548 Educators providing Courses in London

Decolonise The Curriculum

decolonise the curriculum

London

Decolonizing the Curriculum Project (DCP) at UoK (funded by Teaching Enhancement Award and led by Dr Suhraiya Jivraj, Senior Lecturer in Law) Students are increasingly demanding a ‘liberated curriculum’ that represents their diversity as we see from #liberatemydegree, ‘Why is My Curriculum White?’ and other movements mentioned above as well as Kent Student Union campaign ‘Diversify My Curriculum’. Also at UoK law and politics students on the Race, Religion and Law module (convened by Dr Suhraiya Jivraj) have relished the opportunity both in workshops and through their assessment to explore both historical and contemporary issues that enable them to acquire ‘consciousness of their own position and struggle’ in society and education. The UoK EDI Project phase II strategy acknowledges this need in affirming that the ‘white curriculum acts as a barrier to inclusivity’ including because ‘it fails to legitimise contributions to knowledge from people of colour’. Phase II therefore seeks to ensure that ‘our curriculum reflects and addresses a range of perspectives’ and asks how this can be operationalised specifically at UoK. Modules like RRL and others in KLS are already operationalising a more inclusive curriculum requiring students to engage with key works from critical race/religion and decolonial studies which offer alternative perspectives to those heteronormative and euro-centric perspectives of white, able-bodied men dominating the western canon. This project will go one significant step further by placing students of colour as well as knowledge produced by people of colour at the centre. Being a student led project is crucial as it empowers them to become change actors and co-producers of knowledge, shaping the agenda and curriculum that seeks to include them. Moreover, it enables them to be ‘assets’ rather than see themselves represented as quantitative data in University diversity reports which does not capture the nuance and complexity of their lived realities. Empowerment for self-determination at the grassroots level is key as is apparent from student led movements that have already effected change in the curriculum. The desire for self and culturally intelligible knowledge is now well documented including in the University of Kent, Student Success (EDI) Project, Phase I:Report 2 ‘Theory and research on race and attainment in UK higher education’ by Hensby and Mitton (2017). This project seeks to operationalise this further and more broadly through the following three interlinked activities: 1) Focus groups: · Up to five stage 3 students will lead focus groups of five to ten BAME students from across the KLS UG programme. · The focus group leaders will form a research team and design the format and questions collaboratively, under the supervision of Dr Jivraj, using naturalistic methods and going through the KLS ethics approval process. 2) Publication of findings: · The data from the focus groups will be collated by the research team and will produce an accessible output such as a ‘manifesto of suggestions’ on making the curriculum more inclusive and a co-authored e-book. · The research team will also be supported in publishing findings via a blog and social media. 3) Student led conference · The workshop committee will organise a half day student led conference to discuss the findings and invite speakers from campaigns such as the NUS #liberatemydegree campaign; Why is My Curriculum White? (based at UCL); Decolonising our Minds SOAS; and the #Rhodesmustfall student movements and at least one academic speaker. Watch this space for further details.

Enfield Turkish Cypriot Association

enfield turkish cypriot association

London

ETCA is an organisation which grew from modest beginnings. In 1991 A few Turkish Cypriots in Enfield, had the vision or creating an association to serve Enfield's subs~antial, but voiceless Turkish Cypriot population by providing and facilitating access to, appropriate services sensitive to their culture, language and religion. In October 1994 a steering committee was elected and completed all the groundwork for the organisation's inaugural Annual General Meeting. At this meeting, held in January oj 1995, the organisation elected its first Management Committee and ratified its constitution. Since those early days, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, initiating and operating voluntary prf!jects in many key areas including Elders provision, Education, Health!nformation &Advice, Youth & Sports. In May 1996 a new Management Committee was elected. They continued the organisation's development, consolidating' ETCA's existing projects, initiating new ones. They" secured much needed self contained office space, for the expanded organisation, in Community House. The Association also achieved its first substantial grant funding from the National Lottery Charities Board for the Health Project, followed shortly by a grant for an Education consortium bringing together nearly all the Turkish Schools in Enfield. Throughout 1997 & 1998 the organisati'ln continued to increase its capacity to help more Turkish Cypriots in more ways. ETCA launched a Women's Group, extended the Sports project to incorporate two new youth football teams and a Table Tennis team and initiated the much needed Home Careproject. Today the organisation provides support, advice and help for thousands of Turkish Cypriots within Enfield and is subsequently one of England's biggest and most effective organisation in its field of work. Last year Lejke Elders Project was launched together with the Homelessness Project, Sure Start Project and Day Respite Service Project. ETCA, 1991 yılındaki mütevazi bir başlangıçtan bugünlere gelen bir örgüttür. Enfield'de bir kaç Kıbrıslı Türk, Enfield'in sayıca çok ama sesi pek duyulmayan Kıbrıslı Türk nüfüsun kültürüne, dil ve dinine uygun hizmetleri sağlamaya ya da bu hizmetlere ulaşmanın yollarını bulmaya yardımcı olacak bir dernek yaratma düşüncesindeydiler. Ekim 1994'te bir kurucu komite seçildive örgütün kurucu kongresi için bütün ön çalışmaları tamamladı. Ocak1995'te yapılan bu kongrede örgüt ilk Yönetim Kurulunu seçti ve tüzüğünü onayladı. O günlerden bu yana örgüt, Yaşlılara Hizmet, Eğitim, Sağlık, Bilgi ve Danışma, Gençlik ve Spor da dahil olmak üzere birçok temel alanada gönüllü projeler başlatıp işleterek güç kazandı. Mayıs 1996'da yeni bir Yönetim Kurulu seçildi.Y eniYönetim Kurulu örgütün gelişmesi, ETCA'nın varolan projelerinin sağlamlaştırılması ve yeni projelerin başlatılmasi çalışmalarına devam etti. Toplum Evi'nde ( CommunityHouse) artık genişlemiş olan örgütün çok ihtiyaç duyduğu, kendine ait bir ofis sağladl. Dernek ayrıca Milli Piyango Vakıflar Kurumu'ndan Sağlık Projesi i!çin ilk büyük mali yardımı almayı başardı. Bunu kısa süre sonra Enfield'deki Türk Okullarının hemen hemen hepsini biraraya getiren Eğitim Konsorsiyumu yardımı izledi. 1998'de örgüt, kadın projesini başlatarak, spor projesini iki yeni futbol takımı ve bir masa tenisi takımını kapsayacak şekilde genişleterek ve dört gözle beklenen Evde- Bakım projesine girişerek gücüne güç katmaya, saygınlıgını artırmaya devam etti. Bügün dernek, belediye sınırları içinde binlerce Kıbrıslı Tiürk'e destek, danışma ve yardım sağlayan,kendi alanında ingiltere'nin en büyük ve en etkin kuruluşlarından biridir. Geçtiğimiz dönemde 'Lefke ve Bölgesi Yaşlılarevi' projesini hayata geçiren ETCA, ayrıca evsizler, 0-4 yaş arası çocuğu olan anneler veya hamile kadınlar ve ailesinden birisine bakmakta olan kimselere manevi destek sağlayan kişilere destek veren projeleri de hayata geçirmiştir.