DEN

About DEN

Click here to access the DEN website.

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DEN is a co-curricular staff and student-focused platform with links to diverse ethnic communities in London and universities abroad that encourages student and faculty collaboration. During the early part of my career, I have worked mainly in inner-city colleges and the universities where a significant number of students are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds and some of London's most disadvantaged areas. Being aware of this, I have been researching, experimenting and using different methods to develop extra-curricular activities to engage students.

DEN's role has been significant in the University of Westminster where 55% of the students are from BME backgrounds, 26% are non-UK domiciled, many are first-generation learners and 58% come from some of London's most disadvantaged areas.

My own educational background in some ways reflects the types of institutions I have been educated in and my development as an educator. My primary and secondary education was in Iran when the country was going through a significant transition in the 1970s. I was educated in a deprived and inner-city school with significant economic difficulties at home and illiterate parents. It was not until I moved to the UK I considered studying again in higher education.

I became a visiting lecturer in an inner-city College, City and Islington and different universities in London, immediately after completing my PhD in 1994. Studying in Iran and the UK and working in various institutions with diverse students helped me to learn and develop my philosophy and teaching practices. Because of my own experience, I have always had some ideas of how difficult it may be for some students to educate themselves, develop their confidence and engage with their studying.

During my professional teaching I was also reflecting and developing a method to meet students need I became aware of Vygotsky (1978) Freire (1998), Giroux (2013) and McLaren (2009), and (Wheeler & Birtle, 1995). They were, among others, I could develop affinity towards not just because of their ideas but how they approached education, their method, empathy.

Hence, my philosophy of education has constantly been evolving identifying ways to educate students, working with them to develop a way to adjust to their conditions. I learnt that pedagogies is not simply "teach to the test" but to understand and consider learners experiences and social issues that they must deal with in their everyday lives. Therefore, he curriculum should be designed in such a way that students are involved and engaged with their own social and cultural issues. I see myself as an educator that focuses on the kind of narrative that I can produce for students to understand and expand on their perspective of the world and their relationship to others.

I have developed courses that integrated forward and backward linkage between the curriculum and extra curriculum. During my teaching I have initiated several projects to develop this. Initially, I launched International Community Project, and since 2016, the Democratic Education Network (DEN) at the University of Westminster (UoW). As one student describe it as:

A student focused group within the University of Westminster; they are able to engage through the non-conventional academic style and use creativity and passion as a means to express issues that matter to them.

My approach has been one of embracing the whole curriculum; to provide an umbrella under which it can bring a community of educators and learners, by facilitating support and engagement for students, inspiring them to develop their skills and knowledge through teamwork, and building a community of educators, learners, and support staff.

Acknowledging the different backgrounds of students in DEN, I started building links with various local community groups and international universities. Aside from engaging students, this gave them the ownership and responsibility to create a new environment in which they could develop a relationship with their past, and put that at the heart of their education.