The Grenfell Curriculum

The project combines disaster justice education and community-engaged participatory research methods to create a space for collaborative learning and identify educational needs and priorities, in collaboration with the Grenfell Tower fire community in London.

The Grenfell Tower fire disaster occurred on June 14, 2017, in North Kensington, London, marking one of the most tragic events in recent British history. A fire broke out in the 24-story residential building and rapidly spread due to the flammable exterior cladding. The blaze raged for over 60 hours, resulting in the deaths of 72 people and injuring many others. Investigations revealed significant failures in social housing policy, fire safety regulations and building materials, with the state and cladding manufacturers bearing substantial responsibility for creating and perpetuating these social injustices. The project considers how we can redress such injustices and build a safe, just and disaster-resilient society through education.

We interviewed members of the Grenfell community, as well as teachers in North Kensington and Grenfell activists. We also collected existing lessons and in- and out-of-school educational initiatives about Grenfell from across the UK. In June 2024, We convened four ‘Grenfell Education Meetings’ with the community (survivors and bereaved, teachers, young adults and children) to discuss and reimagine education for social justice after Grenfell.

Funder

• Research England (2023-2024)

Team

• Wonyong Park, University of Southampton (Principal Investigator)
  
• Nigel Fancourt, University of Oxford (Co-Investigator)
  
• Hanan Wahabi, Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission (Co-Investigator)
  
• Arzhia Habibi, University of Oxford (Research Assistant)
  
• Ruaa Al Rubaye, University of Southampton (Summer Intern)
  

Partners

• The Grenfell Foundation
• Grenfell United
• Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission

Research Questions

• What does Grenfell mean to the survivors, bereaved families and residents, including young people?
• What should we teach young people about the Grenfell disaster, and how can we do this?

Objectives

• Understand the community’s experiences, views, emotions and hopes related to Grenfell
• Develop a set of priorities and approaches for disaster justice education in the context of Grenfell
• Produce actionable policy recommendations for disaster justice education in the context of Grenfell

Publications

Presentations

• Park, W., Fancourt, N., & Habibi, A. (2024, September). Learning from Grenfell: Centering the disaster-affected community to promote education for social justice. British Educational Research Association (BERA) Annual Meeting, Manchester, UK.

Links

• The Grenfell Curriculum (Twitter)
• GTMC Final Report
• Education and Memorialisation for Disaster Justice Webinar
• Grenfell Education Meeting: Slide Deck

Pictures

Feedback from Community

“I thought the meeting was very helpful and comforting as we were heard and able to express our thought, view’s and feelings on this sensitive topic, I am extremely grateful to work alongside the team and looking forward to continue working together and making further change.” (Young Person)

“This meeting was great as we had a chance to hear directly from Survivors and Bereaved about their views and thoughts on what should be included in the curriculum as well as having the views of the teachers and the North Kensington community. This is part of the Grenfell legacy that we want our children to learn about when they grew up.” (Bereaved & Survivor)