships between researchers in academia and Black communities, it's not positive.”

Fearon centres Black mothers as partners in the research process, grounding her work in respect and co-creation. To honour the cultural significance of storytelling, she uses an arts-informed approach that allows her to reimagine educational research as collaborative and cultural.

“My studies involve participants throughout all phases of the inquiry process – from helping conceptualize the study to determining how insights are disseminated, reimagining how research can be for us and by us,” she says. The arts, including storytelling, play a prominent role in the daily lives of Black mothers who use it to impart knowledge, deepen relationships and make sense of the world around them.

Fearon facilitates this by expressing her findings visually, through artforms like graphic narratives and short stories. It’s an intentional approach, she says, because “the mothers I work with help determine the best way to engage in any particular research study.”

She notes that Black storytelling is inextricably collaborative, built on relationships, engagement and dialogue between storytellers and listeners. Because of this, studying storytelling and related practices requires rethinking traditional research methods to reach deeper, more authentic understandings.

She sees her creative approach as a way to honour traditions safeguarded and cultivated by Black matriarchs, including her own grandmother and grandaunts. Their stories help to create an archive of the Black experience.

“My dream is that my creative approaches to research serve as an example of how the artistic lives of Black people can be upheld throughout the inquiry process,” she says. “I hope my work inspires other scholars, especially Black mother scholars, to reimagine research methods in ways that is creative, relational and relevant to participants." 

Her vision, however, exists alongside a long history of challenges faced by Black communities and scholars in academic spaces, such as systemic racism, sexism and classism.

But the growing number of Black scholars being hired by universities affirms that her work – and engaging in different ways of thinking and researching – strengthen meaningful contributions to research and scholarship.

“York enjoys a legacy of Black students, scholars and community members gathering throughout the year, but especially in February. We continue to gather on-campus and in the wider community in ways that affirm the complexities, beauty and everydayness of Black life and Black living in Canada,” she says. “We come together to dream, to organize and to remake academia and the world around us.”

Fearon recently received a �첥��Ƶ Black Research Seed Grant and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant, and will use the funding to widen her research scope. The seed grant will support research on the creative lives of Black teenaged girls, while the SSRCH grant will fund a study on the culturally specific leadership approaches of Black women principals and how it nurtures the well-being of elementary-aged Black children.

She’s also started a writing program for Black mothers who are showing up as scholars.

“Dr. Fearon has made an impressive start to her academic career at York with this important research, first obtaining competitive federal and other funds and then embarking on work that’s impactful, necessary and transforming in nature,” says Faculty of Education Dean Robert Savage. “We, in the Faculty of Education, are delighted to support Stephanie in continuing her important work here, which has cascading impacts in and beyond the University, to empower diverse Black communities.”

Her work is also a legacy project she hopes will open doors for her own children.

“I'm already working to remake the university environment,” she says. “My dream is that my children can walk into academic spaces as their full selves and they can just be, knowing that they belong.”

With files from Robin Heron

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The aims to reduce stigma associated with mental health and highlight the resources available to support students. Episodes explore issues connected to real student experiences, from stress and mental health to identity, spiritual well-being, belonging and more.

“The mission of the podcast is to build meaningful connections with our listeners by creating space for open, honest conversations about the issues that shape student wellness at York,” says the podcast's current host and fourth-year psychology student Susu Beheiry. “I hope the podcast will help listeners shift perspectives and see that self-love and discipline are not enemies and can help to achieve goals. I’m excited to work toward these goals together, one episode at a time.”

Produced by and led by a student host, coordinator and technical editor, the podcast reflects York’s values of community, connection, compassion, respect and acceptance.

Beheiry says the episodes explore the six dimensions of well-being outlined in York’s Well-being Strategy, which is the guiding framework for the podcast. The show is also influenced by the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Mental Health and Well‑being for Post‑Secondary Students Standard and the Okanagan Charter.

“By sharing practical insights and stories, it helps students build skills, access support and feel more connected,” says Beheiry. “As a psychology major, I am passionate about promoting and applying mental health in my day-to-day life. I want to see other students caring about their mental health and well-being as much as they care about their physical health and grades.”

Faculty and staff may also find the conversations useful, she notes, as the topics relate directly to how students learn, engage and participate.

A recent episode on digital well-being features Roxanne Cohen, postdoctoral fellow in York’s , and examines how young people use technology, what purposeful use can look like and how digital habits shape mental and physical health.

“The episode invites listeners to reconsider their relationship with screens and explore how to regain balance in an ‘always-on’ world,” says Cohen.

The conversation draws on youth-centered research connected to the Young Lives Research Lab and the – a newly launched first-of-its kind digital well-being platform designed to help Canadians navigate the challenges and complexities of the internet and social media. The hub features research snapshots, trusted resources and youth from across Canada speaking on their experiences.

"We talk about how students are navigating real tensions in their digital lives and why ‘screen time’ alone is an incomplete way to understand what’s happening,” says Cohen. “Helping listeners understand purposeful use and think about digital citizenship can shift digital habits toward healthier experiences.”

Cohen notes that the episode is relevant to faculty and staff as digital technology, including AI, now shapes many aspects of student well-being and learning, influencing everything from attention and workload to mental and physical health, belonging, participation and safety.

“Understanding these well-being experiences can help the broader community support a healthier, more inclusive learning environment,” she says.

Listen to and explore more episodes .

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Culminating in a new book titled , the research marks the longest-running Canadian generational study of its kind, following nearly 50 years in the lives of a cohort of high school students who graduated in 1973. 

The project originated with Paul Anisef, professor emeritus at York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who began with a survey of high school students to help the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities understand and project post-secondary enrolment.

“I didn’t have in my mind at all that this would become a long-standing longitudinal study,” says Anisef. “It started as a ministry-sponsored survey of high school students, and one thing led to another.” 

Encouraged by colleagues after the initial survey, Anisef returned repeatedly to the same group of students – just under 2,500 members of the class of 1973 – surveying and interviewing them in seven waves, from adolescence through midlife and into their early to mid-'60s. 

The final phase, conducted between 2019 and 2021, captured their reflections as many approached retirement, offering a rare, lifespan perspective on Canadians. 

The newly released book��is co-authored��along with��York Faculty of Education ����Ǵڱ�����ǰ�����Paul Axelrod�����Ի���Carl James, as well as York PhD student��Erika McDonald,��and includes��contributions from��Wolfgang Lehmann, Karen Robson��and Erica Fae Thomson.��It’s��a follow-up to��an��earlier��volume,��Opportunity��and Uncertainty: Life Course Experiences of the Class of ’73��(2000).��

Axelrod, professor emeritus and former dean of education at York, helped provide historical context in the study and notes how unusual the project is. 

“What makes this study so unique is that it follows ordinary Canadians over more than 50 years,” he says. “Very few research projects and very few researchers are able to stay committed long enough to see an entire life course unfold.” 

Born mainly in 1955 and 1956, these late baby boomers experienced sweeping economic, technological and social change, including the expansion of higher education, women’s growing participation in the labour force, immigration-driven diversification and the digital revolution. 

The Story of a Generation blends large-scale survey data with in-depth interviews and portrait chapters to produce a textured account of how education, work, family and well-being intersect.  

Anisef��says the research team was fascinated by “the myriad pathways that people take in their lives,”�����Ի���by how historical context and personal circumstances shape key decisions.

One of the book’s central insights is the dynamic relationship between social structure and individual agency. Early in life, factors such as parents’ education, social class, gender, region and immigration status strongly influenced access to post-secondary education and occupational opportunities. Urban youth, especially in Toronto, were more likely to attend university, whereas rural youth often faced more constrained options. 

Over time, however, those constraints shifted. 

“It’s a kind of natural experiment – you’re not controlling factors, but over time you can see what really changes and what begins to matter more in people’s lives,” Anisef says. “Social structural factors were extremely important early on, but as time went on, personal agency, motivation and personality began to assert more influence on what people did with their lives.” 

“Social class matters, but it isn’t destiny,” says Axelrod. “Even a single teacher or mentor who recognizes ability and offers encouragement can make a huge difference and help people overcome barriers.” 

The book also traces working lives shaped by economic restructuring and rapid technological change, as participants adapted from typewriters to computers, from manual to digital newspaper production and to increasingly automated, centralized workplaces.  

“This generation lived through an incredible time of technological transition, and what we found is that most people adapted,” Axelrod says. “They learned on the job, took short courses and kept going, even when the changes felt overwhelming at first.” 

Respondents navigated shifting gender roles, dual-earner households, caregiving for aging parents and evolving relationships with community and religion. For many, retirement emerged not as a clean break but as a mix of part-time work, volunteering, caregiving and “encore” careers. 

When asked what ultimately mattered most in their lives, participants were strikingly consistent in their answers. 

“The answer wasn’t work or career success – it was family and relationships,” Axelrod says. 

Anisef does not plan further research with the Class of ’73, but he hopes others will extend the project to younger cohorts. “It would be fascinating to see what patterns we identified in our study persist in later generations,” he says. 

With files from Karen Martin-Robbins

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