Rewiring education together for a just future
By Mahmoud Shabeeb
How can post-secondary education move beyond traditional boundaries and foster truly inclusive, collaborative learning? This question steered the “Pedagogies of togetherness: Practices for inclusive learning” panel at Congress 2025, where Paul Turcotte, Jessica Riddell, and moderator Normand Labrie explored the urgent need for educational transformation in a world marked by upheaval and division.
Rethinking education in times of crisis
Normand Labrie opened the session by naming the seismic shifts that have shaped higher education over the past few years: the COVID-19 pandemic, global reckonings with racism, ongoing genocides across the world, and the rise of misinformation and extremism. He challenged the audience to consider how universities can respond to these crises by fostering environments where students and educators learn to “live together” despite difference.
This context set the stage for a bilingual, deeply reflective conversation on how to create learning ecosystems that are not only accessible but also just and responsive.
Paul Turcotte: Trust, dialogue, and the courage to change
Paul Turcotte—professor, researcher, and a leading voice on inclusive pedagogies in Quebec—emphasized that many of the challenges we fear for the future are already present. “We must be confident that we are at the wheel as educational institutions,” Turcotte insisted. “We need to listen to students, engage in reciprocal dialogue, and learn from younger generations as much as they learn from us.”
Turcotte highlighted how young adults are eager to innovate and drive change—if only given the trust and support to do so. “At 18, 19, 20, 22, people want to change and have so much energy. They just need support and trust. Why not seize that opportunity?” he asked. Turcotte advocates for a shift from rigidity to rigour, urging educators to create space for students to challenge, question, and co-create knowledge.
He also drew on the social model of disability, which underpins his work at CRISPESH, to argue that inclusion is not a checklist but a lived practice. “To accomplish ‘living together,’ we simply need to do it: to live together! Tp accept different opinions, accept being challenged, and learn to co-exist.”
Jessica Riddell: Hope and human flourishing
Jessica Riddell, professor at Bishop’s University and founder of the Hope Circuits Institute, brought a complementary perspective rooted in hope and systems change. “Higher education is the only sector with a mandate of hope,” she argued. Riddell described the classroom as a crucible for “vigorous civility”—a place where disagreement is generative, not divisive, and where empathy and rigour guide the pursuit of understanding.
Riddell’s research and leadership, recognized through her Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, emphasize that inclusive education requires both structural change and a renewed commitment to equity, empathy, and justice. She challenged educators to see students as guides who “metabolize uncertainty in real time,” and to build shared vocabulary and practices that move beyond symbolic gestures to genuine inclusion.
From macro vision to micro practice
Both panelists agreed that inclusive pedagogy begins with a macro vision—confidence in the sector’s purpose and a commitment to justice—and then zooms in to the micro level of everyday classroom practice. Turcotte reminded the audience, “Professors benefit from the unique opportunity to be in class with a group of young minds. It’s a reciprocal opportunity for learning and growth, for the professor as much as it is for the students.”
Riddell echoed this, likening the classroom to a stage for possibility and transformation. Her work with the Hope Circuits Institute provides practical tools for systems-level change, helping institutions move from intention to action.
Toward a new paradigm of inclusion
As the session closed, the message was clear: inclusive learning is not a static goal, but an ongoing, collective practice. The future of education depends on our willingness to embrace uncertainty, honour difference, and empower students as co-creators of knowledge. In a world marked by complexity and rapid change, Pedagogies of togetherness offer a blueprint for a more just, hopeful, and resilient post-secondary landscape.