Motivation
The current curriculum of the Philosophy and Religious Studies programmes is still dominated by white, male thinkers, which means that other ideas are unjustly marginalised. However, making the curriculum more diverse and inclusive requires more than 'simply' adding perspectives. How can the structure of a study programme be critically questioned and revised so that the curriculum can become diverse?
The increasingly complex social issues require different perspectives. The one-sided view from which study programmes are designed does not prepare enough for this. Moreover, it has a negative impact on the accessibility of education for students whose identity deviates from the norm. A more diverse educational programme is therefore of great importance, but by adding female, postcolonial or non-Western ideas to the canon, for example, this has not yet been achieved.
Desired solution
In her voucher project, Katrine Smiet wants to set up a pilot to increase inclusion and diversity in the philosophy and religious studies curriculum of the first bachelor's year. Her starting point is the concept of 'unlearning'. This means that all assumptions and starting positions that shape current education are questioned and, if necessary, changed. In order to structurally implement unlearning in education, she is developing workshops with students and staff for her voucher project, the results of which contribute to a so-called roadmap. This will enable further diversification of education to be initiated.
Action plan
Together with students, lecturers and policy officers involved in the first bachelor's year of Philosophy and Religion, Politics and Society, Katrine is setting up a three-day 'future creating workshop'. Together, they take a closer look at the first year of the Bachelor's programme in terms of diversity and inclusivity. The workshop consists of three phases: the critique/reflection phase, in which the status quo is first explored. This is followed by the utopian phase, in which out-of-the-box ideas for possible solutions are gained. Finally, there is the implementation phase, in which those ideas are transformed into concrete solutions to diversify the curriculum.
