Educational Institutions Negotiating Democracy and Social Justice

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• Educational Institutions Negotiating Democracy
  and Social Justice
• Dr. Paul Carr
• Youngstown State University
• Beeghly College of Education
• Dept. of Educational Administration, Research and
  Foundations
• Youngstown, Ohio, 44555
• prcarr_at_ysu.edu 330-941-2241

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Outline

• Conceptual Framework
• Data Sources
• Democracy and Social Justice Two ships passing
  in the night?
• Contextualizing Education
• Transforming the institution, or
  institutionalizing the transformation?
• Discussion

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Guiding Questions

• Can education lead to social change?
• Can institutions promote transformational change?
• How can social justice best be understood and
  advanced?
• Does accountability and the quest for high
  standards include social justice?
• Are democracy and education mutually
  reinforcing concepts?

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Conceptual Framework

• Transformational change anti-racism (CARR)
• Leadership, strategic planning diversity
  (FULLAN)
• Systemic racism marginalization (DEI)
• Cultural discontinuities minority castes (OGBU)
• Social re-production (BOURDIEU)
• Critical pedagogy (FREIRE McCLAREN)
• White power and privilege (FINE et al.)

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Data Sources

• Research on anti-racism and institutional change
  in Toronto and Canadian schools (mid- to
  late-1990s)
• Professional experience in government as a Senior
  Policy Advisor working on educational policy
  (1988-2005)
• Research on educational policymaking, democracy
  and citizenship (2003 present), with
  preliminary research on students/faculty in an
  Ohio university

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Change Anti-racism

• Racializing education is opposed by many
• Education is a political enterprise
• Social construction intersectionality of
  identity
• Marginalized communities
• Inequitable power relations
• Multiculturalism myth and the rise of
  anti-racism
• Power and privilege (Whiteness)
• Effect of affirmative action and employment
  equity
• Role of RM teachers and anti-racist education
• Uneven academic achievement

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Teacher Race and Education

• Findings on five topics where White and RM
  teachers have different perspectives
• 1) views of anti-racist education
• 2) RM teachers as role models
• 3) role of principals
• 4) support for employment equity
• 5) the treatment of RM teachers

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Leadership and Equity

• Need to make the agenda explicit
• Big picture" is critical
• Key factors re leadership and social justice
• 1) commitment to equity
• 2) preparation and understanding of equity
• 3) demonstrated leadership
• 4) the role of mediator
• 5) racial representation

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Institutional Barriers

• Commitment to equity is fraught with problems and
  obstacles
• Five barriers to the implementation of equity
• 1) lack of vision
• 2) decentralized nature of school system
• 3) lack of RMs in key positions
• 4) compartmentalization of interests
• 5) informal resistance to racial equality

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Educational Policymaking

• Is government capable of conceptualizing social
  justice?
• The predominance of Whiteness as a dominating
  influence
• Political agendas and the notion of
  accountability
• Two steps forward, one step back (informal
  resistance)
• No Child Left Behind (accountability for results
  emphasis on doing what works based on scientific
  research expanded parental options local
  control)

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Government (In)Action

• Ontario (NDP 1990-1995 PC 1995-2003 Liberals
  2003-present)
• Huge shift in ideological presence and resources
• Focus, mandate, planning and profile of social
  justice
• Formal discourse on minority issues, social
  cohesion and human rights and informal resistance
  
• Can there be progressive change from the inside?
• Business plans, communications strategies, tax
  cuts and democracy

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Democracy and Citizenship

• Preliminary research with students, teachers,
  faculty and community groups
• Humble appreciation for concepts demonstrated
  commitment/experience is often nebulous
• Emphasis on elections and the constitution
• Support for democracy in education with limited
  critical analysis
• Accountability is not always connected to social
  justice

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Conceptualizing Democracy Official Version

• National/international ethos and ideology
  favouring democracy
• Mainstream cultural appreciation of democracy
• Human rights and laws based on democracy
• Free-market economy equals democracy
• Elections equal democracy
• Our values are rooted in democracy, which
  protects are freedom (according to FOX News,
  fair and balanced)

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Conceptualizing Democracy Unofficial Version

• Democracy is experienced differently according to
  origin/background and context
• Elections not necessarily democratic (money,
  participation, identity, media, polling)(Jenson
  et al.)
• Democratic racism (Tator and Henry)
• Is poverty democratic?
• Rational incoherence to democracy (the monarchy,
  the Constitution and slavery, wealthy folks who
  dont pay income tax, the role of the media)

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The Identity of Democracy

• Diversity, equity and social justice
• Social construction of identity
• Representative vs. participatory democracy
• White power and privilege is not neutral
• Decisionmaking processes are shaped by
  power/money
• Changing demography (i.e., Latinos in US)
• Converging trans-national interests (i.e.,
  environment, war, poverty, etc., have
  international linkages)

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Educational Context

• Wide-ranging educational reforms
• Academic achievement vs. employability
• Accountability (for who?)
• Standardized testing for students
• Changing context for teachers
• Political-economy of globalization (competition)
• Multiculturalism, social justice White teachers
• Underachievement and a lack of response
• Privatization as opposed to societal
  responsibility

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Diversity in Toronto Schools

• UN declares Toronto worlds most multicultural
  city
• 300,000 students in 558 schools (Canadas
  largest)
• ESL 52 of (S) and 47 of (E) students
• Significant refugee population
• 24 (E) students born outside of Canada
• 12 of (S) students in Canada lt 3 years
• Approx. 15 of (S) students live without parents
• Approx. 30 of students live in poverty
• RM approx. 55 of students and 14 of teachers
• Special education 10 of students
• Disproportionate drop-out rate/academic
  achievement

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Education in a Democracy

• The purpose of public education?
• to support democracy
• social change (or social re-production)
• social cohesion
• individual choice
• civic engagement
• skills and knowledge
• attitudes and behaviour
• some combination of these

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Formulating democratic education

• An amalgam of concepts
• How decisions in education are made?
• What are those decisions?
• What is the effect of those decisions?
  (especially re citizenship, social justice and
  human development)
• Classroom/school content institutional
  processes and culture
• Accountability (not the TQM type)

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Institutional Culture

• Decisionmaking processes (who is at the table,
  and what happens?)
• Policy process (what issues are brought forward,
  and how? is research used to inform the policy
  process?)
• Accountability mechanisms (what do we measure,
  how, and why? what about social justice?)
• Data-collection and usage
• Traditions and ethos (types of leadership)
• Formal vs. informal implementation

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DE in the Classroom

• Curriculum (formal vs. hidden)
• civics vs. social studies
• ideology of policies, documents and resources
• facts vs. reflective learning
• integrated/infused or centralized approach
• linkages with community
• are teachers able and prepared? (Mellor)
• politics, levies, standards and the national
  priority for public education

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(Un)Critical Democracy

• Is critical thinking construed as anti-patriotic
  behaviour? (Westheimer)
• Can educational systems support critical
  reflection, and also adhere to prescriptive
  curriculum documents?
• How does critical learning mesh with teaching and
  standardized tests?
• Can we have democracy in the classroom if we
  dont have it in the system supporting the
  schools?

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Service-learning/Community Service

• Volunteerism that is non-critical avoids doing
  democracy
• Role of business and community in schools
• Authentic civic involvement may lead to less
  social problems and individualism
• Learning programs can be categorized (Westheimer
  and Kahne)
• responsible citizen
• participatory citizen
• social reformer

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Rationale for DE Framework

• No consensus on exact definition of DE
• Political nature of education (shifting visions)
• Insistence on short-term vs. long-term goals
• No culture of assessing entire education system
• Concern about exposing gaps and weaknesses
• Structural issues not conducive to accountability
• White privilege and power
• If not implemented, risk of losing credibility,
  moral authority, and capacity to confront
  problems (in Toronto, the call for
  black-focused schools)

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DE Framework

• Matrix-based, multi-layered, comprehensive
  framework for entire education system
  (province/state, school district and school
  levels)
• Ten substantive CONTENT components
• - Strategic policy - Training
• - Leadership - Evaluation
• - Policy development - Service-learning
• - Community involvement - Social justice
• - Extra-curricular - Curriculum

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DE Framework

• Eight FUNCTIONAL criteria
• - Inclusion - Data-collection/analysis
• - Representation - Decisionmaking process
• - Communications - Accountability mechanism
• - Funding - Monitoring and review

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Considerations for DE framework

• Cyclical nature of review
• Formulation of measures and targets is key
• Diversity must be contextualized
• Need to be open, transparent and accountable
• Political system must be responsive
• Same rigour used to develop standards for
  academic achievement is required for DE
• What is the cost of not developing, implementing
  and evaluating a DE framework?

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Potential for DE Framework

• Positive effect on democracy in society (civic
  participation)
• Support for human rights and social justice
• Improved educational experience (academic and
  citizenship)
• Educational systems/institutions will become more
  democratic and accountable
• More critical debate of public good

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Questions

• Is this model realistic, given political/economic
  interests of the state?
• Would this model assist in asserting social
  justice?
• Why and how would educational institutions
  reject/embrace the model?
• Would the model be helpful to marginalized
  groups?
• Is there a socio-political interest in achieving
  greater democracy and accountability in
  education?

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• MERCI BEAUCOUP !
• !MUCHAS GRACIAS!
• MESI ANPIL!
• THANK YOU!