The Black Future Educators’ Pathway: Walking the journey with members, past and present
One day before the Master of Teaching program hosted Orientation for its students on Sept. 10, 48 new Black students entered the Institution’s doors for their grand introduction.
The Sept. 9 launch for the third grouping of the Black Future Educators’ Pathway (BFEP) is the latest iteration of an initiative that has now welcomed over 120 Black students since its inception in 2024.
Beginning with a dedicated application process, BFEP is designed to bridge gaps in representation and access, create an equitable process for Black learners, and offer comprehensive support throughout their time in the MT program. Throughout, Black teacher candidates are provided mentoring, community building, and networking opportunities.
“You don’t come to the building, you come to the people,” said Assistant Professor Andrew B. Campbell, BFEP coordinator and Director for the Centre for Black Studies in Education. His statement empathized the need for belonging in program – admission is not enough.
This year’s 48-person cohort adds to the 42-person cohort in 2025, and the 30 Black students who entered the pathway in 2024. “BFEP did not emerge fully formed – it arose from the sustained advocacy of Black MT students,” said Mohammed Rage, an OISE doctoral student and alumni of BFEP, in his remarks during the BFEP launch. “It demanded accountability, representation, and belonging within teacher education.”
Like Rage, many alumni of the pathway – which is included in the larger class of Master of Teaching students, which counts at about 400 – now provide tutelage and care for the incoming BFEP participants. “There wasn't always a cohort like this. Intentional mentorship, monthly meetings, practicum supports, or a pathway built with Black teacher candidates in mind,” he said.
For Rage and BFEP’s organizers, equity work goes beyond just getting students in the door. “Access was just the beginning. Equity had to mean changing what students experience once they got into the program,” he said. “Bringing students together does not automatically create community. Proximity does not create belonging. Belonging has to be felt. Mentorship has to be intentional, and support has to be sustained.”
To further explore this, and BFEP’s ongoing impact with Black MT students, OISE News and Stories sought the perspectives of numerous participants to the program (past and present). We asked them about their hopes and aspirations for the BFEP, why this pathway is important to them, their excitement for the pathway but a return to schooling from the summer, and what they look forward to.
Dr. Camille Logan
MT/BFEP Course Instructor
As a new instructor to BFEP, it feels as though I am 'coming full circle'. After several decades in K-12 education systems, including having the privilege to serve at senior levels of education within large school districts, finding myself returning to where I began my journey is deeply meaningful and exciting! I am returning to teacher education as an educator with a different question than I entered: What does it mean to create a space for emerging Black educators that are composed of the conditions that many of us needed, but never had?
With this in mind, my hope for BFEP is that it continues to be a unique pathway into the profession where Black emerging teachers can embrace their Blackness and see it as a source of knowledge, imagination, responsibility and most importantly possibility. The opportunity to learn in a space of affinity provides educators entering the profession with a chance to think, question, challenge, heal and to grapple with educational concepts and theories alongside others without the feeling of justifying one’s presence.
My hope for my contribution to the program is to inspire BFEP graduates to enter the field of education knowing that they are not only coming into the profession, but that they have the power and capacity to transform it. As future educators, intellectuals, scholars and community members, most importantly, they can also be agents of institutional change.
BFEP is incredibly important to me because it has intentionally created a space that many of us have had to search for and/or develop; providing us with a significant opportunity to create community, develop critical consciousness, experience forms of mentorship, affirmation while leaving with a sense of collective possibility. For me, contributing to BFEP as an instructor is not only an important role in the success of BFEP, but it is a unique gift and a very special way of giving back!
Sahra Mohamud
BFEP and MTBEA Alumna (Class of 2025)
2nd Year PhD Student in Curriculum & Pedagogy
Role with the BFEP launch: MTBEA & BFEP Alumna and Mentor
One of my hopes for the Black Future Educator’s Pathway is to move beyond access and to cultivate a sense of belonging for our incredible teacher candidates. They should feel that they belong, their knowledge and lived experiences matter, and that they can see themselves succeeding in this program and as an educator. I also hope to see a community of Black Teacher Candidates being supported and connected with our growing BFEP alumni in the educational spaces that they wish to pursue in.
Although I came from a small cohort of Black teacher candidates during my Master of Teaching years, witnessing the first BFEP cohort enter the program and seeing how excited they were to become educators was what made me truly recognize the value of having Black colleagues in the same room as me. There was something incredibly powerful about seeing people who shared similar experiences, identities, and hopes for education entering the profession together. Being placed with Black associate teachers during my placements further reinforced the importance of representation and community. It was meaningful to learn from educators who understood some of the experiences I was navigating as a Black teacher candidate, while also seeing different possibilities for what my own career could look like. Those relationships extended beyond the classroom; we celebrated each other's accomplishments, supported one another through challenges, and empowered each other both within and beyond the program.
As an alumna, I see BFEP as a full-circle experience. I was once a student navigating teacher education and looking for a community, and I now have the opportunity to contribute to that community for future generations to come.
One word: Evolve. For the MT Program to evolve to meet the needs of teacher candidates and to ensure that the content, resources, and pedagogies that are offered reflect the diverse realities of the students and communities they will ultimately serve. I look forward to seeing BFEP continue to evolve alongside the program, to expand its reach, strengthen its mentorship and community-building, and create even more opportunities for Black teacher candidates to thrive.
Dr. Marie Green, PhD
BFEP Co-Coordinator, Sessional Instructor OISE-MT Program
Role with the BFEP launch: Helps coordinate events, supports BFEP students, leads professional development sessions; and, teaches Anti-Discriminatory Education (CTL7009), Educational Research One (CTL7006) and Educational Research Two (CTL7015) for the BFEP cohort
My uptown Toronto secondary school was pretty prestigious, and I was lucky to attend, but I was still fairly new to the country and really struggled. There were only a handful of Black students and only two Black-identifying teachers. A new Black teacher arrived at our school, and she partnered with a senior student to start the Black History Month Club. That little club changed my life. The opportunity to gather regularly with other students who looked like me, learn about the African contribution to civilization, and engage with Black educators and really great speakers made a world of difference to me. Our education system needs more Black teachers. The evidence has been borne out by scholars such as Blazar (2024) and Bristol and Martin-Fernandez (2019). But I am a living testament of this critical need.
Being able to participate in OISE's BFEP as a teacher of future teachers is a full-circle moment for me. The mentoring, support, and community-building that BFEP students experience will go a long way toward setting them up for successful teaching careers. It will also sustain and strengthen pedagogical traditions cultivated and fostered by generations of Black teachers. The benefits of traditions such as Warm Demander Pedagogy extend beyond Black student populations to the entire student body, significantly fostering excellence in education.
Nuradin Mohamed-Nur
Master of Teaching candidate
Role with the BFEP launch: Member, Master of Teaching Black Educators Association and BFEP cohort representative
My journey with BFEP started when I attended an information session to learn more about the Master of Teaching program. It seemed interesting to be a part of a pathway for Black educators within the MT program, and being grouped with other like-minded teaching professionals has been beneficial to my growth as an educator, but also as a learner. Learning with my peers in a different way than we learn in our MT cohorts allows us to think about issues in education from a different perspective and encourages us to do so. I appreciate the community it provides me within the program, and the social aspect of developing professional relationships so early in our careers is invaluable.
All of us will be working for different boards, in different countries and institutions, or might pursue other career paths. But being a part of this pathway allows us to develop and learn from each other and stay connected along the way. I am most looking forward to completing my second year, welcoming the new BFEP cohort, and supporting initiatives within the MT/BFEP communities.
Alex Jaglall
MT Student, Primary/Junior, Year 1
Coming from an Afro-Brazilian and Indo-Caribbean background, I rarely saw myself represented in the classroom growing up. Before university, I only ever had one Black teacher, and that shaped my understanding of representation in education. I remember looking around my classroom and not seeing anyone who looked like me or reflected my experiences, which continues to shape the educator I hope to become.
For the past five years, I have worked with Lay-Up Youth Basketball, a Toronto non-profit serving predominantly Black youth in underserved communities. Through Lay-Up, I have seen how important representation is for Black youth and the impact of having leaders who look like them, understand them, and believe in them. Supporting these youth has shown me how much a positive role model can influence their confidence and belief in themselves. This experience is a major reason I chose to pursue teaching through the BFEP, where I hope to advocate for representation and support others.
As a U of T student-athlete, active mentor in the Varsity Blues Mentorship Program, and Vice-President of the Varsity Board, I have developed leadership, collaboration, communication, and accountability skills. These experiences have taught me to support and work with others, while leading with empathy. I hope to bring these skills and perspectives to BFEP while learning from other Black future educators and contributing to the community.
As a new MT student, I am excited to begin this next chapter at OISE. I look forward to my first day, meeting my cohort, and learning from my professors and peers. Through BFEP and the MT program, I hope to build connections, continue developing as a leader and educator, and bring what I learn into my classroom. Ultimately, I hope to become the teacher I needed growing up: one who makes students feel represented, supported, and capable.
Ashleigh Wint
MT student, first year
I am very excited to start my degree this September and commence my journey towards becoming an educator. I am particularly excited about being a part of the Black Future Educators Program (BFEP). This program is what truly drew me to OISE when thinking about starting my career in education.
BFEP is important to me because after growing up in a predominantly white community, this will be the first time in my life that my educational environment will surround me with a plethora of other Black-identifying individuals, and I know this is going to be very powerful. My experience throughout my childhood and beyond assures me that there is an immense shortage of Black educators in our schools, and I think it is very valuable that faculty at OISE have recognized this need and taken real action towards making a difference. I’m excited to meet everyone else in the program and to get to know my fellow Teacher Candidates, as well as faculty members. I can’t wait to get settled into classes and to get to know the University of Toronto campus and surrounding areas.
Ultimately, my goal as an educator is to make a real positive impact on the lives of young racialized and marginalized learners in my community. For that reason, I believe that being a part of the BFEP at OISE is the best way to start my career as an educator and I can’t wait for these two years to start!
Leslie Stewart Rose
Associate Chair, Teacher Education
Director of Master of Teaching Program
The Black Future Educator Pathway is an intentionally designed program that affirms, supports, and cultivates Black-identifying teacher candidates as educators, scholars, and leaders. Taught and led by Black-identifying teacher-scholars, the pathway centres Black knowledge, lived experience, intellectual traditions, and educational practice. Grounded in an understanding of the ongoing effects of anti-Black racism in education, it provides dedicated opportunities for mentorship, community building, critical and creative inquiry, and professional learning.
The responsibility for recognizing and dismantling anti-Black racism belongs to add educators. At the same time, dedicated spaces for Black-identifying teacher candidates are vital. They offer opportunities for connection, collective reflection, mutual support, and learning across the varied experiences and perspectives within Black communities. The pathway creates space not only to name and challenge injustice, but also to affirm Black identity, cultivate belonging, and celebrate Black Joy, brilliance, excellence, and possibility.