Diversity and Inclusion in Education

The world of education has many pillars that are equally important but the acceptance of the human nature and the understanding of what it entails is probably the most basic one. We educate students so they can thrive in their profession at a later stage in their lives. We try to empower little brains to embrace their passion and enhance their skills. But we often forget the importance of diversity and inclusion, which are the basic secret of being human. There is no life without diversity and inclusive environments. So where do we start? Well, by ensuring that education is built strongly build upon these pillars, by promoting an inclusive education where all talents and preferences are properly addressed and nurtured. We address these pillars by ensuring that diversity is accepted as normal and something that should be integrated in all learning stages. Empowering educators with the necessary tools to embed these notions in their lessons is key. In this presentation we aim to show to the audience a few efforts we have been lately involved where we use the Universal Design for Learning, Design Thinking and STEAM methodologies to improve the competence profile of educators.

We are currently supporting educators from all over the world to cope with the contingencies brought by COVID-19. The lack of digital skills, the need for the integration of innovative methodologies in classroom and the openness of schools for the community they serve is not something new. The current pandemic just brought to light the urgent needs. We are combining components of projects like Reflecting for Change, InSteam, ASSESS, Polar Star and Global Science Opera for Schools to empower them with the necessary tools and resources. Teachers are being invited to rethink the way they present knowledge content, to avoid stereotypes, to embrace diversity as a normal part of their lessons and to ensure inclusion is present at every stage of their interaction with the students.  A summary of this effort will be presented in this talk.