In 2020-2021 the TELS Diversity and Social Justice Committee developed a set of standards to serve as goals for all department members and to guide our teaching, research, and service that are aligned with university and college missions and values. The specific wording of the standards were informed by Learning for Justice and research in educational equity. In 2021-2022, the committee will offer a series of workshops for the department to give feedback on the standards and to give practical strategies for incorporating the standards into our teaching.

The following excerpts served as context for the standards:

• Chancellor’s Statement – May 31, 2020
  • As the state’s largest public university, we have the responsibility to educate ourselves and those who pass through our doors to overcome ignorance, unite against intolerance, model inclusivity, and advance the dignity and power of diversity.
• NC State: Our Commitment
  • NC State values diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
  • Diverse viewpoints, experiences and perspectives better our lives, and they are essential to NC State’s mission. Without them, students simply could not succeed in today’s competitive global marketplace, let alone become conscientious global citizens.
  • We expect everyone to give of their talents, skills, time and effort to make NC State an environment of inclusive excellence for all.
• College of Education Mission and Values
  • Our Mission: The College of Education is a voice of innovation for learning across the lifespan. We prepare professionals who educate and lead. Our inquiry and practice reflect integrity, a commitment to social justice and the value of diversity in a global community.
  • Our Vision: The College of Education will lead the way in North Carolina in increasing opportunities for success in education and reducing achievement gaps.
• Lead & Serve
  • VALUERS OF DIVERSITY: Those who complete the programs understand the needs and conditions of all learners and school personnel including being sensitive to cultural, economic, developmental, ethnic, racial, gender, religious, and sexual orientation differences. Those educators who complete our programs show that they are committed to a diverse and inclusive learning environment through their personal interactions with colleagues, students, parents and community, as well in their as instructional approaches.
• TELS Department Mission
  • We prepare teachers and education professionals with a strong foundation in content knowledge to affect and enhance learning through effective pedagogies and digital technologies.
  • We articulate our vision through our commitment to:
    • Developing highly effective teachers in our disciplines through undergraduate and graduate teacher education.
    • Inspiring culturally competent educators who are committed to equity and social justice.
    • Advancing digital technologies into the professional preparation of teachers and other education professionals.
    • Changing the field of education by engaging in research that addresses current challenges.
    • Discovering, disseminating and producing new knowledge in our disciplines

TELS Diversity and Social Justice Standards

Overarching Standards

• All TELS community members will:
  • recognize that people’s multiple identities interact and create unique and complex individuals.
  • express pride, confidence and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.
  • respond to diversity by building empathy, respect, understanding and connection.
  • recognize stereotypes and relate to people as individuals rather than representatives of groups.
  • recognize their own responsibility to stand up to exclusion, prejudice and injustice.
  • speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged by bias.
  • continually improve in their awareness, knowledge, and skills related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Identity and Self-Knowledge Standards

• Graduates of TELS will:
  • develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society.
  • recognize how their identities influence their interactions with others.
  • develop language and historical and cultural knowledge that affirm and accurately describe their membership in multiple identity groups.
  • recognize traits of the dominant culture, their home culture and other cultures and understand how they negotiate their own identity in multiple spaces.
  • be aware of their own biases, prejudices, and sources of privilege.
  • develop language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including themselves) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups.

Understanding of Inequality Standards

• Graduates of TELS will:
  • recognize unfairness on the individual level (e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination).
  • analyze the harmful impact of bias and injustice on the world, historically and today.
  • recognize that power and privilege influence relationships on interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels and consider how they have been affected by those dynamics.
  • identify figures, groups, events and a variety of strategies and philosophies relevant to the history of social justice around the world.
  • understand the history of educational inequality and movements to address educational inequality.

Attitudes toward Diversity Standards

• Graduates of TELS will:
  • feel comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them.
  • respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others.
  • engage respectfully with all people and exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way.
  • express empathy when people are excluded or mistreated because of their identities and concern when they themselves experience bias.
  • examine diversity in social, cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.

Critical Action Standards

• Graduates of TELS will:
  • make principled decisions about when and how to take a stand against bias and injustice in their everyday lives and will do so despite negative peer or group pressure.
  • plan and carry out collective action against bias and injustice in the world and will evaluate what strategies are most effective.
  • develop specific strategies for advancing equality in their career.