In this episode of “Educere,” hosts Abrahim Al-Zubeidi and Yahya Van Roy catch up and reflect on their recent travels and experiences. Yahya shares stories from his journeys to America, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, exploring the unique cultural, educational, and spiritual insights he gained along the way. Abrahim discusses his experience attending and presenting at the annual Islamic Schooling Conference in Brisbane, highlighting key takeaways and the evolving landscape of Islamic education. Together, they reflect on how these experiences have shaped their thoughts on renewing education.

Disclaimer: Abrahim's Mic for the first 15 minutes is a little muffled - we apologise for the technical issues, we hope it is still ok. If it is too much we can aim to record the episode again.

In episode 2 of Educere Abrahim and Yahya explore character education and wellbeing as discussed in an upcoming book chapter called: "The Journey to Simurgh: A Renewed Approach to Character Development and Wellbeing" written by Abrahim Al-Zubeidi. Below is the abstract of the chapter.

Abstract

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to nurture human beings? These are primordial questions that have diverse answers within the contemporary education space, stemming from competing worldviews. As a Muslim educator navigating the modern world, I find myself with a unique challenge of attempting to overcome the crushing weight of a secularism that has led to a discourse in education that reduces the learner to a non-sacred being whose character development and wellbeing is arbitrary, subject to the encroaching Eurocentric worldview. This chapter aims to show how I have been working to overcome this challenge through the development of an Islamic framework for character education and wellbeing called “The Journey to Simurgh” program. The program is a renewed way of understanding character education and wellbeing through connection to the Islamic worldview by drawing out the principles within Islamic literature from the 6th/12th century (H/CE). This framework has been applied in our local schooling context and continues to transform the discourse around character and wellbeing, fostering a language that accommodates the learner's holistic journey towards God, diverging from a mere humanistic approach to character development.

Welcome to the first episode of “Educere,” hosted by Abrahim Al-Zubeidi and Yahya Van Rooy. This podcast seeks to explore the question: “How might we renew education?” Taking inspiration from one of the Latin root-words for education—educere, meaning to draw out—we will delve deep into both traditional and contemporary educational theories and practices. Our goal is to uncover insights that can help establish a more holistic and transformative approach to education in today’s world.

In this introduction episode, Abrahim and Yahya will share the vision behind “Educere” and what listeners can expect in future episodes. Join us as we begin to reflect on the state of education and explore pathways to its renewal. Subscribe now to start this enlightening journey with us.