Decolonization of Curriculums in Secondary School

ongoing

Decolonizing Curriculums in Secondary School (DECUS) aims to empower Secondary School teachers in employing decolonizing methodologies to foster inclusive learning environments, through the support of experts in diversity and education. Three secondary schools in Belgium, Greece, Italy, will work in international teams with the support of an ENGO and NGO expert in inclusion as well as a University team from the educational sciences department. The partnership will look at the influence of past and present power dynamics on knowledge creation and dissemination, in order to foster teachers' soft skills and improve their lesson plans, syllabi as well as their practices. By employing a participatory approach and decolonisation methodologies, DECUS aims to empower teachers with critical reflection, dismantling hidden biases, fostering global competence, and a growth mindset, promote the richness of cultural diversity while addressing the roots of historical discriminations that still reflect mainstream narrations in curricula. The follow key activities will be implemented: - Training: informed by a literature mapping and survey, the training will be open to all European teachers to instruct them about decolonising practices in the classroom - Co-creation of lesson plans by international teams of teachers, supported by mentors. Teachers will test decolonizing methodologies and lessons plans in the classroom and assess the impact - School Decolonization Conference in presence, gathering key educational stakeholders through call for papers and best practices. - Viral social media campaign to attract the attention on common historical bias and prejudices that are often reproduced in class, and best practices to address them. The following project results will be produced: an online open source collection of materials, a toolkit for guiding educators in understanding, a collection of lesson plans to be replicated, and conference proceedings with meaningful contributions.