Building Readiness for College, Career, and Civic Life
Welcome to The Ferdinand Centre
The Ferdinand Centre for Education for Social Justice focuses on action research to create need-based solutions for improving the quality of education, especially for learners from disadvantaged communities.
Quality education is the unalienable right of every student and the means to social justice. Research around the world shows that every student is capable of achieving excellence.
Every student has the right to an education that provides the opportunities and learning support necessary to attain that excellence. Research has also demonstrated that educational contexts build student agency when they use interactive, inquiry-based pedagogies.
There is a critical need to determine how to use these pedagogies in India to develop key 21st Century capacities, empowering students to participate productively in higher education, in their careers, and in civic life.
It is also critically important to help existing school systems evolve to provide this education.
We work with teachers to think deeply about what teachers must know and be able to do. Our small team collaborates with teachers to produce resources that will lead to an inquiry-focused classroom.
We partner with educational institutions to design initiatives to move towards this type of education.
We work with students at different levels to design and facilitate courses and learning experiences in a variety of contexts in Secondary School as well as in higher education programs.
Our Work
Building Agency for Engaged Citizenship
Our Work with Students:
TFC is focused on understanding what learning opportunities and what curriculum would build agency and empower students who are about to complete school or are just entering college. We seek to help students become engaged citizens, equipped to interact confidently and positively in their lives after school, in college, career, and civic life. We design and pilot courses based on student need, in both Secondary school and in college.
Our Work with Teacher Educators and Teachers:
Building a Rigorous Foundation in Social Science subjects
TFC is engaged in determining how to prepare teachers to provide a rigorous foundation in social science subjects in the Delhi Government School System, focusing on Classes 6 to 10. The Social Science subjects - History, Geography and Social and Political Life - provide a rich learning ground for students to make sense of the complex realities that they face every day and to develop a social justice lens to do this. The group of Social Science Mentor teachers we have worked with for the past 3 years has evolved into a motivated professional learning community that meets regularly to discuss complex issues in Social Science and Social Life.
Creating Resources that Work in Indian Classrooms
TFC does continuous Action Research to create resources that are evidence based and effective in Indian Classrooms. We concentrate on developing need-based classroom materials and teacher guides tailored for indian classrooms while also engaging with cutting-edge research and innovations from around the world.