Session 4: Diversity in Education

Our fourth event, Diversity in Education, examined how the (Dutch) education system instantiates and perpetuates inequalities, from primary school, to higher education. The event featured a talk from Dr. Marieke Slootman, followed by a workshop led by Naomi Halfhide and Youssra El Ballaj from the organization Diversity Talks. 

What is inclusive education? Dr. Slootman will touch upon the various aspects of diversity in education, based on the report of the 2016 UvA Diversity Commission (chaired by Gloria Wekker) and her current work on EDI in Education. Together, we discussed what inclusive education means for students and teachers, in offline but also in online classrooms – which is a pregnant, but still largely underexamined issue.

Following Dr. Slootman’s talk, Naomi Halfhide and Youssra El Ballaj from Diversity Talks lead a workshop on diversity and inequality manifested in the Dutch Education system. The first part of the workshop consisted of information about primary and high school, while the second part of the workshop focussed on higher education. The workshop showed how the system is shaped and constructed to increase inequality, leaving no room for diversity, inclusion or justice. Some things that were focused on are tutoring culture, street culture and inclusive intelligence.

Dr. Marieke Slootman, in her roles as Diversity Officer Education at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Assistant Professor at the VU Sociology Department, is closely engaged with the theme of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in education, both as a researcher and as a policy maker. As vice-chair of the Diversity Commission – chaired by prof. Gloria Wekker – she researched Diversity and Inclusion at UvA in 2016, and developed a belonging survey to study experiences of in- and exclusion. She contributed to the development of the VU Mixed Classroom Educational model, which is increasingly being adopted in- and outside VU.

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Naomi Halfhide is a 23 year old student living in Amsterdam. She is currently completing the Conflict Resolution and Governance at the University of Amsterdam. Since August 2020, she has been an active member of Diversity Talks and is involved in the development and implementation of the project Inspire to Aspire. She will discuss this project during the workshop too!

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Youssra El Ballaj is a 22-year-old student living in Hoorn. Currently, she is pursuing a Master in Business Analytics at Northumbria University. Next to her studies, she is a board member of Diversity Talks, serving as Events Committee President.