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.