Category Archives: 1.1 Social Justice

We are still stuck in the past

Our focus in our lectures and reading this week has been “Understanding ourselves: values as embodied and culturally specific” and it has got me really thinking about inequalities in the past and how they have or haven’t changed in the present day.

It’s fair to say that many people have learnt about in school and are aware of the segregation laws that were enforced between white and coloured people in the past. Many people are also aware of the responses to this situation such as the black lives matter campaign. If you asked someone on the street whether society is on it’s way to a more equal outlook on race they are most likely to say yes. However it is very evident if you just look at recent news that this is not the case. I decided to investigate a little further to see how our society’s opinions are stuck in the past.

This is what appears if you simply google “successful people”:

Even though people would say we are on the right path to a more equal society there are still so many news stories and evidence that we may never make it to racial equality. You may also notice that all of the above pictures are not only white but white males. Once again another inequality of the past has appeared when I simply typed something into google. I am not a writer so I am finding it difficult to find a just way to end this post. All I can say is there is still a lot more to do in our society but as individuals we can try to push these stereotypes out the window especially when it comes to educating children in our classrooms.

A workshop with a hidden meaning

This week my fellow student teachers and I participated in a very interesting workshop focussed on structural inequalities; although we didn’t know this at the time!

The task was to create a resource a new student could use to make their lives easier in this new environment. Each of the four groups were given a pack of things they were allowed to use. The 2 groups with less in their packs were almost ignored when presenting their ideas and products while my group, rich in pencils, paper, card and even rubber bands we could use, was encouraged and praised. While the products presented were all similar my group was rewarded with a 9/10 and a bag of minstrels at the end of the session.

While you think it would be obvious what was trying to be demonstrated, my group with all the bright coloured paper and felt tip pens didn’t actually notice the other groups with less. We were so engrossed with what we could make with all of these resources and bouncing ideas off of each other and the tutor we didn’t realise other groups had just a few pieces of white paper and some measly paperclips. This overlook can be reflected in our society today.

Families and communities in areas of deprivation are sometimes forgotten about. We choose to overlook them when we are too engrossed in our own lives. While in the classroom as teachers we can equally distribute the resources and make sure everyone is supported we must think further to society and how we view people with less available to them. Our capabilities may be the same but with less resources it is twice as hard for others to succeed. This should be remembered when we form our opinions on other people’s experiences. As an individual I know I need to pay more attention to others around me and what they have.

This workshop really opened my mind to opinions I didn’t know I had and was very effective in demonstrating the structural inequalities in our society despite my group being very disappointed to learn we hadn’t fairly won that bag of minstrels.

Welcome to your WordPress eportfolio

Welcome to your ePortfolio. This is where you will document and share your professional thoughts and experiences over the course of your study at the University of Dundee and beyond that when you begin teaching. You have the control over what you want to make public and what you would rather keep on a password protected page.

The ePortfolio in the form of this WordPress blog allows you to pull in material from other digital sources:

You can pull in a YouTube video:

You can pull in a Soundcloud audio track:

You can upload an image or pull one in from Flickr or any other image sharing site.

Teacher, Lorraine Lapthorne conducts her class in the Grade Two room at the Drouin State School, Drouin, Victoria

You can just about pull in anything that you think will add substance and depth to your writing.