Author Archives: berniesullivan

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Two inspiring talks on social justice

The SCoTENS conference on the theme ‘Teacher Education for Social Justice’ took place in Limerick on 15 and 16 October. The opening keynote address was given by Professor Kathleen Lynch from UCD, a well-known theorist and activist in the spheres of social justice and equality.

The title of Kathleen’s talk was, ‘There is no view from nowhere: ideology, social justice and teacher education’. As always, her presentation was inspiring and passionate, and she didn’t hold back from levelling criticism where she felt it was due. She spoke about the tyranny of numbers, which I’m sure would resonate with all teachers who are constantly under pressure to provide statistical data from standardised tests to show evidence of improvement. Another thought-provoking statement she made was that, though we all learn to read, we fail to read the world. This she attributes to colonisation and regulation of thought, which causes us to view the world through the dominant eyes.

Kathleen argued for equality of condition, rather than equality of opportunity: the latter is based on a meritocratic myth, which blames the victim for their situation of inequality and doesn’t alter the underlying structures of inequality and injustice. In the current climate of marketisation, managerialism and consumerism,, there is little space for ethics and no incentive to help the needy. Values such as equality and social justice have only a rhetorical function.

The closing keynote address was given by Professor Ken Zeichner from Washington University. The title of his talk was ‘How Teacher Education can Contribute to Social Transformation and Greater Justice’.

Ken described three types of teachers for social justice: defenders, reformers and transformers. In the schools of the defenders, multiculturalism and diversity are embraced. Knowledge is produced by universities and applied by schools: community-based knowledge is largely ignored. In the reformer schools, the focus is on raising test scores. ‘Sick’ schools are replaced with corporate schools. Teachers are seen as technicians. In the transformer schools, educational reform alone is not sufficient. The epistemology needs to match the rhetoric about social justice. University, school and community knowledge all need to be recognised. Teachers and teacher educators need to work in solidarity with the community, rather than think their role is to ‘save’ the community.

There were other interesting presentations and workshops at the conference also. It was a really worthwhile experience that I was glad to be able to attend.

 

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The Demise of the Celtic Tiger – Catastrophe or Blessing in Disguise?

Now that the excesses of the Celtic Tiger years are almost a distant memory, perhaps it is time to cast a dispassionate eye on the effects of those heady  times on our lifestyles and on our ‘Weltanschauung’ or worldview. During those years of plenty, many of us got carried away by the comforting sound of money galore jingling in our pockets. We were only too happy to jump on the gravy train and fool ourselves into thinking that this pleasant state of affairs was going to go on forever. We became the ultimate consumers, as we danced to the tune of ‘Spend! Spend! Spend!’ There was no one to shout stop, but even if there were, would we have listened? Probably not, we were all too intoxicated by the feelings of power and self-sufficiency induced by the abundance of wealth at our disposal. Unfortunately, we did not have in our midst somebody like Joseph, who was able to foretell to the Egyptians that the seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine, for which they should make provision during the years of plenty.

Gradually, our innate selfishness became more apparent, as our obsession with adding to our possessions took over our lives. We mistakenly thought that ‘having’ was our mission in life and directed all our energy towards that aim. Now that reality has hit and that the spending frenzy is over, we can take time to reflect on what occurred and perhaps to recognise the superficiality that characterised our culture of nonstop spending. We now have an opportunity to examine our ontological values and perhaps come to realise that ‘being’, rather than ‘having’, is our true mission in life. If we attach any significance to our denomination as ‘human beings’, then surely we have an obligation to be the best human beings that we can be and to live as closely as possible to our ontological values. For many of us, wealth and power can be inhibitors to living to the values that we profess to hold.

Recently, I heard Fr. Peter McVerry suggest that we should ‘be the compassion of Jesus’, a value that he himself lives out on a daily basis as he fights for justice for the homeless, whose lot does not seem to have improved one whit during the Celtic Tiger years – if it had, more than likely they would not continue to be homeless. Similarly, the poor and the marginalised do not seem to have benefitted to any great degree from the years of plenty, in spite of the saying that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. Perhaps it is now time for those who were too busy feathering their own nests during the good times to spare a thought for, and maybe give a helping hand to, those who were left behind in the rush to get to the top of the rich list. In the words of the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda,

Maybe we still have time

to be

and to be just

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Racism and Prejudice in Modern Ireland

Recent events in Ireland confirm the suspicion that prejudice and racism continue to underpin bureaucratic policy in relation to the treatment of minority groups and immigrants. Two children were removed from the care of their Roma families simply because their hair/eye/skin colouring did not conform to the view commonly held as to what the Roma should look like, i.e. dark-haired, dark-eyed and sallow-skinned . Little or no consideration was given to the effect that such separation from their families would have on these young children, or to the trauma that could ensue for the families involved. Neither was there any thought for the effect that such actions could have on the Roma community in general, in terms of the fracturing of the often fragile relationships they share with the majority population. It will take some time to repair these relationships and to re-establish a basis of mutual trust and respect.

 

Was there another way that the situation could have been handled? There are always other options, some more humane and life-enhancing than others. In this instance, the children could have remained with their families for the short time it took to carry out DNA tests. The Roma families were not going to flee the country, having chosen to make Ireland their home. If the authorities had any doubts in this regard, they could have confiscated the passports of the parents, as they do in other situations where they feel there is a flight risk.

 

One wonders what would have happened if the situation had been reversed, i.e. if blond-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned parents were discovered to have a dark-haired, dark-eyed, sallow-skinned child living with them? I do not doubt for one minute that the situation would have ben handled much more sensitively and with a greater degree of trust, resulting in the authorities waiting for conclusive evidence before contemplating the removal of the child. The injustice and inequality that are apparent in the handling of the Roma families in this incident are to be abhorred, and are an indication of how far we have yet to progress in terms of valuing and accepting marginalised and minority groups in Ireland.

 

It is not just because the Roma are immigrants that they are treated in such an uncaring and dehumanising way. Our own native Traveller community are treated equally badly. Just when schools had got to the stage of persuading Travellers that it was in the best interests of their children to attend school regularly and to continue their education to second level, and to envisage them as participants in the workforce on an equal basis with the settled population, the whole system collapsed through the actions of the Government. The Resource Teacher for Travellers, who ensured that Traveller children had school places and received adequate support to continue in school, was withdrawn in one of the first educational cutbacks. The Visiting Teacher for Travellers, who was instrumental in ensuring that Traveller children were placed in suitable second level schools, was also withdrawn. The free transport system for Traveller children was another casualty of the cutbacks in education. All of these measures have left Traveller education provision back where it was forty years ago, with no incentive for Traveller children to participate in the educational system and with no-one to mediate for them in their engagements with  educational establishments, when neither they nor their parents have the wherewithal to do so.

 

The situations of both the Roma and the Traveller community outlined here demonstrate the levels of oppression and deprivation that can be inflicted on marginalised and minority groups when there is a lack of concern for values of justice and equality among the general population.

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Influence of Liberation Theology on Critical Pedagogy

Many of the critical pedagogists whose ideas currently inform theory and practice in the field of education acknowledge the influence of Paulo Freire on their thinking. Those whose thinking show traces of a Freirean influence include Peter McLaren, Henry Giroux, Joe Kincheloe, Shirley Steinberg, bell hooks, Ira Shor, Stanley Aronowitz, Michael Apple and Jonathan Kozol. Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education that was first described by Freire and further developed by Giroux. Freire encouraged students to think critically about their own educational situation and to recognise connections between their individual problems and experiences and the social contexts in which they are embedded. Such consciousness is the first step towards praxis, which is defined as the power and know-how to take action against oppression while stressing the importance of liberating education. Praxis involves engaging in a cycle of theory, application, evaluation, reflection and then back to theory. Social transformation is the product of praxis at a collective level.

What inspired Freire to explore concepts such as poverty, oppression and critical thinking? He appears to have been strongly influenced by the liberation theology movement that had spread throughout Central and South America during the 60s and 70s. Three of the more widely-known theologians are Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff and Jon Sobrino. Gutiérrez is regarded as the founder of liberation theology and published a book entitled ‘A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, Salvation’, which appeared in Spanish in 1971 and in English two years later.

Gutiérrez was born in Lima in 1928. He initially studied medicine, with the intention of becoming a psychiatrist. While at university, he became interested in the Catholic Action movement and as a result began studying theology. He also studied philosophy and psychology, and was ordained a priest in 1959. Liberation theology developed as a Christian response to the conditions in which many Latin American people live. Gutiérrez had grown up in a world of injustice and oppression against the poor: hence his lifelong preoccupation with themes such as unjust social structures and the dignity of the poor. He named two states of poverty in the lives of christians in Latin America – hunger for God, that he hoped would remain, and hunger for bread, that he hoped would be satisfied. He coined the phrase ‘preferential option for the poor’, which epitomises his unceasing campaign for social justice for the poor and for recognition of their human dignity. He also spoke out on behalf of women, whom he regarded as being doubly oppressed.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Freire and other critical pedagogists with a social conscience were influenced by Gutiérrez and the liberation theologians of Latin America. All were involved in a common struggle against social injustice, poverty and oppression in all its forms.

 

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Self-Evaluation

Self-evaluation is currently being promoted in Irish school settings, both primary and secondary, by the Department of Education and Science (DES) (2012). The rationale behind this initiative appears to be that schools can achieve an improvement in the standardised test results of their pupils in literacy and numeracy through the use of self-evaluation. In other words, the self-evaluation process as proposed by the DES is another form of accountability to be undertaken by teachers. However, the concept of evaluation that has been outlined by the DES could be classified as whole-school evaluation, rather than self- evaluation by individual teachers. I do not think that whole-school evaluation has the potential to achieve the desired improvement.

Improvement constitutes a change, whether the change is in approach, in thinking or in attitude. Often we cannot easily bring about changes in others or in situations, and so we need to begin the process of change with ourselves. The desire to change our practice may stem from our experience of feelings of unease or of dissatisfaction with the status quo. We may wish to change the way we have always done something, in order to find a more effective way of doing it. This process necessitates engaging in self-reflection. Teachers who wish to reflect on their practice could ask themselves questions such as, ‘What did I do?’ and ‘Why did I do it?’ To answer the ‘why’ questions, teachers could refer to their educational values.

It is not always easy to articulate our values, but if we ask ourselves questions, such as ‘What do I value in the area of education?’ or ‘What is important to me in my role as educator?’, it will be easy to come up with three or four things that really matter to us as teachers. The next step is to reflect on these values and to determine if we are living out these values fully in our teaching lives. For example, I may have come to the realisation that I value a democratic, participatory approach in my teaching but, when I reflect on what is actually happening in my classroom, I may find that I am using a didactic style of teaching that does not allow for full pupil participation.

I would suggest, therefore, that the DES should promote self-evaluation by individual teachers at classroom level as a first step towards improvement. Then, when teachers have made some progress in reflecting on their practice and in trying to live to their values, a process of whole-school evaluation could begin. Improvement is more likely to occur when teachers are using a values-based approach to their classroom practice.