Reimagining Education for Equity

.Professor Poonam Batra and Amir Bazaz

What role does education play in achieving sustainable development goals? How can education drive transformative changes leading to environmentally and socially just societies? How can key stakeholders be involved in creating inclusive, equitable, and empowering learning environments that prepare individuals and communities for a rapidly changing world?

What's inside

Syllabus

Module 5: Gender, School, and Society: Perspective in Curricula, Pedagogy, and Educational Arrangements

Welcome to the Course

In this introductory module, you will learn a few important details about the course, including the objectives of this course, who the instructors and the course team are, as well as important information to navigate the course. You will also find a link to a Pre-Course Survey – please do fill this as it will help us get to know you better and prepare the course accordingly.

Module 1: Education Aims, Policy and Teachers: Evolution of Perspective, Measures, and Impact

In this module, you’ll become familiar with the development of the education system from Colonial India to Independent India and the continued impact of policy trajectories on school and teacher education. You will also have the opportunity to reflect on the potential role of teachers in achieving high-quality education.

Module 2: Childhood, Child, Curriculum, and Pedagogy: Evolution of Perspective, Practice, and Challenges

By the end of this module, you would develop some insight into how the concept of childhood evolved and how this understanding is critical to designing school curriculum and pedagogy. Engaging with the progression of the Right to Education Act would help in understanding how children’s rights are sought to be met in a plural and hierarchised society and how the role and accountability of the state is critical in safeguarding children's rights and their well-being.

Module 3: Teachers, Curriculum, and Pedagogy: Subject Content, Context and Interdisciplinarity

This module helps you recognise children as epistemic entities and the importance of encouraging children’s voice and agency in achieving their true potential. This module will assist you in cultivating capacities and dispositions to appreciate the diversity of children’s backgrounds and to integrate their lived experiences in the teaching-learning process.

Module 4: Education and Inclusion: Identity, Caste, Inequality, and Education

In this module, you will develop tools and capacities to understand, engage with and integrate diverse lived experiences of students in the teaching and learning process. You will be able to understand how formal schooling processes, communities, larger social and political contexts facilitate or hinder the inclusion of children in classrooms.You would also engage with ideas of decolonising school curriculum as part of a wider project of ‘decoloniality’ which implies dismantling relations of power and conceptions of knowledge that tend to reproduce hierarchies based on caste, gender, class, community, and region.

This module of the course offers you opportunities to reflect upon the nuanced and deep influence that socio-cultural structures of class, caste, and community have on gender and how classroom pedagogy can be reinvented to equip teachers to become sensitive and socially responsive to the unequal nature of gender and to seek transformative pedagogies.

Course Assessment and Conclusion

In this final module, you will get the opportunity to check your understanding of all that you've learnt so far with the graded assessment in the form of a multiple-choice questionnaire. You will also hear from our instructors on what they hope the ideal key takeaways are for you from this course. Finally, please fill in the Post-course Survey – this will help us understand your journey during the course and improve it to make learning more meaningful.

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Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Reimagining Education for Equity with these activities:

Read an introduction to social justice issues

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Establish a foundation in social justice issues to facilitate engagement with the course content.

Browse courses on Social Justice

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Find a book or article that provides an overview of social justice issues.
Read the selected material carefully, taking notes on key concepts and theories.
Reflect on the implications of social justice for education and society.

Explore online resources on sustainable development education

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Enhance understanding of the principles and practices of sustainable development education.

Browse courses on Sustainable Development

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Search for online courses, workshops, or webinars on sustainable development education.
Review the content and identify the most relevant resources for your needs.
Participate in the selected resources, actively engaging with the materials and discussions.

Volunteer at a local organization that promotes social justice

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Gain firsthand experience with the challenges and opportunities of working towards social justice.

Browse courses on Social Justice

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Identify a local organization that aligns with your interests and values.
Contact the organization and inquire about volunteer opportunities.
Attend a volunteer training or orientation.
Volunteer regularly and engage with the organization's mission and activities.

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Read and summarize a book on education policy

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Gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and challenges of education policy.

View Elusive Equity: Education Reform in Post... on Amazon

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Obtain a copy of the book.
Read the book carefully, taking notes and highlighting key concepts.
Write a summary of the book's main arguments and findings.

Analyze case studies of inclusive education

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Develop critical thinking skills and practical strategies for creating inclusive learning environments.

Browse courses on Inclusive Education

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Identify case studies that showcase diverse perspectives on inclusive education.
Read and analyze the case studies, paying attention to the challenges and successes described.
Develop recommendations for implementing inclusive practices in your own teaching context.

Attend a workshop on culturally responsive teaching

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Develop strategies and techniques for creating a classroom environment that is inclusive and responsive to the needs of diverse learners.

Browse courses on Culturally Responsive Teaching

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Identify and register for a workshop on culturally responsive teaching.
Attend the workshop and actively participate in the activities and discussions.
Implement the strategies and techniques learned in your own teaching context.

Facilitate a discussion group on a topic related to education and social justice

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Engage in critical dialogue and exchange ideas with peers on the role of education in promoting social justice.

Browse courses on Equity in Education

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Identify a group of peers who share your interests in education and social justice.
Choose a topic for discussion that is relevant to the course content.
Prepare some questions or discussion points to guide the conversation.
Facilitate the discussion, ensuring that all participants have the opportunity to share their perspectives.
Summarize the key points and insights that emerged from the discussion.

Design a lesson plan that incorporates principles of transformative education

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Apply transformative education principles to your own teaching practice, fostering critical thinking and empowerment among learners.

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Review the principles and practices of transformative education.
Identify a specific topic or skill that you want to teach using transformative approaches.
Develop a lesson plan that incorporates interactive activities, discussions, and reflective exercises.
Implement the lesson plan in your classroom and gather feedback from your students.
Reflect on the effectiveness of your lesson plan and make adjustments as needed.