United Nations Will Host Online Discussion and Workshop on Educating against Racism, 29 October
The United Nations will host a workshop and discussion entitled “Educating against Racism” on 29 October at 10 a.m. EDT. The programme will explore how education and educators can challenge racism and prejudice - legacies of histories of oppression, atrocity crimes and genocide. The programme will illustrate how teachers might facilitate difficult conversations about identity, discrimination, racism and prejudice, and support students to respond with empathy and action.
Organized by the Department of Global Communications, the workshop component of the programme will introduce Stories that Move – Toolbox against Discrimination, an interactive online resource for educators and learners. Through incorporating the personal stories of other young people affected by historical or contemporary expressions of prejudice and racism, Stories that Move – Toolbox against Discrimination challenges learners to reflect on the choices they themselves make when faced with inequality and hate. It aims to move young people to empathy for others, to gain new perspectives, and to contribute to change. The workshop will illustrate how visible thinking methods and blended learning can support educators to be inclusive when discussing diversity and discrimination.
Karen Polak, senior staff member at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and international coordinator of Stories that Move: Toolbox against Discrimination will facilitate the workshop. The programme will be moderated by Tracey Petersen of the Outreach Division, Department of Global Communications.
“Educating against Racism” is the second episode of the online discussion series “Beyond the Long Shadows: Engaging with Difficult Histories” organized jointly by the mandated outreach programmes of the Department of Global Communications on the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, the Holocaust, and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The aim of the collaborative series is to develop a deeper understanding of the legacies of these painful histories – and through examining the past, consider how best to build a world that is just, where all can live in dignity and peace. To learn more about the series, please visit: https://www.un.org/en/engaging-with-difficult-histories.
Stories that Move: Toolbox against Discrimination is an initiative of the Anne Frank House in collaboration with partners in six countries and supported by the European Commission and the EVZ Foundation. It is a 2020 World Summit Award national nominee and was awarded the Comenius EduMedia Medal for teaching materials in 2018. For information about Stories that Move, please visit: https://www.storiesthatmove.org/en/home/.
The event is open to the public. Please register to attend the event here: https://bit.ly/3mfUesx.
Media contacts:
United Nations Education Outreach Section: Tracey Petersen, email: petersen3@un.org.
Anne Frank House and Stories that Move: Karen Polak, email: K.Polak@annefrank.nl.