Educators Training Workshop:
Engaged Learning in the Community University: The Power of Radical Pedagogies
Hosted by TU Delft, the 1.5-day educators training workshop brought together educators, researchers, students, and community practitioners to explore the transformative potential of radical pedagogies and to co-create educational models for the wijkuniversiteit (neighbourhood university). Anchored in theoretical foundations such as Freire’s praxis, Haraway’s situated knowledges, feminist pedagogies, and critical spatial practices, the workshop aimed to challenge dominant academic hierarchies and reimagine the university as a socially responsive institution.
The programme combined reflection, embodied learning, and hands-on experimentation. On the first day, participants engaged in a walking dialogue through Delft West, guided by community actors. This situated exploration invited educators to step into the role of learners, experiencing the neighbourhood as an active classroom and encountering the socio-spatial realities shaping local educational needs. Day two centred on the design and prototyping of pop-up learning stations, temporary and mobile learning environments created to bring education into public space. Participants recorded conversations, sketches, and debates, which were later synthesised into AI-generated collective manifestos—articulating visions for community-engaged education and future iterations of the wijkuniversiteit.
The workshop culminated in a fishbowl dialogue and reflection session, allowing participants to critically consider how radical pedagogies can be embedded structurally within educational institutions. As highlighted in the TU Delft media publication on the workshop’s international resonance, the initiative offers a blueprint for rethinking how universities collaborate with communities, fostering reciprocity, inclusivity, and mutual learning.
Extra material