Empowerment and teacher education

Abstract

There are three sources for the term empowerment. The first arises out of the everyday conditions that some people face. As examples, there are ongoing difficulties felt by those who live in slums to rise above conditions of poverty, and there are the general problems that minorities have in appropriating the benefits accruing to them as citizens. 2 A growing literature describes the obstacles that impede the progress of the poor and marginalized. The central problem identified in this literature is powerlessness. The term is defined as the inability to manage emotions, skills, knowledge, and/or material resources in such a way that effective performance of valued social roles (e.g., as a worker, a parent) will lead to personal gratification. 3 This absence of power in individuals, groups and communities comes about through a process whereby valued identities and roles on the one hand, and valuable resources on the other, are unattainable - all of which are prerequisite to the effective performance of these social roles. 4 It must be noted that this lack of power is not inherent in the nature of people but results from historic as well as particular treatment. It has been asserted that powerlessness is related to self-esteem. In this view, self-esteem is not only influenced by forces inherent within the person but is also affected by the external support, reinforcement and the judgments of others who themselves are afflicted with the human anxiety of self-doubt. Thus the powerless are dependent upon judgments from their social world for permission to exercise control over the major decisions which will affect their lives. It is argued that minorities constitute a special case and are systematically exposed to externally imposed powerlessness - some individuals more than others) What this suggests is that minority experience is deeply disabling. That is, there are individuals or groups whose exposure to negative valuations has been