This paper draws upon empirical research from a two-year research project to explore issues of belongingness and diversity in six primary schools in Birmingham, UK. Adopting a Multi-Stakeholder Participatory Research (MSPR) methodology, whereby stakeholders work collaboratively to promote a process of ‘co-learning and capacity building among partners’ (Israel et al. 2008: 52), and employing drama-based pedagogic techniques, the project worked with Year 3 and 4 pupils and their teachers to explore questions of belonging, identity and difference in engaged and agentive ways, while co-developing and evaluating a dedicated educational model. Using insights gleaned from this empirical work, the paper works towards a re-imagining of the concept of diversity in schools, with important implications inter-cultural education. Whereas “diversity” is too-often performative, tokenistic (Gholami and Costantini 2025) and focused only on somatic, cultural and linguistic differences, this paper explores the ways in which pupils’ diversity is constituted ontologically and spatio-temporally, linked, for example, to their (trans)national experiences and identities. This diversity must be accounted for educationally through curricular and pedagogic practice. The paper frames these questions through the concept of “diasporic education” (Gholami 2023) as well as the idea of a “nomadic ontology” (Braidotti 2014).
This research is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Authors:
Reza Gholami, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Reza Gholami is Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Birmingham, UK, and Executive Editor of the journal "Educational Review".

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-reza-gholami-062607ab/

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