A little over 20 years ago, a group of passionate educators gathered together at the newly-founded Dreams of Bean café in Peterborough and mapped out the plans for their dream – Trent University’s own teacher education program.  

In attendance were Dr. Deborah Berrill, founding director of Trent’s School of Education, now professor emerita, along with newly hired faculty, staff, school board partners, and associate teachers. 

One thing they knew for sure – kindness would be a guiding principle.    

“There was an ethos, an ethic, of the importance of community… the importance of celebrating difference and recognizing that that difference has brought oppression for many people and that we had a responsibility to redress those oppressions,” recalled Dr. Berrill.  

It was this very celebration of community that would inevitably be the driver for continued collaboration amongst all stakeholders within and surrounding Trent University’s School of Education.  

Feeling the Impact

Along with creating a community where everyone belonged, with a deep commitment to social justice, Dr. Berrill had a commitment to making the world a better place through learning from and with each other, through kindness.

As Dr. Berrill continues to advocate and celebrate the lives of many throughout the Trent and surrounding Peterborough community, she observes the far-reaching impacts Trent and its education graduates have had.  

“There are many people in the community who are teachers, who are principals, who are superintendents, who were either graduates of the School of Education or who were Trent undergraduates, and they all carry those same commitments with them,” she said. “So that means, that with Trent School of Ed grads, we have educators who are committed to children and youth as persons of value, first and foremost, and they have maintained that commitment regardless of the political vagaries of the day.” 

Dr. Berrill feels that this impact has made a better Peterborough, and a better world. “It’s hard to find a metric for that, but I see it. The thing with the School of Education from the beginning was kindness as an overriding principle, an accepted way of being, just a way we all were, and I see that still happening.” 

On June 6, 2024, the School of Education will celebrate its 20th graduating class in the Bachelor of Education program.