Pedagogical Lab: An Act of Re-imagination and Reclamation of what matters in education

This lab is a journey into tracing and searching for emerging as well as long-existing pathways and pedagogical practices; it is concerned with the theory and practice of education. The lab employs theory and practice simultaneously, where theories on educational and communal practices are not just searched for and discussed but also tested, and sometimes are brought to life through the experiment itself of being together in the lab.

The lab is a collective exploration into how we can re-imagine, re-create “alternative” “education” models/spaces/communities, be it basic or higher education spaces. It is an attempt to “reclaim” our “indigenous wisdom” and find it within ourselves and our personal stories first. What does the “alternative” means, and “alternative” to what? How can education be our pathway for “emancipation”? How can stories from our lives as well as from different parts of the world help us create the meanings and forms we need for “education’? We question the roles and performances involved in any “education” process like that of “teacher” and “student” all throughout.

This lab is inspired by many traditions and practices from different parts of the world, namely self-directed and democratic education practices, emancipatory and critical pedagogy, art-based as well as place-based education practices. We try to use the space of the lab to experiment with, reclaim and live what we think education should look like, much more than talk about it.

The lab will be a work of ritual and risk. As a collective participating in this journey, we will create some rituals to provide a safe container for our explorations. Additionally, we will create a brave container to venture into many risks of collective explorations, questioning and re-imaginations.

During the journey of the pedagogical lab, participants are invited to experience the following:

co-design the course with the main facilitator based on the collective intentions, inquiries, and experiences of everyone involved. This will include co-designing the learning “outcomes”, flow of the course, what “success” means for us in this course and how we would like to “reflect”, “evaluate” and “celebrate” ourselves

shift roles between a student and a teacher intentionally, experiencing mutual discovery from a different end

engage with ideas, concepts and stories of “alternative education” places or communities that currently exist or have existed throughout history in different parts of the world

trace and question the pedagogical theory and practices informing the emergence of different alternative education places/communities

meet with, interview (sometimes in person and sometimes through Skype) pioneers in the “alternative education” movement across the world, mostly from the so-called Global South

embark on a collective journey of “healing” our “traumas” in and from education and open new portals of “re-imagining” the spaces where “education” can happen

share our own stories and experiences in relation to what is “alternative”, “de-colonial”, “emancipatory”, “cooperative” , “re-imaginative”

involve in a dialectical process of theory and experimentation where we apply bits and pieces of what we learn about, onto the model of CILAS Alexandria, as an “alternative education model”, observe and reflect on our applications

have individual and collective outputs from the journey that could span multiple mediums like journal keeping, drawings, audio recordings, with the purpose of documenting our collective journey, our reflections and our “trials” to make sense of it all

engage all the senses in learning be it the mind, body, or heart

learn through different mediums like readings, folktales, story-sharing, walking, conversations, food-sharing (taghmees), art-making and embodiments