Interview with Whitney Haynes

"This program and the people I have met within it will forever influence all the aspects of my life going forward."

1. What is your current position?

I am a research assistant within the Faculty of Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alberta.

2) What do you do in your present job?

I am currently working on a research project that analyzes work place injuries in Alberta’s oilfields. The research focus is comparing the rates of injury of local workers and interprovincial workers (migrant workers within Canada flying in to work for weeks at a time and then flying home for their days off). I am analyzing and coding quantitative data including questionnaires sent to workers as well as worker compensation reports from the government. I have also been given the opportunity to go into the field to recruit participants and collect data.

3) What was the subject of your thesis?

My thesis critically analyzed global citizenship education. I compared the ‘outside-the-classroom’ learning experiences of migrant workers in low-paying jobs across Canada, Europe and Asia to the understanding of what global citizenship and global citizenship education is in social and academic discourse. Most migrant workers performing low-paying jobs in high-income countries originate from low-income countries and are not given the same rights as local citizens in the countries they are working. They also tend to perform the jobs local citizens of rich nations most often do not want to do. I question who really gets the opportunity to be classified as a citizen of the world? Exchange students who cross borders and volunteers ‘helping’ low-income countries are automatically given a global citizenship status. However, the workers that are in many ways forced to move across borders to support their families back home are never seen as global citizens with global citizenship knowledge. They are most often judged by the work they do instead of the experiences they have gained. They are a growing globally excluded group of people who are not able to belong to their home country or their working country. The outside-the-classroom education that these workers receive navigating borders and adapting to new cultures and countries is what my thesis focuses on, in order to critically add to the conversations and literature around global citizenship and global citizenship education.

4) In what terms has your CIE master helped you in getting where you are today?

Overall, the CIE program gave me the opportunity to learn in a diverse environment as well as develop my own research project. Since I was given the freedom to design my own research project based on my own interests, I am now in a research position exploring a related topic.

5) Are there any specific topics/methods taught to you during the programme which is more relevant to you in your current position?

For my current position, I have had to really draw from the research methods courses from the CIE program.  Most of all though, the experiences and skills from designing and implementing my own research project have given me the starting skills I needed to be a part of a research team.

6) Why did you choose the CIE programme?

After my Bachelor of Science degree specializing in Immunology and Infection I travelled to Nepal to volunteer and work for two years. I was planning on applying my skills in a health related setting. However, I slowly learned that inequalities based on caste, patriarchy and class were at the root of most health problems. I therefore decided studying education would be the best path to explore and address these issues. 
I chose the CIE program at the University of Oslo because I felt it would give me another opportunity to learn from living in another country and culture. What really drew me to the program itself was the fact that the class is chosen based on diverse backgrounds. The class is small, with less than 30 people, covering almost every continent with various academic backgrounds. I felt this program would give me both a strong formal and informal learning environment. As well, knowing both local and international students at the University of Oslo do not pay tuition, with some students from low-income countries receiving scholarships, I felt the environment would be more socio-economically diverse, than many of the educational institutions I have access to in North America.

7) Where do you see yourself career wise in the future?

I am not too sure yet. I am very happy at the moment to be in a research setting. However, having a degree in international education can take you almost anywhere, geographically as well as institutionally. I am very excited about the range of opportunities I have to explore.

8) Any additional comments you may have for future applicants to the CIE programme are welcome.

First being an international student in another country whose first language and working language is not my own has been an experience in itself. Add to that being a part of a classroom of students from around the world and you will develop lifelong friendships, memories and experiences that teach you so much more than a standard classroom lecture or an academic article could ever teach.

Published Mar. 18, 2016 1:36 PM