DEI Action Research

Practitioner action research on diversity and enrolment, Master’s Thesis, Jennifer Deathe

Parent Recommendations:

Marketing & outreach to diverse communities: All eight participants in these interviews perceived a need for better marketing to and recruitment of diverse communities from birth to preschool Religion: Address it in on website and in community forums. 

Racism: Clear Statements on Diversity- Address racism- demonstrates inclusivity, and honesty 

Let our voices be heard: Community storytelling, visits to the classroom 

Diverse material: Include diverse material in curriculum 

Visual diversity: Look around- what are the images, who are the people, the festivals 

Strategic plan: Make diversity a part of the Strategic Plan – currently hear nothing, silence 

Communication: Communicate the strengths – open community, safety, collaboration, nature, faculty that care, process of thinking, values we love and that attracted us.

Faculty Recommendations

The results of…. showed that there was a shared belief among the faculty that diversity is intrinsically important to the social mission of the school. 

  • Recruitment of diverse teachers 
  • Building capacities for questioning the body of knowledge (e.g., Waldorf curriculum content) given to teachers 
  • A desire for a cohesive exploration of diversity with the community 
  • Improving outreach to spread the ideas of Waldorf education and the fundamental differences from other educational models.