Rachelle McKay
Educational Developer and Instructor
Bachelor of Arts (Hons), 2015
The approach to teaching that I promote is strength-based and rooted in relationality and care. It asks: how do we move beyond wanting our students to succeed to actually supporting their success in concrete ways?
As the Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges and Indigenous Ways of Knowing at Dalhousie University, Rachelle McKay, BA(Hons)’15, is working to advance Truth and Reconciliation across the institution. In addition to her curriculum and faculty-support role, she regularly teaches courses in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on Indigenous history, research methods and Indigenous representations in film.
Anishinaabe from Little Saskatchewan First Nation in Manitoba, McKay grew up off reserve in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. She enrolled at King’s as a Dr. Carrie Best Scholar, “for its small, community-like feel,” and credits the university for helping her find her writing identity and passion for Indigenization.
With a combined honours in contemporary studies and sociology, McKay earned an MA in Indigenous studies from the University of Victoria, laying the foundation for the work she does today. It’s vital for Canadian universities to ensure decolonial pedagogies are not just a buzzword but a core principle, she says.
Here, McKay discusses her motivation for advising Dalhousie on its approach to curriculum design, inclusive pedagogy, and how even grading can be seen through an Indigenous lens.
You said King’s helped strengthen your writing, but how else did it influence you?
The lack of diversity in the curriculum at that time really informed my interest in being a curriculum specialist now. Missing was any sort of Indigenous representations, but it’s improved a lot in the past 10 years. The faculty interest in diversifying their syllabi has grown exponentially.
How would you describe the work that you do as an Educational Developer?
Educational Development work is diverse. Part of my role involves conducting individual and small group consultations with Dalhousie and King’s faculty members where we’ll talk about their teaching and how they can infuse a more wholistic approach to teaching into their pedagogy.
I’ve designed a range of professional development learning opportunities for faculty, instructors and graduate students. The Decolonization Workshop Series just ended—a four-part offering that drew in over 100 Dalhousie and King’s faculty registrants—which provided participants with practical strategies to aid in decolonizing their approaches to curriculum design, grading and assessment.
The other component of my role is outward facing: I contribute to discourses on post-secondary Indigenization and decolonization nationally and internationally. This week coming, I’ll be presenting “Resisting Colonial Temporalities in Teaching and Learning” at the International Festival of Decoloniality hosted by the University of Derby, U.K.
In one of your most recent articles, “Higher education needs to hold students’ hearts, not hands,” you wrote, “The most transformative learning happens when students feel genuinely seen and supported while being challenged to grow. This isn’t handholding, it’s scaffolding. It’s not about lowering standards, it’s about creating conditions in which students can thrive.” Can you elaborate on what that looks like?
I wrote that piece very much in response to discourses I’ve been hearing that accuse instructors of being “too soft on students.” But caring isn’t the same as coddling. The approach to teaching that I promote is strength-based and rooted in relationality and care. It asks: how do we move beyond wanting our students to succeed to actually supporting their success in concrete ways?
In the article, I offered practical tips of what I call “designing for dignity,” which means caring for students through course design and policy—not just through individual acts of kindness. That includes things like transparent expectations, flexible pathways for demonstrating learning, assessment practices that emphasize growth rather than punishment and creating policies that recognize students as whole people with complex lives.
When students feel respected, when expectations are clear and fair, and when challenge is paired with meaningful support, they are more willing to take intellectual risks. That’s where transformation happens—not when standards are lowered, but when the learning environment makes growth possible.
What key challenges do higher education institutions face today?
Part of the challenge is the lack of financial resources within programs to support, for example, inviting Indigenous guest speakers or Elders. Broader, community-engaged work takes time, but it also takes resources. I forget where the quote comes from, but someone once said that reconciliation needs to start with a budget line. They’re right.
by David Silverberg
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2026
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