Education for Social Justice: Evaluation of the program

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Education for Social Justice Evaluation of the
program

• Zorica Trikic
• CIP- Center for Interactive Pedagogy, Serbia
• Jelena Vranjesevic, PhD
• Teachers' Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  

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Context in most of ISSA countriesSerbia

• Societies in transition
• All forms of "otherness" are viewed as a
  potential threat
• The fear of diversity being a dominant pattern
  of thinking and behavior.
• Negative labeling and scape-goating mechanism
• Isolation, lack of information / provision of
  selected information
• Lack of critical thinking / critical orientation
  toward reality
•  Learned helplessness
• Educational system as a reflection of society

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ESJ Program for adultsESJ Program for children
Respect for diversityISSA

• Educators are agents of change - change is needed
  both on personal and on professional level
• Education for Social Justice Program provokes
  both personal and professional change
•  On the personal level
• facing your own prejudices
• learning how to deal with otherness
• gaining strength deal with problems and find
  solutions
• On professional level
• - learning how to foster the development of
  minority children,
• - understanding the importance of building
  alliances and developing skills to find allies

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Research Aim

• To evaluate the effects of the ESJ programs
• a) What are the dominant attitudes toward ESJ
  issues before and after the training?
• b) Are there significant changes in attitudes
  concerning ESJ issues (tolerance, diversity,
  prejudices, oppression, professional role and
  building allies) after the training?

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Instrument Questionnaire

• 10 Clusters
• Tolerance
• Diversity
• Respect for diversity
• Minority Groups
• Children coming from Minority Groups
• Childs Rights
• The Role of the Teacher
• Parents
• Prejudices
• Building Allies

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RESULTS Attitudes toward ToleranceAttitudes
toward Diversity

• Everything happens this way, because we have lost
  our firm attitude and become too tolerant towards
  everything
• It is better not to talk much about problems,
• because the more you talk about them
• the greater they become

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RESULTS Attitudes toward Minority Groups

• Those who are different had better adjust than
  constantly demand their own rights
• Minority groups are responsible for their own
  marginalized status
• Minority groups rights fulfillment is commonly to
  the detriment of majority group rights

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RESULTS Attitudes toward Children coming from
minority groups

• First graders are to know the official native
  language and be educated in it
• Actions that affirm children from minority groups
  cause inequality and are not desirable
• It is difficult to work with minority children
  because they are not interested in education
• Every child can make great achievement, if they
  try harder

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Attitudes toward Childs Rights

• When childrens rights are not defined, there is
  no rights violation
• Adults working with children know best what is in
  childrens best interest
• Teachers should exchange confidential information
  about the children and their families in order to
  know enough about them(
• Punishment is the best way to teach children
  rules

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Attitudes toward Role of the Teacher

• Since there is nothing I can change concerning an
  equal treatment of all children, I had better
  focus all my energy to my mission education
• The main goal of the school is to provide
  education and transfer curricular contents to all
  
• Teachers should not interfere in politics or
  advocate minority group rights
• Teachers should focus on the curricula and
  syllabuses whereas children should focus on their
  studying

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Attitudes toward Parents

• Parents are not motivated to cooperate with
  school
• Parents from minority groups are not interested
  in their childrens education
• The main cause of violence increase among youth
  is the value system acquired at home

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Attitudes toward Prejudices

• I concider myself a person without prejudices
• Prejudices can not be unlearned

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Attitudes toward Building Allies

• Anti discriminatory actions are individual acts
  which do not require allies
• Teachers can not meet the needs of all children

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CONCLUSIONS

• Doing these kind of trainings is meaningful !
• The biggest changes are visible in the perception
  of the professional role, attitudes toward
  minority children/parents and childs rights
• This type of training help participants to become
  aware of their own prejudices, as well as the
  mechanism that reinforce and perpetuate system of
  oppression
• Problem of sustainability need for mentoring

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