Background

The lessons in “Mandela Global Human Rights: Peace, Reconciliation and Responsibility: A Teacher Guide and Lessons for Educators,” have been written with a human rights lens by Ontario educators and school leaders for primary/ junior and intermediate/ senior divisions and South African Visiting Scholar to Brock University, Dr. Oscar Koopman. Curriculum subject areas that are addressed are the humanities, gender studies, social studies, civics, political science, world studies, geography, history, creative writing, language arts, and visual arts. Contributors are members and collaborators of the Teaching Nelson Mandela Curriculum Project. Their outputs were developed in support of an educational partnership between Brock University and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Parts of this publication were made possible through support from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Contributors

Dolana Mogadime, Ph.D., Project Lead 

Dolana Mogadime, Ph.D. is the inaugural Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) Visiting Scholar. During her appointment, she focused on the development of materials for the Mandela: Struggle for Freedom exhibition. Dolana Mogadime is a full professor in the Department of Educational Studies, Brock University. In August 2020, she became the Faculty Chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity and Decolonization (PACHRED) for a term of up to 3 years. She is past Ph.D. Program Director, 2017 – 2019 for the Joint Ph.D. in Educational Studies Program (Brock Home University). Her research interests are in human rights and curriculum studies, critical sociology of education, equity studies and feminist theories. She has published in international and national academic journals and anthologies on topics such as women in leadership; gender-based violence; human rights education; teachers’ life stories and commitments to equity in the curriculum. 

Dr. Yvan Brochu, Ed.D. 

Dr. Yvan Brochu (Ed.D.) is a Principal within the Grand Erie District School Board, and long-time equity, diversity and inclusion advocate. He currently serves on numerous committees, including provincially on the Ontario Principals’ Council Professional Learning EDI Sub-Committee, locally as the OPC EDI System Lead, and on the City of Hamilton’s Anti-Racism Resource Centre Board of Directors. In 2017 he received the Premier’s Award for Accepting Schools for chairing a school vision focused on human rights. His experiences also include five years in an Indigenous community, nearly 20 years as an adjunct instructor with Queen’s University, conference presenter, and consultant. 

Sally Hooper, Ph.D. 

Sally Hooper is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Educational Studies at Brock University. She has a Ph.D. in Adult Education and Community Development with a collaborative degree in Comparative, International and Development Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her academic research interests include the role of education and community development as opportunities for the participation of historically disadvantaged people, particularly women, in post-apartheid South Africa. Sally has diverse teaching and administrative experiences in South Africa, three Canadian provinces, Ghana and Australia. Dedicated to community service, she serves on boards of local and national health and cultural organizations. Internationally, Sally has written curriculum for a global organization and coordinated health and education development projects in South Africa, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo 

Dr Oscar Koopman, Ph.D. 

Dr Oscar Koopman, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in science education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, in Cape Town South Africa. As a phenomenological scholar, his work is part of a larger enterprise of understanding the consciousness of teachers, learners, academics and students as an evolving system of thought in science education. He has written two sole-authored books titled, Science education and curriculum in South Africa published with Palgrave Macmillan and Science education and pedagogy in South Africa published with Peter Lang. Additionally, Dr Koopman has also written a co-authored book, with Dr Karen Koopman, titled Phenomenology and educational research: Theory and practice. His latest co-authored book with Dr Karen Koopman, titled The Colonising South African university and the betrayal of learning, that was enthusiastically endorsed by William Pinar for his Curriculum studies worldwide series, is currently under review with Palgrave MacMillan. Dr Koopman has published articles in continental and international journals and chapters in books with both national and international publishers. In 2019 he received the Global Scholar Award from Brock University in Toronto, Canada where he also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Teaching Nelson Mandela Curriculum Project (2018-2020). 

Sherilyn Lehn, M.Ed., B.Ed., B.F.A., OCT 

Sherilyn Lehn is a passionate educator dedicated to enriching the lives of her students by teaching human rights through Visual Arts and English. She currently is an intermediate/senior high school teacher with the Grand Erie District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Sherilyn has achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Bachelor of Education degree specializing in Middle School Philosophy, and a Master of Education degree specializing in Social and Cultural Contexts. In her M.Ed. degree at Brock University, Sherilyn’s major research paper focused on creating alternative learning spaces for students resistant to learning literacy in traditional teaching environments. 

Many of her students were successful in learning literacy through arts-based lessons that involved students’ participation in scaffolded projects. These structured lessons were also planned as opportunities for student contributions to improving their own community. In her spare time, Sherilyn is passionate about painting and drawing, spending time in nature, and maintaining her health and fitness. 

Craig Marlatt, OCT, BES, M.Ed. 

Craig Marlatt, OCT, BES, M.Ed. has taught and been an administrator in numerous schools in Durham Region at both the elementary and secondary level. He has helped run a human rights-focused committee of staff and students, bringing together wide-ranging initiatives including Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Take Back the Night, White Ribbon Campaign, Harmony Movement Leadership Program, and guest speakers the likes of James Orbinski, James Bartleman, Kim Phuc, Sally Armstrong, and LGen Roméo Dallaire. Craig currently teaches a course in Equity and Social Justice and embeds human rights into all of his courses. 

Anneke McCabe, Ph.D. Candidate, Brock University, M.Ed., B.Ed., B.Mus., OCT

Anneke McCabe is a PhD Candidate at Brock University, specializing in Social, Cultural, and Political Contexts of Education. Anneke has been an elementary teacher in various school districts in Ontario for 20 years and has taught all subject areas. As a trained musician, Anneke has contributed to the education sector in arts-based curriculum design, curriculum leadership, and system level leadership in the school board where she teaches. Anneke served as a Senior Advisory member for the Teaching Nelson Mandela Curriculum Project at Brock University.

Lyn Trudeau, Ph.D. Candidate, Brock University, BA, M.Ed.

Lyn Trudeau is Anishinaabe from Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, Eagle Clan. She is a Lecturer cross appointed with Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology Departments at Brock University. She received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Communications: Media, Culture and Society Stream; her Master of Education: Social and Cultural Contexts of Education. Her M.Ed thesis investigated the role and effects imagery played in curriculum with remote Indigenous adult learners. She is currently a PhD Candidate: Education specializing in Sociocultural Contexts of Education. Her doctoral research esteems storytelling through Indigenous autoethnography and arts-based research. Lyn feels it is important to honour her cultural background; therefore, also embeds Indigenous knowledge and ways of being in her classrooms and research endeavours. Lyn is an artistic scholar who engages the visual presence and representation within her works to support cultural survivance.