Centre of Expertise Urban Education: the struggle for equal opportunities
Where you were born, the profession of your parents, whether or not you are fed healthy food during infancy, what school you go to: all factors that affect the opportunities you get later in life. Or don’t get. The chances to get ahead in life are not distributed equally among young people. It is a complicated problem with many underlying causes and far reaching consequences. Solving it will take a long time and a lot of effort.
In the Centre of Expertise ‘Urban Education’, several lectorates and domains of the HvA/AUAS have joined forces. Together with other professionals in the city, they make up a knowledge network. Urban Education defines and performs various research projects into urgent, social issues that affect children. The objective is to find pragmatic solutions that can be quickly implemented.
Bourne wrote the CoE manifest, stating what the Centre is and what it stands for. Next we came up with ideas to bring the Centre to life. Ideas that brought together the very different target groups, to discuss the issue of inequal opportunities and conceive possible solutions. From a webshop where everyone can find the research projects and practical tools, developed by the Centre, to a podcast about youngsters with limited opportunities, a Wall of Fame in the HvA-building to showcase the people and the solutions they contributed and meetings with an inspiring agenda for both fellow citizens and the media.