Why Does Social Justice Matter in the Socio-Political Context of Contemporary Education - Report Example

Why does social justice matter in the socio-political context of contemporary education? Name Institution Introduction During the last three decades, studies on the educational attainment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australia have attempted to show an apparent trend where the group lags behind the non-Indigenous Australians in terms of educational attainment (Malin & Maidment 2003; Reid, 2013; Castan & Arabena 2016; Anon, n.d.1). This discrepancy has been associated with social injustice in the socio-political context of Australian education. In a recent review of disproportionate over-representation of aboriginal students in special schools in Australia, Graham (2012) observed that educational attainment is widely acknowledged to be intrinsically linked to social and political affairs. Essentially, social justice is a kind of empowerment that openly addresses the issues of equity while simultaneously providing a theoretical interpretation of injustices and realistic strategies for transforming social systems and institutions (Kaur, 2012). On the other hand, the concept of socio-political context refers to a set of beliefs and opinions within a population or social setting that embody inclinations to change certain elements of the social structure or to encourage fair distribution of resources within a society (Redley-Smith, 2015). Hytten and Bettez (2011) further identified social justice as a fundamental synthesizing paradigm for providing educational stewardship within the socio-political context. A review of literature on social justice within the socio-political context of contemporary education reveals that during the last three decades, scholars have unequivocally advocated for the significance of social justice through their focus on certain strands of work, including multicultural education and commercialization of education (Connell, 2013; Hytten and Bettez, 2011; Redley-Smith, 2015). Some have considered its impact on minority ethnic families and working class families (Ball, S. & Vincent, C. (2005). Against this background, this paper argues that social justice encourages equity, equality, and harmony in the educational policies or pedagogies in the hope of fostering action-oriented agendas and anti-oppressive learning, or even encouraging equal access to educational resources. Hence, this paper examines the significance of social justice matter in the socio-political context of contemporary education. Focus is placed on minority ethnic families, particularly Aboriginal children. As it is argued that social justice fosters the principles of equity, equality, and harmony, this paper uses these principles to discuss the significance of social justice in education. Promoting equality in access to educational resources Social justice serves to fulfil the ultimate goal of encouraging full and equal participation of all segments of a population in accessing education, in ways that education would address their needs or concerns. Social 'justice as equity" has the intention of ensuring that students are treated equally to facilitate equal outcomes (Redley-Smith, 2015). It conceives that while individuals are not the same, they deserve equal opportunities. Hence, equal treatment is necessary despite the ultimate outcomes being unequal. Social justice, therefore, encourages multicultural appreciation. According to Redley-Smith (2015), multicultural education came about from an effort to change the inadequacies of early education, in which some sections of the society, like the Indigenous populations, who felt that their cultural ideals had been felt out. A review of the literature shows that the idea that social justice in the social political context of contemporary education encourages multicultural appreciation has been well appreciated in the United States for more than half a century. Indeed, among the most prominent catalysts in the transition within the United States was in 1954, in the case law of Brown v. Board of Education, when the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling by declaring that the segregationist policies in the state-funded public institutions were illegal. Redley-Smith (2015) observes that this might have been heightened by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s in the United States, which highlighted the need for equal approaches to educational policies and teaching practice. The case law of Brown v. Board of Education is particularly relevant for Australia, as it may have provided a symbolic reference of progression and hope for communities, like the Indigenous communities, who felt marginalised. This idea is also emphasised by Redley-Smith (2015), when he describes social justice education as crucial for encouraging multicultural education as it provided a paradigm for transforming educational policies and teaching practices in manners that genuinely reflect and incorporate the racial, social, cultural, and ethnic, diversity in Australian educational system. Promoting equity in educational polices and teaching practice Social justice provides a means for preserving a higher standard of teaching practices for teachers and students, while at the same time endeavouring to eradicate inequitable policies in educational institutions. The idea of equity or “justice as equity” promotes equal treatment of students regarding accessing educational resource. The basis for this argument is that not all students are the same. Rather, they are different based on their needs to attain a certain level of educational attainment. Within the context of Indigenous students, it may be because they originated from disadvantaged social settings or have different cultures from the mainstream culture (Brooker, n.d.). In such a situation, social justice would recommend that, to enable them to attain the same educational outcomes compared to the advantaged students from the non-Indigenous Australian communities, they would need more resources. Redley-Smith (2015) also recognised the significance of social justice within the social-political context. In his view, social justice matters in contemporary education as it consists of a disposition towards the recognition and eradication of all kinds of differential treatment or oppression in the educational policies or learning practices in learning institutions, in addition, fostering the issue of participatory democracy as a tool for action. This argument is consistent with Kaur’s (2012) claim that learning institutions generate justice-oriented citizens who view their economic, political, and social issues critically and in turn, systemically pursue collective strategies to encourage equity. Some scholars have focused their analysis on the discrepancies of the achievement gap between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students based on the social concerns of ethnicity and racism. A review of the literature on social justice education shows that a majority of the work has been attained using the lens of Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy (CRRP). Among the notable aspects of CRRP is highlighting the issue of culture and race by incorporating the cultural identities of students, including the Indigenous Australians, in the curriculum. Redley-Smith (2015) also observes that a fair critique of historical development and impacts of educational policies in Australia is not feasible without considering the role of race, particularly its impacts on Indigenous Australians. There is a general feeling among some scholars like Willems (2012) that the gap in educational achievement Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is linked to the history of colonisation of the Australia. In Willems’ (2012) view, colonisation led to the displacement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and ultimately gradual erosion of their cultures, given that they were forced to practice European cultures and Western education. Willems (2012) was concerned that in the indigenous traditions, the Aboriginal children were taught using learning methods rooted in their cultures and environment, which saw them concentrate on learning survival skills in the wild, caring for the environment and fostering their cultures. Krakouer (2015) agrees with Willems’ (2012) claims and observes that the traditional Indigenous learning styles are explicitly inconsistent with the contemporary European-styled education system that is rooted in Western values. To this end, whether scholars select to concentrate on educational policies or the actual teaching practices that have shown some level of injustice to the Indigenous Australians, it is clear that concerns of racism and ethnocentrism have continued to prevail prominently as sources of angst in Australia, specifically in schools (Graham, 2012). For these reasons, social justice is usually a means for the preservation of a high standard of teaching practice for teachers and students while at the same time working to eradicating inequitable policies in educational institutions. Promoting harmony by developing students into responsible citizens Social justice in education enables learners to assume an active role in participating in their learning by supporting teachers to create a critical, democratic, and empowering environment for learning in contemporary education. In this way, social justice encourages harmony in the society. The “justice as harmony” approach acknowledges that students have differing talents, which when combined, strengthens a community or society. In the same vein, education should support the differing talents to enable all students, regardless of their background, to attain their full potential (Redley-Smith, 2015). Social justice assimilates students into full citizenship. It is also seen as crucial for the socio-political context of education, given that it inculcates students with perspectives of stewardship, positive attitudes towards all members of the society and the nation as a whole, and encourages informed participation in education. Redley-Smith (2015) argued that social justice in schools could be encouraged through citizenship education. In Australia, the issue of citizenship education is a concern given its multicultural context, particularly because of the ongoing concerns that Indigenous Australians have relatively low level of education attainment because of cultural assimilation concerns. Indeed, in Australia, citizenship education has emerged out of assimilationist discourse, where learners are taught exaggerated versions of the history of Australia without omitting the cultural transgressions, which may as well be handled superficially. A clear example of Australian assimilationist citizenship education is notable in the spiteful residential schooling system that is believed to have plagued Indigenous Australians because of the White Australian Policies that subjugated the Indigenous Australians. Indeed, traditionally, there was the contention that Australia was properly a 'White Nation." Indeed, it is only after 1967 that Indigenous Australians started to be counted in the census (Anon, n.d.). In providing a related argument, Denis (2011) suggests a range of methods that can provide social justice to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in terms of encouraging their educational attainment. In his view, citizenship education, as part of social justice in social-political context, is crucial as it serves to form more trusting relationships with Indigenous learners, as a result cementing a mutually respectful relationship with the Indigenous families and students because it encourages the incorporation of learning content that place considerable emphasis on Indigenous cultures, values, practices and histories. Social justice also encourages democratic, global and citizenship. At the turn of the 21st century, the Australian education systems started shifting beyond educational policies and teaching practices targeted at creating considerate national citizens. Instead, it started to focus on creating global citizens as a fundamental means to discovering the ideals of social justice. Apart from the elemental ideals of multicultural education, which social justice seeks to discover, the concept of global citizenship education fosters student activism and stewardship in a global context, rather than just the national context (Kaur, 2012). A review of a literature review, global citizenship education is linked to forms of character education, including encouraging democratic citizenry (Redley-Smith 2015; Hytten & Bettez 2011). Redley-Smith (2015) argued that before students can develop a sense of global citizenship, they should initially experience it within their personal lives. Put differently, before Indigenous Australian students can realise global citizenship, they need to first develop a capacity to empathise with the situations in their home country, including the adverse effects of racism, as they cannot aspire to be global citizens while they undergo a lack of fulfilment of social justice in their personal experiences. According to Redley-Smith (2015), social justice education applies the concept of democracy as a tool for instructing students, as well as an educational goal. Consequently, to create democratic and just societies, learners are taught values like self-determination, equality, respect, and justice (Lalvani, 2013). Conclusion Social justice encourages equity, equality, and harmony in the educational policies or pedagogies in the hope of fostering action-oriented agendas and anti-oppressive learning or even encouraging equal access to educational resources. To ensure this, it provides a means for preserving a higher standard of teaching practices for teachers and students, while at the same time endeavouring to eradicate inequitable policies in educational institutions. Social justice also serves to fulfil the ultimate goal of encouraging full and equal participation of all segments of a population in accessing education, in ways that education would address their needs or concerns. Lastly, it enables learners to assume an active role in participating in their learning by supporting teachers to create a critical, democratic, and empowering environment for learning in contemporary education. References Anon. (n.d.1) Towards a market of schools 1976-2000 Anon. (n.d.2). Who is Australian student on polices, racism, ethnicity and unemployment Ball, S. & Vincent, C. (2005). The ‘childcare champion’? New Labour, social justice and the childcare market. British Educational Research Journal, 31(5), 557–570 Brooker, L. (n.d.). Learning to be a child Cultural diversity and early years ideology Connell, R. (2013). The neoliberal cascade and education: an essay on the market agenda and its consequences. Critical Studies in Education, 54(2), 99-112 Graham, L. (2012). Disproportionate over-representation of Indigenous students in New South Wales government special schools. Cambridge Journal of Education, 42(2),163-176 Hytten, K. & Bettez, S. (2011). Understanding education for social justice. Educational Foundations, Winter-Spring 2011 Kaur, B. (2012). Equity and social justice in teaching and teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 1-8 Lalvani. P. (2013). Privilege, compromise, or social justice: teachers’ conceptualizations of inclusive education. Disability & Society, 28(1), 14-27 Malin, M. & Maidment, D. (2003). Education, indigenous survival and well-being: emerging ideas and programs. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 32, 85-100 Redley-Smith, M. (2015). Sociopolitical Movements and Social Justice Education: Looking at Educators’ Perspectives and Understandings of Sociopolitical Movements and Social Justice Education within School Setting. A research paper submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of Master’s of Teaching Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto Reid, A. (2013). Renewing the public and the role of research in education. Aust. Educ. Res., 40, 281–297 Willems, J. (2012). Educational resilience as a quadripartite responsibility: Indigenous peoples participating in higher education via distance education. Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 16(1), 14-27 Read More