As one of the initiatives to enhance engagement with AIB local chapters, AIB T&E SIG hosted a Teaching Café on the topic of “DEI in IB Education” on Oct 14th during the 2022 AIB-USNE conference.
Led by Dr. Jing Betty Feng, the teaching café welcomed IB educators to share their experiences of integrating the DEI-related subjects/theories in IB courses. Another discussion topic was about practices of business schools to incorporate diversity and inclusion in their faculty and leadership.
The participants shared the practices to integrate DEI in business curriculums, such as case studies, learning assessments, and faculty engagement in DEI initiatives. There are tremendous efforts to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion among business schools. At the same time, the participants also expressed concerns about some headwinds to enhance DEI in higher education in the North American context, highlighted as the following:
1. There is declining support for IB education in both higher and primary education.
2. There is an ongoing gender and racial-biased engagement for DEI activities and initiatives. There are concerns about gendered and racialized workload imbalance between teaching, service, and research in academia.
3. Certain groups, such as Africa-Americans or scholars from lower-income regions, are underrepresented in the AIB community.
4. There is a negative and wrong perception of DEI in public that may result in resistance and challenges to advancing inclusion in education in general.
The discussion highlighted the importance of driving DEI awareness and education in IB education. The conversation also indicated the need to explore the sentiment and identify specific challenges regarding the current DEI perception and initiatives in business schools.
