Courageous
Conversations
ABOUT US
The Courageous Conversations Project attempts to elicit frank discourse on the subject of race, poverty and schooling, understanding that present day educational matters reside within the larger context of historical narratives. The project, coordinated by educational leaders in the United States and South Africa, is fueled by the courage of participants to be actors in uncharted territory. The participants are creating an "aspirational space" to motivate others to join in these conversations. This "space" bestrides the twin phenomena of race and poverty. The project attempts to unpack the social/capital inheritances of youngsters in South African and US schools and examine how these resources – or lack of resources – affect their schooling. The educational leaders involved have pledged to contribute to the project in the spirit of social change.
Project Coordinators
United States Dr. Arnold Dodge, LIU-Post
Arnold Dodge, Ph.D., is an associate professor of education at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, where he serves as the chairperson of the Department of Educational Leadership and Administration. Dr. Dodge is a former teacher, principal and superintendent. In his forty-seventh year in education, one of Dr. Dodge’s research interests focuses on the effects of high-stakes testing on schools. He has organized numerous forums on high-stakes testing including a major regional conference entitled, “High Stakes Testing: Consequences for Teaching and Learning.” He has also traveled extensively, visiting schools in China, Finland, Denmark, Cuba and South Africa. In South Africa, he coordinates a project which addresses race, poverty and schooling. He blogs for the Huffington Post and the LIPress and he recently hosted a radio program on LINEWS radio which focused on Long Island educational issues. In addition, he organized a symposium at LIU-Post entitled “The Persistence of the Racial Divide in Our Schools” which addressed race and school-related issues in South Africa and Long Island. His publications include journal articles on high stakes testing and a book chapter on race and poverty in the US and South Africa, co-authored with a colleague from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.
Project Coordinators
South Africa Dr. Berte van Wyk, Stellenbosch University
Berte van Wyk, PhD, is an associate professor and former chairperson of the Department of Education Policy Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He also served as the chairperson of the Caribbean and African Studies in Education special interest group of the American Education Research Association from 2015-2017.
His research interests focus on African philosophy, higher education, and institutional culture. On African philosophy: he has published on several areas such as the African university, the future of university research in Africa, the curriculum in an African context, and reconstruction of indigenous epistemologies.
He co-edited a book entitled, “Indigenous Concepts of Education: Toward Elevating Humanity for All Learners” with Dr D Adeniji-Neill in 2014. On higher education, his research focuses on the form and direction which higher education should take to transform, and what new approaches and relevant paradigms are worth pursuing.
Relevant publications here relate to: political consciousness, affirmative action, the transformation of university teaching and learning, democracy, and social justice. Lastly, institutional culture is an under-studied concept, and his research focuses on the cultures of typologies of higher education institutions (traditional universities, universities of technology and comprehensive universities) in South Africa, and cultural change.