Investing in Equity and Anti-Discriminiation in ITE Courses

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Investing in Equity and Anti-Discrimination in ITE courses

Rowena Arshad

School of Education

University of Edinburgh




© Rowena Arshad

Why we need to invest (1)

“I can see diversity issues are important. But how can we consider these issues of diversity without ‘disrupting’ the curriculum?”

BEd 4 student (May 2008)




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Why we need to invest (2)

“changing current practice in order to accommodate one or two Muslim girls in PE (in the gym) was ridiculous and pandering to political correctness.”

Bed PE 4th year (May 2008)




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Research tells us:

Homogenous teaching populations are largely unprepared for teaching diverse pupil populations (Pohan, 1996; Garmon 1998; Fecho 2000; Ladson-Billings 2001; Gaine 2001 and Pearce 2003)

Studies of student perceptions of issues of difference within higher education have found less reflexivity on the part of majority group students than minority group students (Reay et al 2001:865).




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What else does research tell us?

Teacher expectations are pivotal in influencing pupil motivation (Ashton and Webb 1986; Good 1987; Macbeath 1998, Gillborn and Youdell 2000)

Teacher attitudes are critical when working with diverse pupil populations in developing a culture of recognition of difference as well as addressing issues of discrimination (Mac an Ghail 1988; Cline et al 2002; Arshad et al 2005, LGBT Youth Scotland 2006)




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Enabling positive change…

Smith et al (1997) identified four factors as pre-requisites that assist a teacher become positive about diversity:

Exposure to different cultural backgroundsEducationTravelPersonal experience with discrimination as

a child or as an adult




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Three further dispositions…

Garmon (1998 and 2004) suggested three further disposition:

OpennessSelf-awareness/self-reflectivenessA strong sense of social justice




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From my own study…

ActivismPreparedness to take risksStrong sense of national identityFaith




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Arshad and Mitchell (2008-2012)

108 responses

BEd Primary 22 (21.6%)BEd PE 4 (3.9%)PGDE Primary 57 (55.9%)PGDE (Secondary)

19 (18.5%)




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Emerging issues from the online questionnaire(1)

A significant majority of respondents claimed they have knowledge of UK equality legislation- particularly the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Only 54 respondents had heard of the ASL Act 2004

At least a quarter said they understood the difference between medical and social models of practice




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Emerging issues (2)

The majority said they were familiar with social justice terms e.g. positive action, positive discrimination, institutional discrimination. Terms they were most familiar with are ‘additional support needs’ and ‘inclusion’.




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Emerging issues (3)

36 respondents felt they would not be confident to discuss any equality issue in an informed way.

Those that indicated they were able to discuss issues in an informed way were most confident to discuss issues of social class, children’s rights, human rights and racism.




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What I would like from my ITE course?

“Information that will help me become more aware of how an individual’s background and context

might contribute to prejudicial views”

“Advice on how to deal with difficult and controversial issues as a result of difference and

values conflict.”




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And…

“Ideas and strategies for raising issues of social justice and social inequalities with pupils”

“ Becoming more informed about how social justice issues can be embedded as part of

learning and teaching”

“ More discussion around issues of racism, poverty, sectarianism and religious

discrimination”




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Preferred way of learning…

Tutor-led discussions in tutorialsThrough placementsGreater engagement with people who

have experienced discrimination

Least preferred: E-learning




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Focus group question areas:

levels of knowledge prior to entering the course

how knowledge in social justice issues have been enhanced since coming on the course

how informed are students on the different equality areas ( strengths, gaps)




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Early emerging data…(1)

For subject disciplines to address issues of SJ- students can see the relevance and will be more convinced of SJ issues e.g. within English Language lectures, consider how students with dyslexia might access text; within environmental studies- demonstrate how gender, class, race issues might apply etc..




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Early emerging data…(2)

Greater opportunities to work with lecturers and professions from other disciplines e.g. social work, health, community education - integrated community school?

Focus is more on disability- very little on social class, sexual orientation, race, gender, EAL

Working with parents




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Hollway’s notion of ‘investment’:

that for members of dominant cultures to become interested in minority cultures or alternative discourses, these members need to develop a reason to become conscious or curious about these other cultures or discourses, that is, they need to find a reason to ‘invest’ time and intellect in these matters.”

[Hollway, W. (1984) ‘Gender difference and the production of subjectivity’ in W. Hollway, C.Unwin, C. Venn and V. Walkerdine (eds) Changing the subject (London, Methuen), 227 -263]




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Jalongo et al (1995:13) suggests:

“…that outstanding teachers draw a great deal from intuition.”

Jalongo, M. R., Isenberg, J. P. and Gerbracht, G. (eds.) (1995) Teachers’ Stories: From Personal Narrative to Professional Insight (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publications).




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To encourage investment…

Humanise the theoriesBuilding bridges between the ‘self’ and

the ‘other’Balancing the epistemological and

technical aspects of teachingLinear forms of learning are

insufficient




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Humanise the theories

Praxis- theory and practice- humanising the learning (e.g. Laing lecture, networking, personal experience)

Demonstrating relevance - embedding into all lectures, not just discrete equity lectures




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Building bridges

“walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins”

valuing your own experiences, making connections, identifying commonalities as well as differences




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Balancing the epistemological and technical aspects of teaching

Intellectual rigour as well as functionalism: teacher as technician but also teacher as a professional decision maker

Critical pedagogy - what is knowledge? Who constructs this knowledge? Who is it for? Is it useful? How can it be useful? What is the connection between different areas of knowledge?




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“Greater ‘modelling’ from lecturers on how to work in an embedded and cross-curricular manner. At the

moment, issues are in silos or bolted on e.g. one lecture

on X, one lecture on Y..”

PGDE student April 2009




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Linear forms of learning are insufficientSingle teacher (mentor) and student teacher

(mentee) model is datedLearning from diverse others(community

schools/integrated working): other professionals e.g. health, social work, community education, local vol orgs

Providing formal experiences of diversity - to those who have suffered discrimination or exclusion and those who work in an explicit anti-discriminatory way




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Students as change agents

Lane et al (2003) drawing from the work of other academics suggest that pre-service programmes in general do not provide sufficient attention to teachers as change agents with the result that teachers do not believe that they can really make a difference, particularly at institutional levels.

Lane, S., Lacefield-Parachini, N. and Isken, J. (2003) ‘Developing novice teachers as change agents: Student teacher

placements “against the grain”’, Teacher Education Quarterly, Spring, 55–68.




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Addressing conceptual ambiguity

Recognising schools as sites of struggle

Being clear about the possibilities of ASL and the limitations of the Act

‘…changes in language, whilst they can be important, are not sufficient to shift meaning on their own: when material practices remain unchanged, and when relations of subordination and domination are relatively untroubled, then new forms of language can become co-opted into reactionary agendas’ Benjamin 2002:310

Investing in Equity and Anti-Discriminiation in ITE Courses

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