07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Towards Teacher Education for Social Justice: Pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers as Agents of Change
Deniz Ortactepe Hart1, Adnan Yilmaz2, Servet Celik3
1University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; 2University of Stirling, United Kingdom; 3University of Trabzon, Turkey
Presenting Author: Ortactepe Hart, Deniz;
Yilmaz, Adnan
In the last decade, unprecedented events have taken place in the larger social, political and economic contexts in Europe, especially with the wars in Syria and Ukraine, the Brexit, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic. These dramatic changes have challenged language teacher education policies, practices, and discourses preordained by neoliberal ideologies (Conchran-Smith, 2010; Kaur, 2012; Zeichner, 2010). The past 15 years have witnessed an increased attention towards social justice in teacher education, significantly increasing the number of teacher education programs with a social justice orientation, especially in the US (Zeichner, 2006). The countries in Europe (e.g., Finland) have also begun to engage with social justice issues as part of their language education curriculum (Ennser-Kananen, 2021; Saarinen & Ennser-Kananen, 2020). The Council of Europe’s 2018 Companion to CEFR, for instance, was considered a milestone for underlining the role of languages in human rights and social justice (Council of Europe, 2018). As a reflection of these developments, several small-scale conferences have been held across the world, such as University of Jyväskylä’s Language Education for Social Justice in 2021, Finland and Sinop University’s Symposium on Social Justice in ELT that was held in 2019 and 2022, Turkey.
Teacher education for social justice not only develops teachers’ critical consciousness but also engages them in social transformative action (Hastings & Jacob, 2016; Hawkins, 2011; Nieto, 2010). The research on social justice teacher education mostly focused on teacher candidates and outlined the knowledge, skills, abilities as well as the attitudes and dispositions social justice educators need in order to provide equitable, anti-oppressive, and inclusive pedagogies to their learners (Ayers et al., 2009; Cochran Smith, 2004; Hawkins, 2011; McLaren & Fischman, 1998).
Within the fields of applied linguistics and language education, social justice language teacher education has also emerged as a field that enables language teachers to build bridges between course content, their own lived experiences, and the needs of their local communities (Avineri et al., 2019; Ortactepe Hart & Martel, 2020). While emphasis has been given to the learning and unlearning processes of language teachers (i.e., unlearning unearned privileges, stereotypes and biases) and developing them as advocates and allies (Braden, Lund, Hatch, 2020; Linville & Whiting, 2019), exactly how social justice language teacher education leads to social change, and the role language teachers play as teachers/activists remain unexplored. Therefore, this study examines the extent to which social responsibility projects language teachers carry out in their schools and local communities help them develop their critical consciousness and (re)construct their identities as teachers/activists. Our overarching research question was:
This study draws on a large-scale project, funded by the US Embassy Ankara in Turkey. This project aimed to illustrate how policies and practices related to pre-service English language teacher training can be deconstructed and then reconstructed through the framework of social justice. First, we, as the project coordinators and researchers, visited different universities in Turkey, introduced our project to fourth-year pre-service English language teachers, and recruited our participants. Second, the participants received training designed as four different webinars, each with focus on different social justice issues including environmental justice and sustainability, gender equality, LGBTQ+ inclusive pedagogies, and immigration and peacebuilding. After each webinar, they carried out critical blog activities and designed lesson plans. Following the webinars, each pre-service teacher, as an agent of social and educational change, carried out a social responsibility project (SRP) in their local context. Participants of the present study are the five pre-service English language teachers who participated in the larger project mentioned above.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedParticipants of the present study are five pre-service English language teachers who studied at different public universities in Turkey. This study employed multiple case study design and used several instruments for data collection, including post-project critical reflections, post-project interviews, blog posts, lesson plans, webinar recordings, and multimodal project products (e.g., animated videos, testimonies, and instructional materials). The data were analyzed using thematic analysis (Creswell & Poth, 2018; Glesne, 2015; Seidman, 2019). The process included a within-case and cross-case analysis. First, for within case analysis, we individually read the hard copies of all data coming from one participant so as to understand one particular case from a longitudinal perspective. Second, for cross-case analysis, we applied axial coding in order to compare and combine the codes and categories in a way to holistically capture all participants’ identity (re)construction as teachers/activists. Only after a thorough within case analysis, we started conducting a cross-case analysis to compare the emergent themes from each participant and to make cross-comparisons between them.
The target social responsibility projects in this study focused on the following issues: ableism, genderism, racism, and social justice in the broader sense. The first project, We-slexia, aimed to promote pre-service language teachers’ awareness of dyslexia and dyslexic students in the language classroom. To this end, seminars were held in the English language teaching (ELT) departments of different universities and an open virtual resource center was created for teachers and students to access various materials. The second project “Words on the Street” aimed to draw people’s attention to social justice issues by projecting the shadows of different social justice related words stitched to a veil which was displayed on university campus. The third project, Using Theatre to Raise Awareness on Social Justice Issues: Bullying, focused on developing students’ social justice awareness on bullying through theatrical performance held in different schools in the pre-service teacher’s local context. The fourth project “A Movie without Roles” aimed to attract attention to gender inequalities by shooting a short movie in which the pre-service teacher, along with some of her friends, acted out characters that reversed gender roles and rebelled against the inequalities they were exposed to. The fifth and final project, Drama and Children’s Literature: Raising Awareness towards Social Justice Issues, integrated drama and picture storybooks from children’s literature to promote young learners’ awareness on social justice issues like gender inequality and racism.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe preliminary results revealed the role of social responsibility projects in terms of developing language teachers’ critical consciousness as well as dispositions as teachers/activists who have the knowledge and skills to confront social injustices. The early results also indicated the potential risks involved in carrying out such projects as our participants stated that they often feared being accused of indoctrination and ideological imposition. These results confirm Jeyaraj and Harland’s (2016) study that the disruption of “taken-for-granted assumptions and … the political and social status quo” ( p. 593) is often criticized in the public discourses. In his drama-based project, Nazim, for instance, faced similar accusations and criticisms, but handled them through strong determination and effective communication, underlying the importance of teacher agency in pursuing a social justice approach in schools and communities. The participants of our study also started to question their previously held beliefs and see the world “not as a static reality, but as reality in process, in transformation” (Freire, 1971, p. 83), which, we believe, contributed to transformation to some extent in order to build a just and equitable world. Based on the results, suggestions and implications are offered to implement similar extra-curricular endeavors to raise English language teachers’ awareness of social justice issues and participation in activities that bring about social transformation. The findings and implications of this study are relevant not only for Turkey which receives funds from the European Union to host the largest number of refugees in the world, but also for all European countries that deal with similar issues around diversity, inclusion and social justice.
ReferencesAvineri, N., Graham, L. R., Johnson, E. J., Riner, R. C., & Rosa, J. (Eds.). (2019). Language and social justice in practice. Routledge.
Ayers, W., Quinn, T. M., & Stovall, D. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of social justice teacher education. Routledge
Braden, S. K., Lund, M.. & Hatch, K. (2020). Community action plans for social justice advocacy: Leveraging the relationship between awareness and action. TESOL Journal, 11(4).
Cochran-Smith, M. (2010). Toward a theory of teacher education for social justice. In A. Hargreaves, A. Lieberman, M. Fullan & D. Hopkins. (Eds), Second international handbook of educational change. Springer.
Cochran Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity, and social Justice in teacher education. Teachers College Press.
Council of Europe (2018). Better education for better democracies. https://www.coe.int/en/web /
education/home/-/asset_publisher/9JxkQQFIKSBa/content/council-of-europe-launches-the-cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors?inheritRedirect=false
Creswell, J. W. & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry research design: Choosing among five approaches. SAGE Publications.
Ennser-Kananen, J. (2021).‘My skin is hard’ - adult learners’ resistance to racialization and racism. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 7(3), 179–189.
Hastings, C., & Jacob, L. (Eds.). (2016). Social justice in English language teaching. TESOL Press.
Hawkins, M. R. (Ed.). (2011). Social justice language teacher education. Multilingual Matters.
Glesne, C. (2015). Becoming qualitative researchers. Pearson.
Jeyaraj, J., & Harland, T. (2016). Teaching with critical pedagogy in ELT: the problems of indoctrination and risk. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 24(4), 587-598.
Kaur, B. (2012). Equity and social justice in teaching and teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(4), 485-492.
Linville, H. A. & Whiting, J. (2019). Advocacy in English Language Teaching and Learning. Routledge.
McLaren, P., & Fischman, G. (1998). Reclaiming hope: Teacher education and social
justice in the age of globalization. Teacher Education Quarterly, 25(4), 125-133.
Nieto, S. (2010). Language, culture, and teaching. Routledge.
Ortaçtepe Hart, D. & Martel, J. (2020). Introducing the special issue on Exploring the transformative potential of language instruction for social justice. TESOL Journal, 11(4).
Saarinen, T., & Ennser-Kananen, J. (2020). Ambivalent English : What We Talk About When We Think We Talk About Language. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 19(3), 115-129.
Seidman, I. (2019). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. Teachers College Press.
Zeichner, K. (2011). Teacher education for social justice. In M. R. Hawkins (Ed.), Social justice language teacher education (pp. 7-22). Multilingual Matters.
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Reflecting on the Potential of Experiential Education in a Museum to Enhance Student Teachers’ Intercultural Knowledge of Roma Peoples
Thor-André Skrefsrud, Vander Tavares
Inland Norway University, Norway
Presenting Author: Skrefsrud, Thor-André;
Tavares, Vander
In this paper, we foreground the concept of experiential education (Kolb, 1984) to discuss the potential of museums in supporting the development of intercultural learning and critical consciousness for Norwegian student teachers. Drawing on the Scandinavian Romani exhibition as a case study (Glomdalsmuseet, 2022), we reflect on how an experiential engagement with this exhibition may create a learning space that awakens student teachers’ critical consciousness and provides opportunities for self-reflection in relation to a historically minoritized group in Norway. This paper is guided by the following question: How may learning about Norway’s Roma people in a museum contribute to the development of student teachers’ critical thinking and intercultural knowledge from an experiential learning perspective?
A growing body of research has explored the possibilities for emphatic development, personal and social transformation in museums from a pedagogical perspective (Andre et al., 2017; Fleming, 2013; Fouseki, 2010; Kalsås, 2015). In a review of research on museums as avenues for learning for children, Andre et al. (2017) found that theories of constructivism, particularly sociocultural perspectives on learning, have been highly influential when museums develop programs, exhibitions, and learning models for children. As noted by Andre et al. (2017), views from both within and outside the field of museology have espoused a conceptual change on the function of museums, from “places of education to places for learning” (p. 48). From viewing museums as sites for the consumption of content information and pre-produced knowledge, often immersed in entertainment, a shift toward experiential opportunities has emerged so as to facilitate an interactive and potentially transformative engagement with the exhibitions.
Although strategies and activities employed in museums tend to be well-grounded in sociocultural and interpretative approaches, we argue that an experiential-critical theoretical lens remains necessary as we reflect upon student teachers’ intercultural learning in museums. As a critical contribution, experiential education warns against “depositing” knowledge in the students. As Freire (2018) argued, teaching within the banking system of education would mean creating a false sense of discovery in the learners by leading them to information that would have been pre-selected by us, educators, based on our own experiences with and objectives for the subject matter. In the banking system of education, the senses and emotions learners experience are numbed and delegitimized because their roles are dehumanized to that of passive recipients of (irrelevant) information.
Anchoring our discussion in Freire’s (1970; 2018) concept of problem-posing education, the paper debates how visiting the Romani exhibition can enhance student teachers’ development of intercultural knowledge of the Roma peoples of Norway in a manner that can challenge their preconceptions of that same group and help them identify where such preconceptions originate from, which includes stereotypes and narratives that have unfavorably informed the social construction of this group in Norway. Equally, or perhaps more important, is the question of how this activity may inspire student teachers to act upon their own knowledge to not only identify, but also confront mechanisms that maintain the social and cultural inferiorization of minoritized groups within schools.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWe employ a hermeneutical–analytical approach to engage with the guiding research question. Our approach includes interpretative and understanding-oriented dialogues with positions and theories to interpret, understand, debate, and propose possible answers to the question guiding our study (Alsaigh & Coyne 2021; Paterson & Higgs 2005). Our analysis is explorative in the sense that we draw on our own experiences with multiple visits to the Scandinavian Romani exhibition—both with student teachers and by ourselves for research purposes, scholarly debates regarding interactions and collaborations between museums and teacher education—to explore connections between (teacher) education, museums, and social justice-focused knowledge of a minoritized group in Norway.
We frame our study as a practitioner reflection (Grushka et al., 2005) in which we consider our engagements primarily as teacher educators situated in a particular academic and socio-political environment. We view practitioner reflections in a dynamic and cyclical manner: our practice informs our reflections, and our reflections inform our practice. As such, we prioritize propositions that have direct relevance to our teacher education program in light of its contextual existence.
Based on Gadamer’s (2003) philosophical hermeneutical underpinnings, the discussions and reflections we offer aim to enhance an understanding in which the results are open to alternative analyses. Thus, the propositions we make should be considered argumentative contributions to the debate on how museums as an alternative learning arena could be integrated in teacher education. Through such an approach, we hope to stimulate further discussions on student teachers’ intercultural learning, critical consciousness, and social justice.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsWe maintain that experiential education has the potential for improving and strengthening student teachers’ understandings of cultural diversity within their repertoire of knowledge and experience.
As a constructive contribution, we first suggest that experiential education opens possibilities for student teachers engaging in a new experience through the senses and emotions. Second, we find that experiential education can promote abstract conceptualization: the phase in which student teachers formulate new understandings or revise their previously held ideas in consideration of their academic training. Third, we suggest that experiential education can enhance what we frame as active experimentation, meaning activities through which the knowledge acquired is applied through some kind of engagement that can (dis)confirm what student teachers have learned. While in this reflection we are not interested in “measuring” how much students would have learned, we recognize the importance of contextualized forms of what Freire (2018) called critical awareness or critical consciousness. This would include a (better) understanding of historical processes and their impact on the social realities of oppressed groups as well as an understanding of human agency as something natural of the individual, but that can be suppressed in the individual by majority groups.
ReferencesAlsaigh, R. & Coyne, I. (2021). Doing a hermeneutic phenomenology research underpinned by Gadamer’s philosophy: A framework to facilitate data analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211047820.
Andre, L., Durksen, T., & Volman, M. L. (2017). Museums as avenues of learning for children: a decade of research. Learning Environments Research, 20(1), 47–76.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-016-9222-9
Fleming, D. (2013). Museums for social justice: managing organisational change. In R. Sandell & E. Nightingale (Eds.), Museums, equality and social justice (pp. 96-107). Routledge.
Fouseki, K. (2010). "Community voices, curatorial choices": community consultation for the 1807 exhibitions. Museum and Society, 8(3), 180–192.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
Freire, P. (2018). The banking concept of education. In E. B. Hilty (Ed.), Thinking about schools (pp. 117-127). Routledge.
Gadamer, H. G. (1986). Text and Interpretation. In H. G. Gadamer, Gesammelte Werke, bd. II (pp.330-360), Tübingen.
Glomdalsmuseet. (2022). Latjo Drom. https://glomdalsmuseet.no/latjo-drom
Grushka, K., McLeod, J. H., & Reynolds, R. (2005). Reflecting upon reflection: Theory and practice in one Australian university teacher education program. Reflective Practice, 6(2), 239-246.
Kalsås, V. F. (2015). Minority history in museums: Between ethnopolitics and museology. Nordisk museologi, 18(2), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3046
Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall.
Paterson, M. & Higgs, J. (2005). Using hermeneutics as a qualitative research approach in professional practice. The Qualitative Report, 10: 339–57.
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Listening Through the Lens: The Experiences of Minoritized Ethnic Young People Pursuing a Career in Primary Teaching in Ireland.
Aoife Titley
Maynooth University, Ireland
Presenting Author: Titley, Aoife
Until recent times, Ireland was often regarded as a homogenous country comprised of a monocultural population with monocultural experiences (Fanning, 2007; Devine, 2011). However, this is a misrepresentation of the Irish cultural narrative, within which immigration, emigration and diversity have always co-existed. Multi-ethnicity in Ireland is not a new occurrence; Irish Travellers, Black-Irish people, Jewish people and other immigrants have always been part of Irish society (Lentin & McVeigh, 2002). However, it is fair to say that Ireland’s ‘migration turning point’ (Ruhs, 2005) in 1996, which transformed Ireland from a country of emigration to one of in-migration for the first time, has led to an increase in diversity among school populations, with over 11 per cent of children currently enrolled in Irish primary schools coming from a migrant background (DES, 2018).
However, the diversity which now exists in the typical Irish primary school classroom is not mirrored in the student demographics of initial teacher education, with evidence showing that student teachers remain overwhelmingly White, female, settled, middle-class and Catholic (Keane & Heinz, 2016) and their exposure to diversity is very limited (Leavy, 2005). 95.8–96.2% of undergraduate primary entrants claim only Irish nationality and further 2.8–3.5% of undergraduate primary student teachers claimed Irish nationality plus a secondary non-Irish nationality (Keane & Heinz, 2016, p. 9). This is very revealing, showing an overwhelming majority (approximately 99% at upper level of the data) identifying as ‘White Irish’ based on the census categorisations. Moreover, students from under-represented and racialised groups face a myriad of cultural complexities, institutional limitations, and economic constraints to becoming a primary teacher in Ireland. These barriers span the continuum of access and admissions, post-entry to ITE and transition to teaching.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) draws upon a series of innovative methodological tools to address racism, discrimination, and relentless inequalities in society. Counter-storytelling, also known ‘oppositional storytelling’ (Delgado, 1995, p. xv) is one such device in the ‘conceptual toolbox’ of CRT (Gillborn, 2007). Counter-stories centre the significance of experiential knowledge and are positioned in direct opposition to stereotypical scripts or ‘stock stories’, (Delgado, 1989). This presentation will use the tool of counter-storytelling (Delgado, 1989; 1995), within a critical race theory framework, to reveal findings from a PhotoVoice research project with minoritized ethnic young people interested in pursuing a career in primary teaching in Ireland. Through symbolic image-narratives, counter stories will be shared relating to identity and belonging, the centrality of racism in the educational experiences of the young people, and their narrative responses to the persistent injustices and barriers they have faced in pursuit of their teaching dream.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedMuch research conducted in educational settings positions participants as spectators, so a critical participatory action research approach was immediately considered as a way of meaningfully collaborating with the young people involved in this research. Critical participatory action research, as an egalitarian and non-hierarchical research method, has the potential to help redress the imbalance that is often present in educational research, that tends to marginalise and in some cases exclude altogether minoritized voices (Schmidt, 2016). The approach emphasises collectivity and shared experience, produces rigorous and potentially powerful results (Stoudt, Fine & Fox, 2012) and participants are positioned as co-researchers and active agents in the inquiry process. The research approach was characterised by equitable participation of the young people in all aspects of the research, from research design, co-construction of questions, data collection to data analysis.
The sample for this study was recruited from a wide range of backgrounds, including migrants from South America, migrants from Eastern Europe, Irish Travellers, Black-Irish young people, and members of several different other African diaspora communities, including some who are currently seeking asylum in Ireland. This is a national study, with participants coming from eight different counties in Ireland.
The primary data collection instrument was that of PhotoVoice - a method by which people can identify, represent and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique (Wang & Burris, 1997; Wang, Cash & Powers, 2000). PhotoVoice is an approach to data collection which marries self-directed photography with participatory action as a way for marginalised groups to enact social change. PhotoVoice allows respondents to provide a visual testimony to research questions by taking multiple photographs of things in their life.
PhotoVoice can support the exploration of complex topics and support participant-generated visual data as a form of ‘cultural self-portrayal’ (Pauwels, 1996). PhotoVoice is a non-didactic research method which privileges democratic practices and pursuits (Sánchez, 2015). As such, Luttrell (2020) describes it as ‘collaborative seeing’, given that images can be regarded as ‘windows’ or ‘mirrors’ for us to reflect back and understand social reality. The intention was to use the PhotoVoice component as an opportunity for self-reflection, as well as a mechanism of providing a ‘voice, via camera, to members of communities not typically represented (Wang & Burris, 1997, p. 486).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe lack of progress in diversifying primary teaching in Ireland has effectively resulted in a cohort of interested, motivated and creative young people from diverse backgrounds unable to access the continuum of teacher education. Using a CRT framework, which particular emphasis on the sociological concepts of racialization and recognition; this presentation will share image-narrative findings from a PhotoVoice research project with minoritized ethnic young people interested in becoming primary teachers. These photos and the accompanying rich narratives represent first-hand experience of exclusion and marginalisation from ITE and aim to foreground authentic voices which have been hitherto silenced in dominant discourse about diversifying the teaching profession in Ireland.
References•Delgado, R. (Ed.). (1995). Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge. Philadelphia: TempleUniversity Press.
•Devine, D. (2011). Immigration and schooling in the Republic of Ireland: Making adifference? Manchester: Manchester University Press.
•Fanning, B. (2007). Immigration and social change in the Republic of Ireland. Manchester:Manchester University Press
•Gillborn, D. (2007) Critical Race Theory and Education: Racism and antiracism in educational theory and praxis. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 27(1), 1132.
•Keane, E., & Heinz, M. (2016). Excavating an Injustice?: Nationality/ies, Ethnicity/ies, andExperiences with Diversity of Initial Teacher Education Applicants and Entrants in Ireland in 2014. European Journal of Teacher Education, 39(4), 507–527.
•Leavy, A. (2005). ‘When I meet them I talk to them’: the challenges of diversity for pre-service teacher education. Irish Educational Studies, 24 (2), 159-177.
•Lentin, R. & McVeigh, R. (2002). Racism and Anti-Racism in Ireland. Belfast: Beyond the Pale.
•Luttrell, W. (2020). Children framing childhoods: Working-class kids’ visions of care. Bristol:Policy Press.
•Ruhs, M. (2005). Managing the Immigration and Employment of non-EU Nationals inIreland. Dublin: The Policy Institute, TCD.
•Sánchez, L. (2015). Students as photo activists: Using cameras in the classroom for social change. Theory into Practice, 54 (2), 163 – 171.
•Schmidt, C. (2016). Herculean efforts are not enough: diversifying the teaching profession and the need for systemic change. Intercultural Education, 26, (6), 584–592.
•Stoudt, G., Fox, M. & Fine, M. (2012). Contesting Privilege with Critical Participatory Action Research. Journal of Social Issues, 68, (1), 178-193.
•Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1994). Empowerment through photo novella: Portraits ofparticipation. Health Education Quarterly, 21(2), 170-186.
•Wang, C., Cash, J. & Powers, L. (2000). ‘Who knows the streets as well as the homeless?’ Promoting personal and community action through PhotoVoice. Health Promotion Practice, 1 (1), 81 – 89.
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