Dissident Lara Staal/NTGent

The young actors have become - often unconsciously - experts in provoking the ruling authority. But this time the roles are reversed and the young people take over the stage.

What does it mean to constantly be the exception? And what do the current rules and expectations in secondary education tell us about the prevailing ideas of successful citizenship? In what way is today's education determined by work pressure, performance pressure and bureaucracy? In what way does unconscious racism still determine who gets second chances and who doesn't? What does it take to really learn? And can a teacher be more than a conduit of knowledge?

(read more after the video)

For Dissident, Dutch theatre and programme maker Lara Staal, together with Ghent musician, beatboxer and performer Serdi Faki Alici, went in search of young people who refuse to adapt to the expectations of current education and challenge power relations. Their view holds up a mirror to us. What can we learn from that which does not suit us? 

Dissident is a mix of live acting and documentary film material in which parents, teachers, youth workers and pedagogues are also involved. In 12 lessons, the young actors expose what they consider to be the most pressing problems of education and formulate a counterproposal.

An indictment of the mould that current education forms, in which those who are 'different' and fall by the wayside now have their say. 

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Meet the cast!

UP: Haroun Couvreur /// Seppe Jacobs /// Siham Lamrini

DOWN: Isaac Van Weyenberg /// Eliaz Bello Medrano /// Serdi Faki Alici