The institutional culture at higher education institutions is widely recognised as a significant factor in shaping students and staff’s experiences and sense of belonging. On 2 June 2021, Prof Saloshna Vandeyar from the Centre for Diversity and Social Cohesion in the Faculty of Education, was one of six panellists who spoke about what needs to change to transform the institutional culture at UP. 

Prof Vandeyar argued that changing institutional culture depends on the answers to two questions: (1) How do systems need to be transformed? (This entails changes in respect of policies, initiatives and so forth.) and (2) What can individuals do to develop their effectiveness as change agents, despite the system? Her talk focused on the latter.

The institution has moved through a number of phases, namely colonialism, coloniality and the decolonisation of education. Prof Vandeyar argued that in order to achieve significant lasting and sustainable change, we need to decolonise the mind (Thiong’o, 1986). There needs to be a change in mindsets; in other words, deeply embedded beliefs, attitudes and values, all of which constitute the core or essence of a person, need to change. Subjective realities have to be addressed. However, she queried, are institutional stakeholders ready to ‘decolonise their minds’ and their ingrained belief and value systems after two and half decades of democracy in South Africa (Thiong'o, 1986)? Are they ready to unlearn, re-learn and fundamentally transform as individuals? And are they familiar with the historical injustices and diverse intellectual debates within their disciplines?

Changes in beliefs and understanding are fundamental as they lead to changes in conception that relate to and influence knowledge, skills, materials, contexts and institutional culture. The challenge, however, is to negotiate the relationship between new change efforts and subjective realities embedded in individual and institutional contexts and personal histories.

Making use of very effective metaphors, such as mirrors, windows and the institutional mirror, Prof Vandeyar suggested a number of ways in which the institution could consider changing its culture.  She also highlighted issues such as the ‘ethos of reception’ and drew attention to ‘first- and second-order’ changes, ‘equality of cultural trade’ and the ‘invisible knapsack’, to name but a few. She emphasised the need to aim to create an inclusive culture in which all can experience a sense of belonging and feel at home. Furthermore, for sustainable educational change to happen, it needs to be a university-wide initiative. Of special interest was the novel theoretical framework of Pedagogy of Compassion that she developed (Vandeyar & Swart, 2016) and which consists of the following tenets: dismantling polarised thinking and questioning one’s ingrained belief system and changing mindsets by compassionately engaging with diversity in educational spaces and instilling hope and sustainable peace.

Prof Vandeyar concluded her talk by claiming that the ‘colonial ghost of institutional culture’ will only be exorcised if we deal with what Ramphele (2008) calls ‘my own ghosts’. Any attempt at changing the institutional culture that ignores attempts at changing mindsets will be futile and at most superficial and cosmetic in nature. The will, agency and change in the mindsets of institutional stakeholders are key to changing institutional culture.

Prof Vandeyar’s notion of the three Rs are: Restore, recognise and respect human dignity. We are so busy focusing on people’s outer appearances (shells) that we forget to nurture the soul within.

References:

Ramphele, M. 2008. Laying ghosts to rest: dilemmas of the transformation in South Africa. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers.

Thiong’o, N.W. 1986. Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. London: J. Currey.

Vandeyar, S. & Swart, R. 2016. Education change: A case for a pedagogy of compassion. Education as Change, 20(3):119-131.