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Thursica Kovinthan Levi

Thursica Kovinthan Levi

Assistant Professor
EducationPhD
OfficeKHS-350D, Kerr Hall South
Phone416-979-5000, ext. 557651
Areas of ExpertiseRefugee education; Multilingual language learners/English language learners; Peace and conflict education; Teacher education

Biography

Dr. Thursica Kovinthan Levi is an assistant professor in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research and teaching focus on supporting students with refugee experiences in school settings, multilingual language learners, peace and conflict education, and teacher education. She has conducted research and worked in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America. Dr. Kovinthan Levi has previously served as an assistant professor (teaching stream) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), as an elementary teacher with the Toronto District School Board, and as an education policy analyst with Global Affairs Canada. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Child Study and Education from the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) at the University of Toronto.

  • Supporting multilingual language learners/English language learners  (K-8)
  • Refugee background/Precarious status students and families 
  • Peace and conflict education
  • Language and literacies education 
  • Teacher education
  • Difficult knowledge

Books

  • Vanner, C., Akseer, S., & Kovinthan Levi, T. (2022). The Multiple Roles of School Textbooks in Peacebuilding. Springer.

Chapters

  • Gagne, A. & Kovinthan Levi, T. (January 2023). Duoethnographic Perspective on Supporting Students of Refugee Background in Middle School. In J. Chitiyo & Z Pietrantoni (Eds.) Social Justice and Culturally-Affirming Education in K-12 Settings.
  • Kovinthan Levi, T. (2022). The Multiple and Intersecting Roles of Civics Textbooks in Conflict-Affected Sri Lanka. In Teaching Peace and Conflict (pp. 63–80). Springer International Publishing AG.
  • Kovinthan Levi, T. (2022). Introduction: The Intersecting Roles of Education in Conflict. In Teaching Peace and Conflict (pp. 1–17). Springer International Publishing AG.
  • Kovinthan Levi, T. (2021). Mothers and Soldiers: Gendered Citizenship Education in Post-War Sri Lankan Textbooks. In D. Hildebrandt-Wypych & A. W. Wiseman (Eds.) Comparative Perspectives on School Textbooks. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Emerson, A. & Kovinthan Levi. T. (2020). Building the Nation:  Curriculum, Gender, and Conflict in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In P.M. Sarangapani & R. Pappu (Eds.).  Global Education Systems. Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia (external link) . UK: Spring Nature.
  • Fontaine, S. Kane, R. & T. Kovinthan (2017). The assessment of students’ learning: A major challenge for beginning teachers in Québec and Ontario. In B. Kutsyuruba & K. Walker (Eds.) The Bliss and Blisters of Early Career Teaching: A Pan-Canadian Perspective.
  • Kovinthan, T. & McPherson K. (2017). The Ethics of Inclusion: Digital approaches to literacy among struggling readers in two Jamaican high schools. In A. Gajeswki (Ed.), Ethics, Equity, and Inclusive Education (IPIE). Bingley UK: Emerald.

Journal articles

  • Brubacher, K., & Kovinthan Levi, T. (2024). She Shuts Her English Channel in Her Brain: Racial and Linguistic Ordering during Kindergarten Practicums. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 80(2), 116–133.
  • Vanner, C., Kovinthan Levi, T., & Akseer, S. (2020). South Sudanese primary school textbooks: Transforming and reinforcing conflict. PROSPECTS, 48, 193-213.
  • Kovinthan Levi, T.  (2019). Preparing Pre-service Teachers to Teach Refugee Children. Alberta Journal of Education, 65 (Winter), 285-304.
  • Kovinthan Levi, T. (2019). Incremental Transformations: Education for Resiliency in Post-War Sri Lanka. Education Sciences, 9(1), 11.
  • Vanner, C., Akseer, S. & Kovinthan, T. (2016). Learning peace (and conflict): The role of primary learning materials in peacebuilding in post-war Afghanistan, South Sudan and Sri Lanka. Journal of Peace Education, 14(1), 32-53.
  • Kovinthan, T. (2016). Learning and teaching with loss: Meeting the needs of refugee children through narrative inquiry. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 10(3), 141-155.
  • Milley, P. & Kovinthan, T. (2014). Examining the research base on university cooperative education in light of the neoliberal challenge to liberal education. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 60(2), 377-402.

  • SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, SSHRC, 2022-2024.
  • Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC, 2015-2019.
  • Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, SSHRC, 2016.
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC, 2015-declined.