I’m an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy and Equity at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
My multidisciplinary research draws on critical policy sociology, critical EdTech studies, and surveillance studies to examine how inequity and injustice persist in schooling. I focus on disciplinary and learning surveillance, as well as the politics, material conditions, and policy landscape of EdTech and online education in public schools.
I draw from extensive experience teaching in secondary schools and public education advocacy to bridge research and practice. This commitment is central to my forthcoming book, Online Learning and the Politics of Access in Public Education, with the University of Toronto Press (January, 2026).
Currently, I lead two funded research projects: the first, supported by a SSHRC Insight Grant, investigates the use of surveillance technologies in secondary schools across Canada; the second, supported by the Connaught Fund at the University of Toronto, explores online education in rural and remote communities in Ontario. The intent of my research is to raise critical consciousness and contribute to transformative justice through solidarity with communities most impacted by systemic oppression.
I was formerly a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ontario, and the research cluster lead for Community Engagement and Public Scholarship at the Institute for Research on Digital Literacies at York University in Toronto.
I am currently the President of the Canadian Association of Sociology of Education.
To reach me, email beyhan.farhadi@utoronto.ca
Twitter handle @BBfarhadi or LinkedIn