Education
Hahn Tapper’s paper ‘A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment’ was very insightful. In this read, one of the main aims is to empower participants to engage in social justice activism through their education. Tapper discusses the term social justice education – one of the meanings/forms of social justice education is that it recognises ‘the disparities in societal opportunities, resources, and long-term outcomes among marginalised groups (Shakman et al. 2007, 7)’. Tapper writes it is also defined as ‘anti-oppression education’, ‘diversity education’ and ‘multicultural education.’
The organisation’s pedagogy is based on three educational pillars:
- Paulo Freire’s approach to education and social justice
- Social identity theory
- Intersectionality
In the paper, Tapper further discusses Freire’s approach to education – the importance of always considering the students’ identities in educational settings. The paper talks about the failure of education when the teaching falls into the banking system. This is where there is a hierarchy in the classroom – teacher TO student, this reinforces inequality and regenerates domination. This type of approach in education fails its’ students as it doesn’t take into account the students’ situation/ realities – social status and their identities. It is also important to note that a teacher’s social identity also plays a role in the classroom environment.
This made me question how can we ensure that a student isn’t forced to talk about their identity/ beliefs/ backgrounds if they don’t want to. Or how can we ensure that students are welcomed to bring their whole selves into the space?
Friere points out that teaching and learning is an exchange – that the ideal educational experience is between a teacher and student. The teacher needs to create experiences with the students, considering and integrating students’ experiences and voices into the educational experience (pp 414).
“One way to move students toward freedom is to create an educational structure whereby both teachers and students engage in habitual, critical reflection…” (Hahn Tapper, 2013)
Intergroup education – Contact Hypothesis (Allport 1954)
It was interesting to read about how intergroup education enables opportunities for collaboration and teamwork leading participants to focus on their common bond instead of their differences – encouraging them to recognise their shared humanity. This approach aims to deconstruct and eliminate negative stereotypes and conflicts between them through affirmative contact (e.g. communication).
However, this theory was also critiqued –
- Through contact, relations between groups can also worsen if the conditions and encounters are negative/ not ideal.
- Outside the classroom, reality cannot be controlled as there will still be social inequalities and different power dynamics which can influence oneself.
In order to avoid relations between groups worsening, it is important to structure intergroup encounters where they reflect equality (Allport and Kramer 1946; Allport 1954; Maoz 2000b).
Through this resource, it solidified my understanding of and importance of considering students’ experiences/ identities, and that education should be student-centred.