Towards an equity competency model for sustainable food systems education programs

Abstract

Addressing social inequities has been recognized as foundational to transforming food systems. Activists and scholars have critiqued food movements as lacking an orientation towards addressing issues of social justice. To address issues of inequity, sustainable food systems education (SFSE) programs will have to increase students’ equity-related capabilities. Our first objective in this paper is to determine the extent to which SFSE programs in the USA and Canada address equity. We identified 108 programs and reviewed their public facing documents for an explicit focus on equity. We found that roughly 80% of universities with SFSE programs do not provide evidence that they explicitly include equity in their curricula. Our second objective is to propose an equity competency model based on literature from multiple fields and perspectives. This entails dimensions related to knowledge of self; knowledge of others and one’s interactions with them; knowledge of systems of oppression and inequities; and the drive to embrace and create strategies and tactics for dismantling racism and other forms of inequity. Integrating our equity competency model into SFSE curricula can support the development of future professionals capable of dismantling inequity in the food system. We understand that to integrate an equity competency in our curricula will require commitment to build will and skill not only of our students, but our faculty, and entire university communities.

Operating principles for collective scholar-activism: Early insights from the Agroecology Research-Action Collective

“…It makes little sense to ignore the spaces where many of us spend significant portions of our days, and to overlook the formative power of working with students. A growing literature on pedagogy for sustainable food systems points to the potential of community-based learning and community-partnered research courses for equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need to work with communities, NGOs, and frontline groups to catalyze structural change for racial justice and economic equity (Bradley, Gregory, Armstrong, Arthur, & Porter, 2018;Swords, Frith, & Lapp, 2018;Valley, Wittman, Jordan, Ahmed, & Galt, 2018;Valley et al, 2020). Diverse models and designs exist for such courses.…”

Are the sustainability-oriented skills and competencies of business graduates meeting or missing employers’ needs? Perspectives of regional employers

“…Sustainability is said to be a multi-layered concept, with equity, social and racial justice as foundational elements (Brundiers et al, 2021). However, frameworks have been criticised for the lack of attention given to racial inequality (Valley et al, 2020). The concept of social sustainability is particularly relevant to Australia, a country where settler colonialism has led to the economic exclusion, dependency, and the near collapse of aboriginal culture (Bodkin-Andrews & Carlson, 2016).…”

Co-design of Adaptable Learning Outcomes for Sustainable Food Systems Undergraduate Education

“…This LO is aimed to prepare students to engage in values-based deliberation about sustainability in food systems, understood as a triple bottom-line conception considering social well-being, environmental protection, and economic viability (Rogers and Ryan, 2001). As noted in Valley et al (2020), equity-related competencies such as food justice practice (Cadieux and Slocum, 2015;Meek and Tarlau, 2016) are essential, core elements in SFS required for learners to understand and enact change in food systems (Meek and Tarlau, 2016;Anderson et al, 2019a). Future food system professionals will need to address situations in which all three aspects of sustainability must be considered and advanced, e.g., transitioning from carbon-intensive agrifood systems (Marsden, 2013), working to address food system inequities (Galt, 2013;Cadieux and Slocum, 2015), and building food sovereignty (Meek et al, 2019) while dealing with power relations across relevant scales (Cadieux and Slocum, 2015).…”