This February, UBC’s Teacher Education Office (TEO) and a group of dedicated teacher candidates travelled to the University of Winnipeg for WestCAST 2026. Guided by the fitting theme “Together. We Grow!”, this year’s conference welcomed, for the first time ever, French-language institutions from across Canada and international partners from the University of the West Indies.
As always, WestCAST provided a vibrant environment for exchanging pedagogical ideas, sharing teacher education experiences and fostering professional growth.
Student Spotlights:
A huge round of applause goes to the following teacher candidates for their contributions:
- Dryden Grosset (NITEP Secondary): Following his first visit as an observer two years ago, Dryden returned to the conference this year to present “Teaching Indigenous Contexts: Learning from What Isn’t Made for You”.
- Justin Salinas (Secondary French & ESA Academic Coordinator): Justin explored the intersection of identity and pedagogy in his presentation, “The third culture teacher: leveraging racialized teacher identity in French-language classrooms for student flourishing”.
- Nathan Spencer (Secondary French): Nathan led a workshop in French titled “Répondre à la Menace de Disputes Clivantes en Classe: un Cadre Philosophique et Pratique”.
- Nick Watts (NITEP Year 3): Nick attended as an observer, immersing himself in the conference’s workshops and presentations. He returned to UBC with insights and experiences to share with NITEP seminar classmates.
Faculty Support & Leadership:
The success of our candidates was supported by a team of leaders from the Teacher Education Office, including Associate Dean Dr. Karen Ragoonaden, TEO Director John Yamamoto, WKTEP Coordinator Lori Barrett, and Program Managers Greta Bartsch, Hazel Ryan Sheehan and Dr. Sonya Woloshen.
- John Yamamoto, Greta Bartsch and Dr. Sonya Woloshen Presentation: “Professional Conversations: Building Capacity for Field/Faculty Advisors across BC Teacher Education Programs”
- Hazel Ryan Sheehan Presentation: “Growing Our Institutional Responsiveness; Disability Justice as Practice in Teacher Education”
- Lori Barrett Presentation: “Integrating Music Into The Generalist Classroom”
Congratulations to the entire team for their dedication to advancing the future of education and representing UBC so well on the national and international stage!