Oral presentation: Rosemarie Hoen

A Kingdom-wide research program on the history and heritage of transatlantic slavery has commissioned a work package on the Impact of Slavery on Education, Teaching and Learning, entrusted to the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano (Aruba’s teacher training academy). This study examines how the intergenerational legacy of transatlantic slavery and colonialism continues to shape relational and pedagogical cultures in the Dutch Caribbean.

Although slavery and formal colonial rule have ended, hierarchical and fear-based relational patterns embedded in colonial schooling systems may persist in contemporary upbringing and education. These patterns, characterized by emotional distance, harsh discipline, and authority grounded in obedience rather than empathy, may influence youth identity formation, emotional security, and mental health.

Drawing on findings from the recently published post-COVID Youth Monitor and extending this work through a mixed-methods design, the study focuses on primary education across the Dutch Caribbean. Surveys, interviews, focus groups, and school-based action research explore how pedagogical sensitivity and emotional responsiveness, grounded in attachment-informed, trauma-sensitive, and culturally responsive frameworks, can strengthen resilience, relational trust, emotional wellbeing, and mental health.

The project aims to develop and test systemic, culturally grounded pedagogical models that interrupt intergenerational cycles of fear-based authority while fostering emotionally safe and supportive learning environments. By integrating postcolonial analysis with educational and developmental psychology, this research contributes to scholarship on historical trauma and offers scalable strategies for educational transformation in postcolonial contexts.