Why are we in teaching and learning
if not to be able to help enrich the lives of our students? Educational
institutions at all levels, and of all types, should continue to strive for
social change in today’s world. Beyond the seeming simplicity of our conference
theme, however, is great scope for wide-ranging responses to just how we go
about educating for change by examining the inherent challenges and
responsibilities faced by educators the world over.
Education, too frequently, is the
victim of politics, and worse, sometimes ideologies. Politicians and
bureaucrats devise and implement policies to effect change ranging from
curriculum structure and goals to manipulating budgets on behalf of interest
groups and their lobbyists. Questions relating to accountability, transparent
governance and community relations are too frequently avoided.
Within the classroom itself,
bridging the gap between policy, theory, and practice, whether traditional or
virtual, teachers and professors de facto become, at varying levels, agents for
change. Beyond providing students with resources for study in given fields,
they also support them by often being seen as acting not merely as mentors, but
also as role models.
These issues are part of the global
transformation affecting all human civilization. How can we as teachers
function effectively in a very uncertain environment? How do we help to equip
our students with the intellectual and existential tools they require? How do
we narrow the gap between theory and practice? How do we make decisions about
curriculum and course context in the face of political pressure and social
norms? What is the role of interdisciplinary studies in educating for change?
And, at the macro level, how can we stimulate awareness of issues such as
education assisting the promotion of social justice?
Globalised education systems are
becoming increasing socially, ethnically and culturally diverse. However,
education is often defined through discourses embedded in Western paradigms as
globalised education systems become increasingly determined by dominant
knowledge economies. Policies, practices and ideologies of education help
define and determine ways in which social justice is perceived and acted out.
What counts as ‘education’ and as ‘knowledge’ can appear uncontestable but is
in fact both contestable and partial. Discourses of learning and teaching
regulate and normalize gendered and classed, radicalized and ethicized
understandings of what learning is and who counts as a learner.
In many educational settings and
contexts throughout the world, there remains an assumption that teachers are
the possessors of knowledge which is to be imparted to students, and that this
happens in neutral, impartial and objective ways. However, learning is about
making meaning, and learners can experience the same teaching in very different
ways. Students (as well as teachers) are part of complex social, cultural,
political, ideological and personal circumstances, and current experiences of
learning will depend in part on previous ones, as well as on age, gender,
social class, culture, ethnicity, varying abilities and more.
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