Description
With the goal to support K-12 school leaders’ culturally responsive leadership practice, we organized a professional development workshop series with a research component in May/June 2021. Six school principals/leaders from two school divisions in Regina participated in the workshop series and five also participated in the research study. The participants acknowledged that the workshop created a sense of community, uncovered their biases and prejudices. By learning with their peers and Indigenous Elders, they also felt empowered to take risks and reported having a new sense of responsibility for addressing various social justice and equity issues. It was also observed that there was a tension between the members of the research team as well as the research participants, regarding multicultural education and the need for educators/ educational leaders to engage with decolonization and Indigenization. We concluded this research study with new questions one of which is “what is culturally responsive leadership in light of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action?”
Research and Teaching Interests
In research and teaching, Dr. Raisinghani aims to invite (trans-multi) culturally responsive education which centers on socially and ecologically just, inclusive, responsive educational experiences for diverse students through building an empowering school culture. Her focus areas of study include culturally responsive science and mathematics education, critical multicultural education, Indigenous ways of knowing, community engaged learning, assessments in learning, and professional development. Dr. Raisinghani’s recent research attempts to investigate inherent inequities in current educational landscape and cultivate (trans-multi) culturally responsive educational understandings among K-12 teachers and school principals.
