This call is targeted at potential contributors for the learning material, and delivery of the various components of the summer school. The call sets out the key components of the summer school comprising the public lecture, group discussions, lectures, case studies, social events, and learning walk-shops. It further details the schedule for the summer school delivery, the expectations on the facilitators, and how to submit an expression to be a facilitator.

1   Components of the summer school

1.1   Public lectures

PL01: The public lecture will be employed for educating the participants in particular, and the public in general, on the concepts around decolonizing knowledge and learning systems. In this year’s event, the public lecture is on the Decolonizing Knowledge and Learning Systems in the Global South.

1.2   Group discussions

These are creative and dynamic unstructured interactions among participants of the summer school. Often, the thoughts of individuals in the group are influenced by the views and opinions of the other participants. In the summer school, these discussions will be used as an approach to enhance thought leadership among the participants. The target discussion sessions will include:

• GD01 – Topical working group discussions: The concept of decolonising knowledge and learning systems, would contribute to transformation of learning and knowledge systems through contextualisation and relevance. These sessions will be developed to allow participants identify topical issues relevant to the summer school, in the context of the participants. What stands out for the participants, as key areas to explore based on their experience that would be considered a strategic topic. The facilitators for these sessions, would need to propose an approach that gets the objective outcome on the topical aspects of the summer school, while creating cross-learning opportunities.
• GD01 – Identifying cross-cutting clusters and champions on decolonising knowledge and learning systems: In this discussions, the facilitators will prepare a group discussion approach that would allow the participants to identify strategic issues that may be clustered, and eventually contribute to a plan, for the final participant run conference.
• GD03 – Group exercise on role of different practices and languages in decolonizing learning systems: The participants of the summer school will comprise of various backgrounds, and professions. In this group exercise, the facilitators would need to propose an approach that allows the participants to experience the value of their diversified languages, including how to utilize the diversity in practices and languages for sustainability.
• GD04 – Participants’ conference preparation: The facilitators for participants’ conference preparation group discussions will be required to propose approaches that allow the participants’ run discussions, to evolve into innovative and creative outputs based on the identified themes in GD02, and informed through topical discussions from
  

1.3  Lectures

Lectures are oral presentations intended to provide conceptual perspectives to inform, teach or enhance the general knowledge of the participants on various aspects of sustainability, decoloniality, and research. This year’s lectures will include:

• LEC01 – Knowledge production, hegemony in publication practices, and non-differentiated funding systems: Knowledge production is the global south has informed by practices from the global north from the colonial era. However, there has been call to decolonize education in post-colonial countries across Africa. The scholars of decolonialising education advocate for looking through the lens of students of different nationalities across Africa, their perspectives on approaches to the actualization of a decolonized curriculum, and the applicability of technology in education. There is also a growing need for co-production at different levels attending to dominant inequalities for a utopian approach.
• LEC02 – Institutionalization of theories and methods: Institutional theories and methods introduce a unique approach that links the social economic and political dynamics. Both formal and informal institutions form the rules and games within the society for example a family setting, private sector and the government. These are devoid of power and sometimes individuals are assumed to accept and follow social norms unquestioningly, without any real reflection or behavioral resistance based on their own particular, personal interests. Direct dialogue and negotiation are some of the perspectives that influence institutional theories and need to be incorporated in a fair, open and inclusive manner for sustainable rules and game within the society including knowledge and learning systems.
• LEC03 – Dichotomy of knowledge system contexts: privilege, elitisms, inequalities and power: There are different ways of approaching dichotomies of learning and knowledge and the most common is looking at it in terms of theory and practice. Theory - traditionally represents a kind of knowledge that is the generalized distillation of observations for the purpose of explaining other observations; its principal purpose lies in the constant perfection of its own explanatory power. Theoretical knowledge is rated by how well it explains as wide a range of phenomena as possible. By contrast practice -, is conventionally predicated on a more instrumental conception of knowledge; it represents knowledge that helps to accomplish things, and that proves its worth by how well it does help to accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished, and therefore by how closely it corresponds to the particulars of a given problem situation. Through theory, practice and experience there are always dynamics with respect to power and inequalities within gender, minority groups and/or indigenous communities just to name a few. Therefore, dialogues around these need to be continues in order to improve the knowledge systems.
• LEC04 – Scholarly activism towards challenging dominant and incumbent power within knowledge and learning systems: The role of academia, and how it integrates to ‘real’ life (society and economies), is based on the fact that knowledge (re)production, translation, and processing, needs to influence and impact decision making and create social justice. This lecture will explore how the influences, can challenge the dominant realities is foregrounded in indigenous knowledge and integrated international worldviews.
• LEC05 – Contextualizing curricula, learning materials, practices and languages for learning: Language is a key concept in production of knowledge that should be considered within production of learning materials, curricula and practices. Some researchers have found that “that decolonising education for students means addressing past injustices and marginalisation by valuing and leveraging indigenous languages and culture, while incorporating relevant and cost-effective technology”. Having different dorminant indeginous languages in the global south incorporating them within the learning and knowledge systems will reach a wider audience in the wake of contextualization. Therefore, some scholars through employing bothe qualitative research methods and transformative Learning Theory recommend that decolonisation ought to involve global initiatives from the perspectives of young people, where education is foregrounded in indigenous knowledge and integrated international worldviews.

Case studies

Case studies are presented as real-life examples to demonstrate the actual validity of the conceptual lectures presented. The case studies will need to be context specific, and be framed and anchored on specific concepts, including how the case defined the concept, how it was applied, and the output and outcome of the application. Specifically, the case studies will be associated with documented and validated ‘stories’, that the participants may refer to, in their preparation for their conference (i.e., GD04), and be learning references after the summer school in their different contexts. Case studies are invited on:

• CS01: Examples and Case studies decolonization of publication practices, and non-differentiated funding systems
• CS02: Case studies Building a road to recovery for subtle “coloniality” in curriculum development and delivery
• CS03: Case study on application and implications of scholarly activism
• CS04: Decolonisation and sustainable development a critical approach

1.4  Walk-shops.

The participants will embrace outdoor informative sessions, initiated by short introductory lectures, and developed through discussions among the participants, to explore the topics further. There will be two rather informal walk-shops, changing the learning environment, and propagating the concepts of decolonizing methods through:

• WLK01 - Articulating teaching practices, and emerging techniques in higher learning systems: The walk-shop will provide a reflection on how decolonizing techniques including digital menthods would contribute to the transformation of higher learning systems. Specifically, what decolonized techniques would mean to different groups and impact on learning and knowledge systems.
• WLK02 – Collective imaginaries: In this walk-shop, a set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols through which people imagine their social whole is considered, and how these imaginations influence the knowledge and learning systems they are involved with, and the outcome of such involvement.

1.5   Events

These events will be ab opportunity for the participants to interact with other practitioners, academicians, and stakeholders in the decolonizing sustainability research towards transformation. The events will include both informal and formal setting, to encourage the involvement of the participants in a broader context. Facilitators are invited to innovate in delivery of the events that would achieve the objectives (i.e., external interaction of participants with thought leaders in decolonizing sustainability research) in four events:

• EVF 01 - Informal: ACTS Annual Soccer Tournament
• EVF 02 - Informal: Cultural evening to appreciate the multiplicity of sociocultural dynamics to sustainability.
• EVF 03 - Formal: Multidimensionality of knowledge production (data synthesis, institutionalization; learning and knowledge systems) Participants’ Conference: The participants present.
• EVF 04 - Formal: Multidimensionality of knowledge production Virtual Webinar drawing in lessons for the Summer School as part of the decolonization of knowledge and learning systems in the Global South Year Webinar Series

2       Expectations from facilitators

The facilitators will be expected to contribute to four main outputs, interlinked, and in relation across the sessions. All the deliverables from the facilitators will be synchronized by the summer school coordinator, and will include the following material (from each facilitator):

1. Development of learning material: The learning will include collection of materials and resources that the facilitator will use in teaching and contribute to achieving desired learning objectives for the various sessions.
2. Contributing to the training manual: The learning material will be collated into an edited manual, and published as part of the ‘take-home’ material for the participants. The facilitators will be expected to contribute to the review of the manual, and aligning their various sessions’ learning material across the other sessions.
3. Delivering the sessions: Based on the agreed models, the facilitators will be expected to deliver the module session to the participants.
4. Sharing a brief report/evaluation of the summer school: After the summer school, the facilitators will be expected to provide a brief reflection on the experiences for delivering the summer school.

3   Schedule of the summer school

The summer school is scheduled to run between Friday 21^st - Saturday 29^th October 2022

ACTS Summer School 2022 Schedule

 

4   Submitting an expression

4.1   Expression of interest

Facilitators wishing to be considered to be part of the training team, are required to submit an expression of interest with the following components:

• Understanding of the session: Identify session(s) as per the key components of the summer school, and provide a brief explanation on your understanding of the session (less than 200 words).
• Brief on the approach to deliver the session: Provide a brief explanation on how you would propose to deliver the selected session(s). This could include the mode of delivery (e.g., in-person, remotely, blended etc), the general approach, and the expected outputs/outcomes of the session (in less than 500 words).
• Reference material or experience on the session or theme: Provide attachments/links to reference material that you have developed or delivered aligned to the selected session(s).
• Brief profile: Provide your brief profile/resume summarising your qualifications, experiences and focal areas in your career (less than 500 words). This profile may be published as part of the facilitators’ portfolio for the summer school.

Expressions of interested can be submitted through this portal.

4.2   Timeline

• Expression of interest to facilitate received 7^th September 2022
• Communication on the accepted expressions of interest 20^th  September 2022
• Submission of learning material 30^th September 2022
• Final contributions to the training manual 07^th October 2022
• Delivery of the summer school 21^st to 29^th October 2022
• Brief evaluation report 31^st October 2022

4.3   Inquiries and queries

For any inquiries, and queries, please reach out to the summer school coordinator Joel Onyango via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Maureen Kabasa via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..