Representation in education is incredibly important. We should be aiming for an education system that provides the opportunity for learners to see themselves reflected in the materials they are learning from, the teachers they look up to, the curriculum they are learning, and the books they are reading.

Done right, seeing this representation has a positive impact on students. It has shown to increase a learner’s self-awareness, sense of belonging, self-confidence, and serve as a potential catalyst for learning about others.

This whole approach of seeing yourself, seeing others, and learning about the lived experiences of others has been metaphorically referred to as “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors."

There are many benefits of an educator being intentional about ensuring access, as well as opportunity (equity, in this context) of representations within the materials they use.

These benefits include:

• Supporting a learner's social-emotional learning (SEL) and well-being by reducing feelings of isolation and othering.
• Potentially stronger connections to the content and thus likely to be more engaged.
• Broadening of perspective beyond single narratives or replicated stereotypes.
• Increasing the likelihood of a culturally affirming learning experience rather than a culturally destructive one.
• Providing learners with an opportunity to understand different cultures and communities better.
• Supporting deeper critical and analytical thinking around the complexity of storytelling, story structure, and the human experience.
• Increasing the opportunities to relate to others and build higher degrees of empathic understanding.

While all of these benefit all students, they are of particular importance to students who have been historically excluded, marginalized, and/or are of minority representation.

The two most effective ways to ensure representations that are both authentic and culturally affirming are:

1. Develop a self-awareness evaluation process that starts with asking questions.

The kinds of questions that help develop self awareness include 'what stories are being told? by whom? and from what perspective?' We need to evaluate what is being represented.

2. Support students in asserting their own agency to create, represent, and share their own stories.

Giving students this agency to create, especially within a curricular context, can be a transformative learning experience. It helps them formulate new ideas outside their existing thought patterns.