Brief report on the kick-off event Teacher Education, Schools, and Racism Research

Brief report on the kick-off event Teacher Education, Schools, and Racism Research

The kick-off event “Teacher Education, Schools, and Racism Research – What Brings Us Together?” in May 2023 was dedicated to examining and linking the different starting points, concerns, and perspectives from the fields of research, educational practice, and education policy. In addition to an official presentation of the junior research groups KoNIR (Continuities and New Formations of Institutional Racism in Schools) and GraL (Conditions for Successful Racism-Sensitive Teacher Education), the following questions were discussed in various formats:

·       What brings us together and what constitutes such a “we”?

·       Where do we stand in research, in schools, and in teacher education?

·       What gaps, (interpretative) struggles, or even resistance in the context of racist conditions are apparent?

·       What common or even different, contradictory concerns can be identified?

·       What visions are being articulated?

After a welcome address by Till-Sebastian Idel and a brief presentation of an awareness program for the event, the two project leaders of the junior research groups, Saphira Shure and Anja Steinbach, outlined the next items on the agenda. The project coordinators of the two junior research groups, Natascha Khakpour and Magnus Frank, introduced the two keynote speakers and honored their essential work in critical racism research. In her keynote speech, Yasemin Karakaşoğlu emphasized, among other things, that science is closely linked to processes of social transformation and that recognition-programmatic approaches are also necessary for current racism research. With this in mind, Paul Mecheril emphasized how an education system for foreigners - projected onto the past - still continues to exert its influence in the present. In his analytical description of ‘order’ as a category of knowledge in research of Critical Race Theory and migration education research, he highlighted the question of what the normative category of these fields of research can be and raised the question of emancipation.

This thematic focus and the related questions about the constitution of an “we” and the accompanying (interpretative) struggles, gaps, and points of connection were discussed with all participants on day two in an interactive poster session in which the junior research groups and individual project staff presented their projects. The kick-off event concluded with a panel discussion with Lena Nzume (member of the Lower Saxony state parliament for the Green Party), Ahmet Atasoy (state coordinator of the Network of Teachers for Immigration History), Ramses Oueslati-Scheel (education officer), Saphira Shure (GraL), and Anja Steinbach (KoNIR) and moderated by Meltem Kulaçatan (University of Oldenburg). To facilitate an interactive exchange with the participants of the kick-off event, a “fishbowl” discussion format was used for this part of the program  and was well received. 

The event ended with a reflection by Nicolle Pfaff (University of Duisburg-Essen), who once again highlighted the significant achievements of racism research and racism critical/Critical Race Theory perspectives to date, while also pointing out the gaps and unmet needs that still exist in this context. This reflection aptly traced the central themes of the days spent together. 

The joint kick-off event of the junior research groups concluded with many ideas for further collaboration and networking.

KoNIR and GraL will continue to explore many of the questions and topics in their respective and joint work.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all those involved!

The GraL team