Appointed to the Faculty of Education as an assistant professor in summer 2022, Dr. Lilach Marom is interested in questions related to diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, and social justice in teacher education. Lilach received her PhD from UBC’s Department of Educational Studies and her MA (in Jewish History) and BA from the University of Haifa, Israel. Having worked as an educator in multiple locations and countries (Israel, the United States, and Canada) with culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse populations, Lilach is particularly concerned with the barriers facing internationally educated teachers, racialized, and Indigenous teachers. Her work focuses on efforts toward diversifying teacher education and the teaching force. A starting point of her academic inquiry is grounded in her positionality as an immigrant, Jewish, settler educator. She sees herself on “an ongoing learning journey” toward decolonization and transformation of teacher education in Canada.
As a teacher and researcher, Lilach addresses three intersecting areas: 1) racialization and marginalization in teacher education, 2) Indigenization and decolonization of teacher education, and 3) neoliberalism and internationalization in higher education. Her research has appeared in Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies (2017), Teaching and Teacher Education (2019/2020), Race, Ethnicity and Education (2019), Critical Studies in Education (2019), Globalisation, Societies and Education (2021), and Higher Education (2022).
Drawing from multiple theoretical approaches—including critical pedagogy, critical race theory (CRT), decolonizing approaches, and neoliberalism critiques—Lilach employs interviews, observations, discourse and policy analysis, and ethnography in her research. Often her teaching practice is the starting point for academic inquiry. Most recently she undertook a case study exploring the experiences of students from the Punjab region in India attending a lower-tier Canadian university. This project has emerged from dialogue with international students taking her courses. Her findings critique the Canadian education-migration model, identify the complicity of Canadian higher education in lower-skill migration, and draw attention to the negative educational and professional outcomes resulting from this complicity. This project alone has produced three manuscripts and led to collaboration with local organizations aiming to support international students. Lilach was also awarded a grant from the Dr. Irving K. Barber Fund to pilot a bridging program for international students. The first bridging seminar took place this August.
Lilach has taught a range of courses on diversity, social justice, curriculum studies, and ethics in education at such institutions as Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), UBC (teacher ed. program) and SFU. Before joining SFU, she was chair of the department of educational studies and Arts senator at KPU. She is interested in governance and policy making as, for her, theory, teaching, and service are inherently connected and integral to academic work.
Looking forward, Lilach hopes her work will “encourage critical understanding of our society and social institutions . . . to imagine and create more just and human spaces for ourselves and the next generations to come.”
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