Inside a Box: Using Objects To Collaboratively Narrate Educator Experiences of Transformation in Higher Education

Social justice is a fundamental concern for ideal social structure and human rights. To develop social order and philosophical discourses, higher education is one of the holistic approaches to educating it. It elevates the level of idealized modern state formation among students. The present study was designed to examine the contexts of students about practices and malpractices of social justice in higher education. The quantitative approach was adopted to gather the data from 630 university graduates. All the data were gathered through a self-made questionnaire. The findings of the study explained that the participants were not satisfied with practices of social justice in higher education. Most of the participants expressed malpractices of social norms.Especially female students claimed their injustice experiences in higher education. The researcher recommended bold recommendations to uphold the social justice in higher education departments

Berila, B. (2016). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Frances Group. Pages: 181. Price: 45.99 USD. (paper).Beth Berila thoughtfully illuminates the intersection between the practice of mindfulness and social justice education in her book, Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy. The subtitle of her book, Social Justice in Higher Education, highlights the intended audience for her writing. Berila expresses the purpose in writing her book as desire to help us interrupt oppression its roots in our bodies, our hearts, and our minds (p. x). In speaking to the manner in which mindfulness practices can broaden student perspectives in courses that deal with diversity, she reveals the complex ways in which student experiences shape learning and understanding.Demystifying the status quo of power relations and uncovering the ways in which these relationships work to sustain oppression is the basis for anti-oppression pedagogy. Contemplative practices encourage an embodied self-awareness and understanding. In merging the two, Berila proposes a mindful anti-oppression pedagogy that promotes an embodied social justice understanding. As an instructor who has taught courses with social justice themes, I am always interested in the experiences of my students and the responses they have to course material, but I had not considered how these experiences might be deeply held in their bodies. Berila encourages all instructors engaged in social justice education to attend to the ways in which classroom learning experiences impact students in a physical sense. Her book addresses these themes by critically framing mindful anti-oppression pedagogy and suggesting possible learning experiences for instructors of social justice education.Each chapter begins with a thorough analysis and discussion on how mindfulness can be linked to and complement anti-oppression pedagogy. These sections are carefully structured and offer a theoretical framework for thinking about mindfulness practices in social justice education. This theoretical grounding pulls the reader into Berila's central argument: that an integration of mindfulness practices with anti-oppression pedagogy will lead to a deeper understanding of social justice issues and self reflection. Social justice education is a process. The intersectionality of identity, power, privilege and oppression reminds us that structural forces underpin inequities in our society. But social justice work has to also happen at the level of the individual, as we unlearn prejudicial ideologies and oppressive ways of being (p.173). Berila describes the ways in which diversity and difference are embodied by students in their experiences, values, beliefs, and identities within communities. Untangling students' behaviours and beliefs their core is the purpose for her compassionate use of mindfulness practices in her classroom.In Chapter 1, Berila presents an anti-oppression pedagogy framework and introduces us to the idea of mindfulness and its usefulness for engaging students. This chapter allows readers to situate themselves in the context of social justice education. Critical reflection is usually a part of social justice courses, but mindfulness allows for a focus on not only what students are thinking, but on what they are feeling.Contemplative practices enable students to cultivate emotional intelligence, l e a r n to sit with difficult emotions, recognize deeply entrenched narratives they use to interpret the world, cultivate compassion for other people, and become more intentional about how they respond in any given moment. (p. 15)We are invited to move beyond a teaching style that engages only the cognitive abilities of our students, to incorporating practices that allow them to consider issues more deeply and from multiple perspectives. The ideas introduced in this chapter are developed and explored as themes in the chapters that follow. …

In this study we discuss various issues like that of the formulation of principles of impact of higher education policy. Over the past twenty years there is a global set of meeting addresses on learning around the globe, differently done by different nations. Higher education initially had remained constant throughout centuries however the system is currently undergoing a change, evaluative as it is as, this article starts off by including multi-disciplinary programs as its core. Higher education administration and the administrators are required to be socially just, must be concerned about equity and must lead the students be better human beings. The articles emphasises of the requirement of social justice and a leadership structure. The integration of equity, social justice, good conscience and ethics must be reflected in professional practice. The objective of this article is to understand the current numerous perspectives on the developments and trends around higher education around the globe. It is in particular aimed that social justice forms a crucial part of higher education. There are various approaches of higher education institutions around the world to admit students such as the classical merit/elite door and financial interest door. The study has been gathered upon consultation of various relevant documents and literature to understand the problem, the research done is analytical and not empirical. The article argues that it is a perquisite of higher educational institutes to uphold social responsiveness by taking in social justice. Over and above that it is also pertinent to raise consciousness about social justice and social responsiveness of higher educational institute’s stakeholders and by bookkeeping different perspectives contributing to engineer just and fair society. The study further discusses various related issues of social justice in higher education’s and different approaches and themes have been incorporated for a better study and understanding.

The aim of this article is to suggest a better—theoretically and empirically grounded—understanding of the complex character of social justice in higher education. Theoretically, this article conceptualises social justice in higher education as mediating participation in, completion of and outcomes from higher education. It introduces the concept of composite capability for achieving higher education that captures capabilities to participate in, complete and gain outcomes from higher education. This study also develops a methodology for building an empirically based classification of countries regarding social justice in participation in higher education, taking into account the assessed inequality in students’ pathways to higher education as well as inequality in their social conditions, associated with students’ social origin. In so doing, it develops three indices: the index of inequalities in students’ pathways, the index of inequalities in students’ social conditions and the index of participation in higher education. Using microdata from the EUROSTUDENT VII survey (2019–2021) for 12 European countries, it applies the developed methodology to classify countries, for which data are available, by the degree of fairness in participation in higher education. This study’s results demonstrate the social embeddedness of social justice in higher education in different economic and political contexts.

The latest volume in the Core Concepts in Higher Education series explores the complexity of law in higher education and both the limits and opportunities of how law can promote inclusivity and access on campus. Through a historical and legal framework, this volume discusses undergraduate students' histories of inclusion and struggles for social justice in higher education by race, sex, social class, dis/ability, and sexual orientation. Bridging research, theory, and practice, Law and Social Justice in Higher Education encourages future and current higher education and student affairs practitioners to consider how they can collaborate to further a just society. Special features: Discussion of case law illustrates the reach and limits of law and where higher education professionals can continue to push for social justice. Accessible to non-lawyers, chapters highlight key legal terms and key concepts to guide readers at the beginning of each chapter. End-of-chapter questions provide prompts for discussion and encourage student interactivity.

The National Development Plan (NDP) advocates for the elimination of poverty, and the reduction of inequality by 2030. These goals can only be achieved if we harness the energies of the people, build an inclusive economy, develop skills, improve the capacity of the state and promote leadership and partnerships across society. This is to be achieved through transforming society more equitably and at the same time making the country more competitive in the global economic system. The article seeks to explore how institutions of higher learning can be transformed through the production of future professors with a developmental agenda. Therefore, the NDP advocates continuous professional development, lifelong learning and knowledge production, and innovation as a focus for building the capacity of individuals and society. The article employed the modernisation theory as a vehicle to drive social change and transformation in higher education. The article employed a systematic review of the literature on transformation and social change in higher education as advocated in the NDP. The findings of the article show that universal human development can be achieved by respecting human rights, promoting equality and empowering people to exercise the opportunities and choices they value in higher education. The article recommends that a structured interaction between lecturers and students within the context of transformative change and social justice should be prioritised in higher education. This can only be achieved through preparing the future professor with a developmental agenda to assist in shaping higher education by designing a curriculum that responds to the needs of the current cohort of students. Keywords: developmental agenda, future professoriate, modernisation theory, social change, transformation

This chapter explores the goals of the Equality Act and educational leadership as dictated by government policy in relation to school leaders, and as part of this, considers the role of higher education institutions in promoting race equality in educational leadership in higher education. The chapter questions whether such a state is desirable and achievable in twenty-first century Britain particularly at a time when greater emphasis is given by universities to student (rather than staff) experience and NSS scores/league tables which promote student experience, and conducting race equality impact assessments are no longer a compulsory requirement. In examining the relevance of social justice in educational leadership, the chapter is less concerned with leadership styles or roles and focuses instead on White constructions/perceptions of who can occupy leadership positions. As such, the chapter explores the implications for universities in facilitating diverse but equitable leadership in higher education from a social justice perspective.

The quality of relationships among students, faculty, and organizations is key to the impact of Service-Learning (SL) programs. However, research has primarily focused on student outcomes, leaving a gap in the analysis of these relationships and their commitment to social impact. This case study examines the relationships among stakeholders in an SL program at a private South American university through interviews with 30 participants. Given the lack of research on this topic in the region, the findings provide valuable insights for institutions implementing SL as a tool for social justice in education. The relationship between organizations and faculty was often found to be exploitative and superficial, though faculty expressed a willingness to improve it. In contrast, other interactions were more transformative, characterized by high levels of communication and engagement, reflecting progress toward a more critical and socially just approach. We conclude that ongoing evaluation is essential to improving stakeholder relationships in SL programs and establishing them as a tool for equity and social justice in higher education.

A familiar discourse about higher education and social change today relates to higher education’s socio-economic role within knowledge societies in a globalizing world. This paper addresses how issues of social justice feature in such discourses; whether social justice in higher education has been appropriated into a neo-liberal strategy for growing competitive economies; and whether it is possible to deploy an instrument of new public management for advancing the purposes of social justice in higher education. The paper reflects on some of the normative, policy and strategic ambiguities in the notion of social justice as currently invoked in higher education and social change discourses.

Students with disabilities face myriad barriers and hurdles to success in higher education settings. Institutions in developing nations often lack the necessary resources to provide accessible instruction, and the absence of clearly defined policies further impedes upholding the educational rights of such a special population. The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate students with visual impairments in Bangladesh felt about their experiences related to social justice and challenges in learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A convenience sample of 133 students was recruited from two public universities. The authors developed two instruments, namely, the Social Justice Experiences in Higher Education Scale and the Social Justice Challenges in Higher Education Scale, to measure how the participants felt. The results showed that most of the participants experienced some sort of difficulty in receiving social justice in higher education. However, the differences in the group mean score on social justice experiences and challenges in higher education were not statistically significant between the male and female participants of this study. The outcomes of the study and their implications for rehabilitation research and practice have also been addressed in this paper.

(1) Background: Uneven access to the experience of extra-classroom, student–faculty pedagogical partnerships, as well as the relatively small number of students who can participate in this work, raise equity concerns. Calls to scale up such partnership opportunities often focus on expanding the number and kind of existing partnership projects in a given context, which requires resources and infrastructure that many institutions do not have. (2) Method: We took a students-as-co-researchers approach to a three-phase action-research project to test our hypothesis that (a) assessing the benefits of pedagogical partnership, (b) conceptualizing a new approach to fostering those benefits, and (c) piloting that approach could inform efforts at our own and other institutions to pursue social-justice goals in higher education. (3) Findings: Both our review of the wider literature and our analysis of our own partnership program’s student and faculty participant perspectives affirmed that participating in extra-classroom, student–faculty pedagogical partnerships fosters in students personal learning-related capacities, deepens understanding of other learners and of teachers, and builds career-ready competencies. The new scaling-up approach to fostering these benefits that we conceptualized and have begun to pilot has the potential to be more inclusive, equitable, and feasible than replicating existing extra-classroom pedagogical partnership models. (4) Conclusions: Creating such opportunities for students to develop educational, interpersonal, and professional capacities and competencies can contribute to equity and social justice in higher education.

Issues of social justice in higher education together with a focus on access or widening participation have become of increasing importance globally. Given the complex theoretical terrain of social justice and the tensions inherent in applying social justice frameworks within higher education, and particularly in the area of access, this paper argues that it is necessary to take a step back and reflect on key theories of social justice and their implications for higher education. The paper considers three leading theorists of social justice whose work is commonly applied in higher education contexts and provides an account of the implications of this work for a specific social justice challenge, that of increasing access to university. The complexities of access and success in South African higher education are used as an illustrative case. On the basis of this conceptual analysis an argument is presented for the capabilities approach as a particularly productive theoretical approach in the context of university access for promoting more just outcomes, through a specific consideration of student agency and the interaction of this agency with institutional contexts.

Microteaching has been successful in developing teaching practices of both novice and more experienced educators and in enhancing student learning. At Queen Mary University of London, they have a highly diverse body of students. Because of this, the authors wanted to explore the use of microteaching as a teaching strategy to enhance social justice in higher education (access, fairness, diversity, participation, and human rights). In this chapter, they offer a systematic approach to support academics to fully realize the potential of micro teaching utilizing an operating systems module from the Computer Science and Engineering curriculum to promote social justice for learners. This chapter offers a methodical approach to creating your own micro teaching lesson plan by taking social justice ideals into consideration when teaching in a multicultural context. A reflection on the microteaching session plan is also provided, and potential challenges to implementing this approach are also discussed through considering social justice and intercultural development in the classroom.

Davis, T., & Harrison, L. M. (2013). Advancing Social Justice: Tools, Pedagogies, and Strategies to Transform Your Campus (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 240 pp. ISBN: 978-1-118-38843-3 (hardback) The term social justice is described in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Accordingly, this phenomenon can be approached from many different perspectives such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Irrespective of the approach, social justice proponents are expected to hold certain epistemologies and apply appropriate skills toward the development of a just society. Advancing Social Justice (Davis & Harrison, 2013) proposes a comprehensive argument toward facilitating social justice education in a practical way. Davis and Harrison (2013) have a strong academic and practice background in the social justice field. They draw from their experience to inform what they believe is needed in higher educational settings to reexamine the processes and approaches that educators use to promote learning and liberation (p. xvii). Supporting the latter statement in the book's foreword, Larry Roper emphasizes that there is a lack of adequate frameworks and conceptual rigor in addressing and implementing social justice efforts in higher education. The authors state that the audiences for the book are faculty, practitioners, and students. However, the book primarily addresses the role faculty play in advancing social justice in the classroom. Many examples provided in the book are about the authors' experiences as instructors who have amassed learning experiences dealing with students in some challenging situations that involved social justice themes. The book contains eight chapters, each beginning with a quote related to the chapter's theme. The first chapter includes an argument about the underlying epistemological perspectives required of educators to foster a social justice-oriented educational setting. The authors advocate post-positivist perspective as opposed to positivist and relativist frameworks to demonstrate how emancipatory educational settings are cultivated. Chapter 2 clarifies commonly used terms in the social justice field, while Chapter 3 reviews a number of historical implications of social justice. Chapter 3 closes with a quote from Loewen (1993), who suggests, Citizens who are their own historians, willing to identify lies and distortions and able to use sources to determine what really went on in the past, become a formidable force for democracy (p. 318). Chapters 4 through 8 principally address practical applications for advancing social justice in higher education. The authors' inclusive approach to the advancement of social justice helps the reader to not only learn about the concept of social justice but also view the potential barriers that may hinder one's development toward a social justice orientation. …

In this essay, we contend that there is much unfinished business ahead for Christian higher education. Our argument is grounded in the cumulative impact of long-standing frameworks and an expanding knowledge base on diversity and social justice in higher education. In 2013, we edited a special volume of this journal calling for focused work on faith, diversity, and social justice within Christian higher education. Since then, we feel heavily influenced by racialized events in the United States and our concern as educators regarding the role and responsibility of Christian higher education in educating its students. The purpose of the article is to challenge and extend the conversation on diversity and social justice in Christian higher education. To that end, we suggest questions that Christian higher education leaders should be asking of themselves. We emphasize how Christian higher education can take the lead in advancing social justice as part of its mission. We explore definitions and old paradigms and discuss the significance of current events and cultural thinking. We then outline actionable institutional frameworks and initiatives that can move Christian higher education forward.