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Introduction
It is often the most marginalized people within a group that need the transformative power of education to empower the most. They are indeed least able to speak up and act on their own to change their environment to create better outcomes for them and their peers.
However, we often don’t know what the most marginalized need or want both in an educational setting and the community. It is also the special responsibility of teachers to understand and help them to think critically and get involved in their local community.
It is often the most marginalized people within a group that need the transformative power of education to empower the most. They are indeed least able to speak up and act on their own to change their environment to create better outcomes for them and their peers.
However, we often don’t know what the most marginalized need or want both in an educational setting and the community. It is also the special responsibility of teachers to understand and help them to think critically and get involved in their local community.
Aims and Objectives
When you finish this module, you will be able to:
When you finish this module, you will be able to:
- Familiarize with the figure of bell hooks and her theories of transgressive teaching.
- Establish links between such theories and Malta’s context.
- Identify student diversity in your own classroom and make changes as a result.
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Hearing the Unheard
Before continuing with this new module, watch this short cartoon to start thinking about what it means to be marginalized. Prepared by the South West Forum (a UK-based NGO), the following footage presents you a few keywords which are relevant for our fourth module: community engagement (meeting up with members of a given community to discuss ideas, suggestions and other insights) and “hard to reach groups” (the marginalized among the marginalized) are two of them. The video also points out the importance of building long-term relationships of trust in order to better engage with such groups. |
Click to watch the video clip!
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INTRODUCING BELL HOOKS
This fourth module stresses the importance of self-reflection to see the blind spots that you may have as a teacher with your own history and background. When we look at the world through our own eyes, it can be difficult to see how our actions impact others, especially if they come from a different background than our own.
This issue has been tackled by one author in particular: “bell hooks” (pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins), a cultural critic and activist born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (US) in 1952. In her work hooks addresses the intersectionality of class, race and gender and illustrates how oppressive systems work to the detriment of marginalised groups in society. Particularly, in her book “Teaching to Transgress” (1994), hooks stresses the need for teachers to understand the different histories and backgrounds of each of their students.
Source:
- BELL HOOKS INSTITUTE (BEREA COLLEGE), About the bell hooks Institute
This fourth module stresses the importance of self-reflection to see the blind spots that you may have as a teacher with your own history and background. When we look at the world through our own eyes, it can be difficult to see how our actions impact others, especially if they come from a different background than our own.
This issue has been tackled by one author in particular: “bell hooks” (pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins), a cultural critic and activist born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (US) in 1952. In her work hooks addresses the intersectionality of class, race and gender and illustrates how oppressive systems work to the detriment of marginalised groups in society. Particularly, in her book “Teaching to Transgress” (1994), hooks stresses the need for teachers to understand the different histories and backgrounds of each of their students.
Source:
- BELL HOOKS INSTITUTE (BEREA COLLEGE), About the bell hooks Institute
BELL HOOKS AND TEACHING TO TRANSGRESS
Teaching to Transgress focuses on teaching and promotes the idea of education as an activity whose main aim is to empower others. Because of this, she advocates for alternative strategies to teaching, and suggests that traditional forms of teaching suppress liberatory movements, and oppress people from different (non-white, non-Western) cultures and traditions. In doing so, bell hooks draws from the works of Paulo Freire, who we looked at in the previous module.
bell hooks describes her experiences growing up in the South of the US and contrasts schooling in a segregated black school with schooling in a predominantly white school. In the segregated school, education was used as a means for liberation and building an anti-racist society, whilst in the white school, it was used as a means for maintaining racist structures. Through this, furthermore, she explains the problems that she and others have had along the way to obtaining degrees and acceptance in academic circles.
Looking to teaching today, hooks declares that education is failing students by refusing to acknowledge their particular histories. She criticises the teaching establishment which denies and suppresses diversity by maintaining teaching methods that marginalise some and raise other up. Dominant educational practice does not acknowledge the differences between members of the student body. Like Freire, hooks advocates that teachers should instead teach students to think critically and question rules and authority figures; in other words, the latter should teach students to transgress established lines.
Teaching to Transgress focuses on teaching and promotes the idea of education as an activity whose main aim is to empower others. Because of this, she advocates for alternative strategies to teaching, and suggests that traditional forms of teaching suppress liberatory movements, and oppress people from different (non-white, non-Western) cultures and traditions. In doing so, bell hooks draws from the works of Paulo Freire, who we looked at in the previous module.
bell hooks describes her experiences growing up in the South of the US and contrasts schooling in a segregated black school with schooling in a predominantly white school. In the segregated school, education was used as a means for liberation and building an anti-racist society, whilst in the white school, it was used as a means for maintaining racist structures. Through this, furthermore, she explains the problems that she and others have had along the way to obtaining degrees and acceptance in academic circles.
Looking to teaching today, hooks declares that education is failing students by refusing to acknowledge their particular histories. She criticises the teaching establishment which denies and suppresses diversity by maintaining teaching methods that marginalise some and raise other up. Dominant educational practice does not acknowledge the differences between members of the student body. Like Freire, hooks advocates that teachers should instead teach students to think critically and question rules and authority figures; in other words, the latter should teach students to transgress established lines.
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Listen to Bell Hooks! In this recording, you can listen to bell hooks discussing how the dominating culture (the American one, in her specific context) restrains marginalised black youths from developing their full potential. How can marginalised groups move “from pain to power”? |
CASE STUDY: the Bentleigh Secondary College in Melbourne and pupils with hair braids (March 2017).
In March 2017, a public school in Melbourne pulled out of class two sixteen-year-old sisters of South Sudanese descent, Grace and Tahbisa, because of their braided hairstyle. According to the school authorities, the girls’ hairstyle did not “represent” the school and did not conform with the school’s uniform policy. The students, who felt discriminated against because of their African background, took their story to the media.
“We were told that our hair doesn’t represent the school,” Grace said. “It’s not a problem and it doesn’t affect our education. They are asking us to look like everyone else.”
This case sparked furore among the public and authorities alike. The school eventually decided to allow the students to wear braids and adapted the uniform policy to be more inclusive of different styles.
“We are a welcoming school and I am absolutely comfortable with students expressing their cultural heritage,” the school’s principal, Helene Hiotis, said in a statement. “The family has been offered a school uniform exemption. We will work with them on this so the girls can wear their new braided hairstyle to school. Our uniform policy is something the school has worked very hard on. Exemptions to the uniform policy are always available where appropriate in situations like this one.”
The twins said they had worn braids since they were babies. “It’s a protective style. It looks good and it keeps our hair growing … it is part of our identity.”
This case study shows how students who present cultural and physical aspects that differ from the majority of the classroom may be subject to discrimination by the ruling authority (in this case, the Bentleigh Secondary College in Melbourne). On the basis of the same grounds, such students may also be offered exemptions, which is sometimes referred to as “positive discrimination”.
Source:
- THE GUARDIAN, “School will allow black students to keep hair braids after ‘ban’ furore” [online], 31 March 2017.
In March 2017, a public school in Melbourne pulled out of class two sixteen-year-old sisters of South Sudanese descent, Grace and Tahbisa, because of their braided hairstyle. According to the school authorities, the girls’ hairstyle did not “represent” the school and did not conform with the school’s uniform policy. The students, who felt discriminated against because of their African background, took their story to the media.
“We were told that our hair doesn’t represent the school,” Grace said. “It’s not a problem and it doesn’t affect our education. They are asking us to look like everyone else.”
This case sparked furore among the public and authorities alike. The school eventually decided to allow the students to wear braids and adapted the uniform policy to be more inclusive of different styles.
“We are a welcoming school and I am absolutely comfortable with students expressing their cultural heritage,” the school’s principal, Helene Hiotis, said in a statement. “The family has been offered a school uniform exemption. We will work with them on this so the girls can wear their new braided hairstyle to school. Our uniform policy is something the school has worked very hard on. Exemptions to the uniform policy are always available where appropriate in situations like this one.”
The twins said they had worn braids since they were babies. “It’s a protective style. It looks good and it keeps our hair growing … it is part of our identity.”
This case study shows how students who present cultural and physical aspects that differ from the majority of the classroom may be subject to discrimination by the ruling authority (in this case, the Bentleigh Secondary College in Melbourne). On the basis of the same grounds, such students may also be offered exemptions, which is sometimes referred to as “positive discrimination”.
Source:
- THE GUARDIAN, “School will allow black students to keep hair braids after ‘ban’ furore” [online], 31 March 2017.
“TRANSGRESSIVE TEACHING” IN MALTA
It is the aim of this module to look at Empowerment by considering the ways in which teachers can unconsciously discriminate or marginalise certain students - because of teachers’‘blind spots’ in their thinking and behaviour. Moving from the historic cases of segregation in the US addressed by bell hooks, and considering the aforementioned case study of discrimination in a public school in Melbourne… how can you relate this issue to the Maltese context?
This question is particularly relevant in the light of the increasing number of migrant arrivals in Malta since about ten years. How do you think this fact impacts the way educators teach, the aspects they consider “normal”, natural, or common sense? Not only classrooms but also neighbourhoods and communities are becoming increasingly diverse. How do you think the school landscape is evolving in Malta? Do you think similar issues to those happening in the US and Australia could happen in Malta too?
It is the aim of this module to look at Empowerment by considering the ways in which teachers can unconsciously discriminate or marginalise certain students - because of teachers’‘blind spots’ in their thinking and behaviour. Moving from the historic cases of segregation in the US addressed by bell hooks, and considering the aforementioned case study of discrimination in a public school in Melbourne… how can you relate this issue to the Maltese context?
This question is particularly relevant in the light of the increasing number of migrant arrivals in Malta since about ten years. How do you think this fact impacts the way educators teach, the aspects they consider “normal”, natural, or common sense? Not only classrooms but also neighbourhoods and communities are becoming increasingly diverse. How do you think the school landscape is evolving in Malta? Do you think similar issues to those happening in the US and Australia could happen in Malta too?
Creative Thinking Exercise
As discussed earlier in the course, empowerment is needed the most with the most vulnerable or marginalised group in a society - the ones who do not fit in to a typical description of the student population. In this module, we have been thinking about how even with the best intentions teachers can disempower students, especially the ones that come from a different back to themselves. To help you identify these students, please answer the following questions:
As discussed earlier in the course, empowerment is needed the most with the most vulnerable or marginalised group in a society - the ones who do not fit in to a typical description of the student population. In this module, we have been thinking about how even with the best intentions teachers can disempower students, especially the ones that come from a different back to themselves. To help you identify these students, please answer the following questions:
- What do you think you know about your students before you meet them (religion, race, socio-economic background, what family members do they have…)? Make a detailed description of a typical student at your school.
- Does this general description fit for you as well? Are you of the same religion, race, background, gender etc. as the majority of students at your school? If not, how are you different? How does that affect your relationship with them?
- Do you encounter students that do not fit the description of a typical student? How do they differ from the others? Do they differ from you? Are you confident you know the needs, desires, expectations and experiences of that student?
- How do you think your identity affects the way you teach and see others? How can a differing identity affect the way someone experiences the world?
- Try to imagine what your classroom would look like if it was designed by one of your minority students.
- We are often bound to make unconscious assumptions or biases about other people, especially if they come from a different social group from us. How can you defend against that?
- How can you create a classroom which is flexible enough to address the needs of everybody in it? How can you make sure everybody in the room is empowered?
Summary
This module has been all about reflecting on your own ideas and identity, and how that affects your ideas about teaching and the practices you employ. What you do and how you teach affects all your students, but affects them all in a different way; therefore, understanding unconscious bias for or against educational practices is crucial to empowering all your students, regardless of their background.
In the final module of the course, you will be asked to reflect more on how your own practice can be more empowering for your students. You will be presented with real life examples of teachers and educators that are empowering their students and young people.
This module has been all about reflecting on your own ideas and identity, and how that affects your ideas about teaching and the practices you employ. What you do and how you teach affects all your students, but affects them all in a different way; therefore, understanding unconscious bias for or against educational practices is crucial to empowering all your students, regardless of their background.
In the final module of the course, you will be asked to reflect more on how your own practice can be more empowering for your students. You will be presented with real life examples of teachers and educators that are empowering their students and young people.
Additional Reading
This module only scratched the surface of the information regarding student diversity and the need to empower marginalized pupils. To learn more, here is some recommended literature:
- bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames (UK), 1994, 216 p..
- CARNEY STRANGE, C. and HARDY COX, Donna, Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education, McGill - Queen’s University Press, Montreal-Kingston, 2016, 288 p..
- GEISLER-BRENSTEIN, E., HETHERINGTON, J. and SCHMECK, R. R., “An Individual Difference Perspective on Student Diversity”, in Higher Education, vol. 31, n°1 (Jan. 1996), pp. 73-96.
- McPartland, James M. and SCHNEIDER, Barbara, “Opportunities to Learn and Student Diversity: Prospects and Pitfalls of a Common Core Curriculum”, in Sociology of Education, vol. 69, Extra Issue: Special Issue on Sociology and Educational Policy: Bringing Scholarship and Practice Together (1996), pp. 66-81
This module only scratched the surface of the information regarding student diversity and the need to empower marginalized pupils. To learn more, here is some recommended literature:
- bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames (UK), 1994, 216 p..
- CARNEY STRANGE, C. and HARDY COX, Donna, Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education, McGill - Queen’s University Press, Montreal-Kingston, 2016, 288 p..
- GEISLER-BRENSTEIN, E., HETHERINGTON, J. and SCHMECK, R. R., “An Individual Difference Perspective on Student Diversity”, in Higher Education, vol. 31, n°1 (Jan. 1996), pp. 73-96.
- McPartland, James M. and SCHNEIDER, Barbara, “Opportunities to Learn and Student Diversity: Prospects and Pitfalls of a Common Core Curriculum”, in Sociology of Education, vol. 69, Extra Issue: Special Issue on Sociology and Educational Policy: Bringing Scholarship and Practice Together (1996), pp. 66-81
