Submitted by Hanze University
Last month, the Leadership for Diversity Hanze UAS delegation, including senior lecturer-researchers Dr. Marcel van der Poel and Ms. Emily Lewis, visited a Gymnasium (secondary school) in Germany to deliver the pilot version of the LfD Professional Development Program. We were met by the head of the school, who kindly welcomed us and introduced us to the team of seven colleagues from two schools who had signed up for the pilot. The first half of the afternoon was spent on working through basic definitions related to diversity and inclusion in both an educational leadership and team context, including the Hopkins Diversity Wheel and the concept of intersectionality. After a short break of Kaffee und Kuchen, we continued with a discussion of the concepts of equality, equity and justice and rounded off with three case studies which encouraged the participants to consider microaggressions in a professional and educational setting.
The feedback we received was overall positive and constructive. Participants recognized the timeliness of the training; they confirmed that they are increasingly confronted with questions around D&I and that discussing it as a team is worthwhile. They appreciated the case studies the most and suggested a flipped order to the structure: start with the case studies to “reel the participants in”; then support this practical discussion with snippets of theory. Other small points of attention included the not-to-be underestimated element of language: the workshop was offered in English and the group was composed of mostly English teachers for this reason. In the future, all Leadership for Diversity training materials will be translated, removing this obstacle. Finally, while the time (three and a half hours, minus the break) was too short to cover all topics in the depth the trainers would have liked, it is recognized that arranging even such a short training to fit educators’ busy schedules is not easy. We appreciate the time we were given and enjoyed the session immensely.
