An interactive workshop with Dr. Wajeehah Aayeshah (HI Visiting Fellow & University of Melbourne) on ‘Designing Kind Educational Practices’ at the Humanities Institute on Thursday, 9 May at 1 pm (H204 / seminar room, top floor)
Abstract
In this workshop, we will explore and develop our understanding of the shape of kindness in educational settings. Students, as fellow educators, will be required to reflect on their experiences and practices of kindness. This reflection will contribute to a discussion about pragmatically embedding kindness in everyday educational life. For this, we are going to use a ‘Framework of kindness’.
Grounded in pedagogy of kindness (Denial 2019), this framework takes the immersive practices of ‘decolonisation of education’ (Brown, Kelada, & Jones 2020) and the idea of ‘Restorative Practice’ (Morisson 2015) and applies it to all relationships within the academia, and not just that of teachers and students. In the framework of Kindness, ‘decolonised restorative practice’ needs to be implemented in the whole academic eco-system.
The ‘Framework of Kindness’ is based on real-life examples of students and staff in higher educational settings. I am calling these settings, ‘pockets of healing’. To offer an education which is ‘inclusive’, ‘recognises prior knowledge’, ‘cultural capital’, and considers different needs of participants, and partners, we need to create eco-systems within academia that are kind. The Framework of Kindness in academia is a step to do so. It does this by acknowledging the challenging aspects of our eco-system and identifying ‘pockets of healing’ where positive change is gradually happening. I hope that this workshop itself will be considered as a ‘pocket of healing’ as well.