Getting started in higher education with the ‘Woke and Resistance’ toolkit
Globally, more and more students are asking critical questions about the knowledge-theoretic basis of their education. They criticise the curriculum for being too one-sidedly based on a Western knowledge that they consider superior. This selective knowledge, they believe, insufficiently prepares them for living and working in a dynamic, pluralistic society and does not teach them enough about the possibilities of being able to contribute to a more just society. Students ask, for example: Why is my Curriculum White? And argue: No Democratisation without Decolonisation! Their criticism is often received with difficulty. Teachers, for instance, speak of ‘infringement of academic freedom’ and reject what they call ‘cancel-culture’. Internationally, the debate has risen so high that politicians are getting involved and discussing it in the (social) media.
In the NRO-Comenius-funded project Woke and Resistance (2022-2024), students and staff came together in seminars, dialogue afternoons and workshops, to see how they could translate difficult and abrasive issues into curriculum revision in fruitful and concrete ways, taking into account diverse views. The aim of the project was to inspire students and staff in higher education to shape addressing institutional racism, epistemic justice and decolonisation in fruitful and concrete ways.
Toolkit
The tool provides insight into examples of working methods, experiences and lessons learned from project. The project followed four phases that also form the roadmap for the toolkit:
- put educational change on the agenda;
- explore and design educational change;
- practise educational change;
- evaluate and share educational change.
In the toolkit, you will find for each phase an overview of the activities, a reflection of experiences and results, a short substantive deepening and an example of a concrete working form (tool). The toolkit is an open access document that can be downloaded and used free of charge.
Want more information? If so, please contact Caroline Suransky (project leader): c.suransky@uvh.nl
Read more about the project and download the toolkit
How can you fruitfully address complex issues such as institutional racism or decolonisation in education? A toolkit has now been published, with examples of working forms, experiences and lessons from the Woke and Resistance project.