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| CC David (2012) [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/smartyarty41/7651518620/in/photolist-9Qf |
Social justice teaching is
difficult to conceptualize because it involves many different disciplines with
various applications, and may vary depending on spatial and temporal factors. It
is often used as an umbrella term to deal with larger issues within society
such as racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and so on. Creating contexts
where praxis is possible for social justice is complicated because it is often
left to the discretion of the classroom teacher; or in other words educators
have the option of bypassing equity discussions if it is not considered as ‘worthy
of class time’ (Lee, 2014).
There are multiple contested
meanings of the phrase social justice teaching in the classroom, and it is not
my goal to provide a comprehensive picture of this complex subject, or to
discuss the various justice-oriented pedagogies that may exist; rather I hope
to provide a clear understanding of why this topic is so important, and how
social justice teaching can be successfully incorporated into the classroom
(Kelly and Brooks, 2009).
Prominent early theorists like
Piaget and Kohlberg concluded that children have little capacity for developing
social understandings or sensitivity to social justice issues which meant that
complex topics like politics or equity would be developmentally inappropriate
for younger children to learn (Kelly and Brooks, 2009). The concept of
childhood innocence is a construction of childhood that is used to justify the
exclusionary practices that keep children separate from active citizenry (Kelly
and Brooks, 2009). Common assumptions that educators hold may include: these
talks may make the children feel badly, the children are uninterested in these
subjects, or they are incapable of moving beyond their experiential
understandings to engage in holistic topics; however these widely held
assumptions may be unwarranted (Kelly and Brooks, 2009). Robby Novak, better
known as Kid President, is a 10 year old boy engages in discussions on social
justice, creativity, spirituality, compassion, and the changing dynamics
between students and teachers on YouTube. This just goes to show that perhaps
children are far more capable then we give them credit for. Research has shown
that by the time children enter into the pre-school years they can already
distinguish racial differences and may hold negative attitudes and prejudices
to some groups, which is why early school years are formative in shaping
children’s understandings of the world (Hawkins, 2014).
Using
the UNCRC as a framework to guide our interactions with children, it is our
obligation under article 29 to prepare children for a responsible life in a
multicultural society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance and
equality of sexes (The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). As noted
by Doek (2009), one of the fundamental changes that the CRC was able to
contribute to the growing field of social justice, was that it brought human
rights to the forefront on the international agenda; and by doing so, legally
supported acceptable moral and social action.
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| CC Madisynalia (2012) [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/madisynaliya/ 8388076789/in/photolist-dMe5ZB- |
According to
Hawkins, there are two essential beliefs that underpin teaching for social
justice; that there is injustice in the world, and some are consistently and
undeservedly privileged while others are consistently and undeservedly
disadvantaged (Hawkins, 2014). The second belief is that we as educators can be
agents for change, and challenge the cycles of oppression within the classroom
(Hawkins, 2014). Explicit accounts of what social justice teaching should look
like in the classroom are scarce, however researchers suggest that facilitating
classroom discussions, or practicing communicative democracy can alter
individual perceptions, help children understand their relations to others and
ultimately engage in collective problem solving (Hawkins, 2014). Questions
like, how is the truth represented, who is disadvantaged and who benefits, or
who is excluded from the text are all thought provoking questions that engage
students in critical thinking (Drake, Reid, and Kolohon, 2014). Looking back at
my own experiences in elementary school, there were several opportunities for
the teachers to engage in these topics; bullying is a great example. Bullying
does not happen alone, but rather it comes from underlying racism, sexism,
classism, etc. so by naming the type of
oppression that these kids are experiencing it allows them to understand the
complex world that they live in. At a younger age, critical picture books are a
developmentally-appropriate tool to use in younger classrooms to facilitate
awareness of complex issues, moral decision making, display empathy towards
others, and extend themselves to understand issues beyond their immediate
environment (Hawkins, 2014).
References
Doek, Japp E. (2009) The CRC 20 Years: An overview of some of the
major achievements and
remaining challenges in Child
Abuse & Neglect, 3, pp.777-782.
Drake, S., Reid, J., & Kolohon, W.
(2014). Interweaving
Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the
21st-Century Learner (pp. 6-8). Don
Mills: Oxford University Press
Hawkins, K. (2014). Teaching for social justice,
social responsibility and social inclusion: a respectful pedagogy for
twenty-first century early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education
Research Journal, 22(5),
723-738. doi:org/10.1080/1350293X.2014.96908
Kelly, D., & Brooks, M. (2009). How Young is
Too Young? Exploring Beginning Teachers' Assumptions about
Young Children and Teaching for Social Justice. Equity and Excellence in Education, 4(2), 202-216.
doi:10.1080/10665680902739683
Lee, Y. (2014, October). Three Cases of Student
Teaching Practice for Social Justice in Early
Childhood Education. Journal of Education and Training, 2(4), 11-22.
doi:10.111144/jets.v2i4.489
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2015). Picture Books to Support Critical Literacy. In Critical Literacy. Retrieved September 23, 2015, from http://quest-critical-literacy.wikispaces.com/Picture+Books+to+Support+Critical+Literacy
Novak, R, perf. How to Change the World . 2013. Web. 23 Sept.
2015 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z7gDsSKUmU>.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child:
Concluding
Observations: Canada, 20
June 1995, CRC/C/15/Add.37, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6af5a14.html [accessed 23 September 2015]
