Education For Social Transformation Research Articles

The empowerment of female students from deprived backgrounds through education for social transformation – A study of Tangaza University College, Nairobi, East Africa

The research focused on the empowerment of female students for social transformation at Tangaza University College, whose core values consist of Catholic social teachings. The college provides higher education to young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity for higher studies. Of the 2,000+ college students, 1,500 receive partial or full scholarships. The aim of the study was to find out how Tangaza fulfils its mission of educating for social transformation, from the responses of female students from low to very low income families. These are in two groups: female students mostly from squatter areas in the city of Nairobi, and the women religious, who primarily come from villages where primary and secondary education is sadly inadequate. The study makes use of a synthesis of theories of empowerment compiled by a social scientist, Mann Hyung Hur. The results showed how Tangaza’s education for social transformation has empowered its female students in the three areas of personal growth, job competence and social responsibility. However, there are differing degrees of empowerment among the three categories. An analysis is done of the differences between the three areas of empowerment, and recommendations are made. The sample population consists of women graduates of Tangaza University College from the academic years 2010-2017.

PERCEPTION OF THE FIRST YEAR MBBS STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ORIENTATION PROGRAM BY CREST AT THE ENTRY LEVEL

Introduction: The orientation of the MBBS students is must at the time of beginning of the course. The 8 days program was conducted with the help of CEST (Centre for Research & Education for Social Transformation) to overcome different problems and to develop personality skills. Aim: To help the students to overcome stress and to develop new skills. Methods and Material: The study was done on the first year MBBS students of batch (2018-2019) at RGMC, Hamirpur, HP. An orientation program was conducted for the students by the team of the CREST for a period of 8 days. All the students participated in 8 days long orientation program held from 27th to 3rd August, 2018. A questionnaire was prepared to access the feedback of the students. There were 10 questions in the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using descriptive and thematic content analysis. Results: All students participated in the orientation program. Before participating in this program, they were a little afraid but after going through this program they were very happy and satisfied. They were more confident to face the new challenges now. Conclusions: The orientation program, as suggested by the MCI, conducted with the help of CREST helped the students to overcome the anxiety and communication gaps among themselves as well with faculty. It boosted their moral.

An Integrative Collaborative Project Approach to Climate-Change Resilience and Urban/Regional Sustainability for the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region

In a rapidly urbanizing world, the social, economic, and ecological complexities of cities require conceptual and operational innovations to enhance climate resilience and sustainability. We describe our Integrative Collaborative Project (ICP) approach to co-create climate resilience in the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region (MLCHR). In recent years, it has suffered from frequent natural disasters, and under climate change scenarios, the intensity and frequency of extreme events, including severe floods, droughts, heat waves and landslides are expected to increase. ICPs are framed as socio-technical capacity building enterprises, with networks operating at multiple scales. The approach differs from other integrative efforts, which tend to be top-down with scant civil society co-ownership, and focus on limited aspects like indicators/assessment, or institutional capacity building. We reimagine all operational stages, from creative thinking, through ethos and concept, assessment, planning, project design, implementation and management, and monitoring and evaluation. The design of ICPs is informed by six integrative domains: 1) project ethos, concept, and framing; 2) sectors, topics, and issues; 3) spatial and temporal scales; 4) stakeholder interests, relationships and capacities; 5) knowledge types, models and methods; and 6) socio-technical capacities and networks. Empirically, the approach is based on participatory development practices, pilot project work tackling sustainable water and sanitation in Mexico, and a synthesis of rich experiential knowledge spanning 20 years. The theoretical basis considers a pragmatic knowledge frame, socio-technical transitions literature, and education for social transformation. We describe forward-looking operational details of the Pilot ICP for the Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region, with our three-university partnership as catalyst, and a new breed of socio-technical enterprise organization as a key partner, engaging stakeholders at municipal and regional scales.

Caribbean dreams: Education for more than just sustainable development

Education has the potential to help address some of the most critical social and environmental issues of the Caribbean. However, I argue that this can only occur if there is a radical critique of the now dominant education for sustainable development (ESD) discourse, which is seemingly constructed primarily from the positionality and interests of the global powerful. I draw on repositioning theory to reframe the perspective from which the sustainability discourse is constructed to advocate for an educational approach that is more relevant to the context of the Caribbean. The resulting education envisioned in this paper, Education for Social Transformation (EST), challenges some of the assumptions and conceptions of ESD by exposing broader issues of inequity that the latter concept implicitly endorses. I argue that EST may help build sustainable Caribbean societies by linking environmental preservation to broader social transformations. Thus, transformation takes center stage in place of the limited notion of sustainability that has become synonymous with capitalist development violence.

Vertical Gardens: Sustainability, Youth Participation, and the Promotion of Change in a Socio-Economically Vulnerable Community in Brazil

This article is situated within the intersection of education for social transformation (EST) and ecojustice education (EJE). We have described the benefits of youth participation in an after-school science program offered to socio-economically vulnerable populations in São Paulo (Brazil). More specifically, we explored participants’ changing views of sustainability as they engaged in a 24-week project of their choice: The cultivation of a vertical herb garden. The analysis of our discussions and extensive field notes revealed that during the time participants cared for the garden, they developed: (a) A more accurate (refined) conceptualization of sustainability, (b) an appreciation for alternative and viable ways of producing food in urban settings, and (c) a stronger relationship with one another. In the end, involvement in the vertical garden project proved to be a powerful example of how science education can transform the livelihood of youth by expanding their views on human interconnectedness with all forms of life.

Emancipatory Education and Youth Engagement in Brazil: A Case Study Bridging the Theory and Practice of Education for Social Transformation

Actualizing education beyond the scope of traditional schooling and incorporating elements of critical pedagogy and social transformation are essential for efforts aiming to reduce inequalities and enhance the livelihoods of excluded populations. This article examines emancipatory education through a Freirean lens by considering its dimensions of critical pedagogy, both in practice and in theory. Drawing from a case study of an NGO-led initiative enabling hundreds of young people from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to formulate and implement their own ideas for social action, the article examines the links between the program’s objectives and practices and the aspects of the negotiated curriculum, problem-posing education, dialogical learning, and praxis that form the theoretical underpinnings of emancipatory education. The case study findings, which highlight the stages of the educational program, reveal how young people are empowered to challenge prevailing environments of exclusion and advance practices of positive community social regeneration. The study, thus, provides evidence of a form of education for social transformation (EST) which can contribute meaningfully to a peaceful struggle for social change while simultaneously redefining and humanizing education as a practice of emancipation.

Education for Social Transformation (EST) in the Caribbean: A Postcolonial Perspective

This paper critically examines the possibilities of education for social transformation (EST) in the context of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This is a region with a history of colonialism and embodies some of the central dilemmas of globalization, such as inequality and environmental precarity. Thus, conceptually, EST holds great promise for social justice and environmental sustainability. The paper argues, however, that EST can be relevant to the region only if it takes account of the enduring deep-seated legacy of asymmetries of power, exploitation and inequality in the broader society and within the education system resulting from colonialism and now exacerbated by globalization’s processes. Using postcolonial theory as the analytical frame, the paper highlights these challenges to EST in the context of the Caribbean and also identifies educational principles for EST to be a catalyst for social transformation in the region.

Integração ensino-serviço-comunidade na perspectiva da reorientação da formação em saúde

The integration service is guided by the conceptual assumptions that incorporate the process of education for social transformation, based on the real needs of individuals, as part of its historical and social context. This study has the objective to identify results produced by the implementation of the interministerial programs (Ministries of Health and Education), Pro-Saude and Pet-Saud in the integration of education and health services, according to the look of professionals and managers. Case study in Chapeco/SC, whose data were collected through focus groups. The integration service learning is largely present in the thought and work of professionals and managers, who understand how it is (co) responsible in the training process of reorientation. However, most of the actors referred difficulties to participate in the actions and demands of education institution, either by overwork, either for lack of stimuli or by ignorance of what involves the process of training in health.

Social Stratification and the Distribution of Capital in Kerala, India: Applying Bourdieu to the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation

Long heralded as an oasis of caste ­consciousness and political mobilization against the formalized caste system in India (Devika, 2010; Steur, 2009), in truth, structural inequality arranged across caste lines persists in the state of Kerala (Mosse, 2010; Nampoothiri, 2009; Isac, 2011). In Kerala, and in India more broadly, inequality is maintained through social categorization; social networks emerging from and mirroring the divisions between castes impart dis/advantages to their members. In the midst of India’s economic liberalization, neoliberal trends including the privatization of education have ossified structures of access to higher education and, as such, competitive employment opportunities (Nampoothiri, 2009). Members of the dominant or ‘upper’ castes continue to be awarded disproportionate access to that which their society values and the tools necessary to succeed while Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities operate at a structural disadvantage. This systemic unequal access is precisely what the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) - an autonomous institution that seeks to enhance the employability of ST, SC and other eligible communities in Kerala - aims to address. I situate the ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at CREST within the theoretical framework outlined in Bourdieu’s (1986) seminal work The Forms of Capital. This approach elucidates the mechanisms through which CREST prepares ST, SC and other eligible communities’ graduates to succeed in contemporary Kerala’s competitive job market. I demonstrate how CREST facilitates the cultivation, adoption and transmission of cultural and social capital among its students and their communities, effectively increasing their capacity for socio-economic mobility. Furthermore, I discuss the potential of CREST to encourage its students’ development of critical perspectives on caste-disparity in their home state.

Pedagogy of social transformation in the Hebrew Bible: Allowing Scripture to inform our interpretive strategy for contemporary application

The Hebrew Bible itself teaches its readers and listeners how to learn. Its pedagogy of social transformation instructs contemporary Christians how to interpret and apply lessons from Scripture in a manner that is consistent with the orientation, priorities and methods inherent in the text. This article demonstrates that relationship and identity are the necessary precursors to biblical education. It then considers the educational perspective for social transformation within the Hebrew Bible. The analysis explores the purpose and process of education for social transformation and the pastorally oriented pedagogy that the Bible utilises to advance moral development and prevent hermeneutic bias. Lastly, the article considers how the narrative, Law, prophets and wisdom texts in the Hebrew Bible train in social critique. This article helps Christians to develop a biblically based hermeneutic of the Hebrew Scripture’s social transformation for application today.

Education for Social Transformation: Soviet University Education Aid in the Cold War Capitalist World-System

International education is seen as an effective form of soft power. This article reviews one of history’s largest and most ambitious attempts to achieve global influence through university education, and to reshape the world—the Soviet university aid program, 1956–91. Drawing on existing research and Soviet archival materials, we lay out and contextualize characteristic features of the Soviet education aid program. Specifically, we identify its focus on students from “developing” and newly independent countries, and its ambition to form graduates who would return home to become national leaders sympathetic to Soviet socialism. We conclude by approaching the program from a world-systems perspective. Here, we highlight the intended catch-up style modernization and national economic development for countries through their participation in the Soviet university aid program as well as the intended development of the human capital of participant countries. The complex impacts on participants throughout the world and their subsequent worldview are the subject of ongoing research by the authors.

Teachers’ Maxims in English Language Teaching; a Challenge in Education for Social Transformation in Kenya

Teachers being thinking human beings and not robots, they do not just implement the curriculum as designed. To improve Language Teacher Education (LTE) and English language teaching (ELT), general research in teaching language and on second language teachers, concerning their mental images, thoughts, and processes that they use while teaching have been carried out. These mental processes provide interpretive frames that teachers use to understand and approach their own teaching. The principles function like rules for good behavior or maxims. These maxims guide the teachers’ choice of instructional decisions. Analysis of teachers’ accounts of their teaching and lesson protocols reveal the nature of their maxims. The purpose of the study was: to examine the maxims that guide teachers in ELT, and to establish factors that influence the choice of teachers’ maxims in ELT for social transformation. It used ethnography research method. The research instruments used were: document analysis, informal interview, and observation. Findings reveal that teachers are guided by the maxim of ‘value addition’ which significantly affects the implementation of the curriculum. The teachers’ maxims are influenced by a number of contextual factors such as: the school administration, external examinations and Quality Assurance and Standards Officers. Teacher educators should train student teachers and design workshops for practicing teachers to improve their maxims of: planning, accuracy, efficiency and conformity to the designed curriculum.

Education for Social Transformation: Infusing Feminist Ethics and Critical Pedagogy into Community-Based Research

In this paper we lay bare the theoretical underpinnings for the pervasive individualist model that shapes many community engagement courses, and then we present and analyze a case study based on a collaborative community-based research model developed by the co-authors. By shifting the theoretical foundations for community-based research, and more specifically, grounding our work in feminist ethics and critical pedagogy theories, we created linked courses that weave both collaborative theory and practice into the fabric of the courses. Upon teaching these courses, we found that students responded in an overwhelmingly positive way to collaborative theoretical models and to collaborative dialogical practice in the classroom, but when it came to team-based work conducted with community members, student responses were mixed. Reactions to collaborative grading practice conducted by faculty members and the community partner were more unanimous: a majority of students expressed confusion and discomfort with this practice. Collaborative theory and dialogical practice, then, were uniformly embraced in the classroom, while team-based work and evaluation in the community provided more discomfort and displeasure. This finding reiterates the pervasiveness of individualist thinking, even when students have chosen courses that are expressly collaborative in both theory and practice.

Education for Social Transformation

The classroom is an inherently political arena. It may be either a place that reproduces dominant thought and prevailing hierarchies or an area of liberatory praxis where power and exclusionary ideologies can be challenged (Freire, 1970). Radical educators have long acknowledged that liberatory education involves interactive classes in which the learning process is negotiated, one learns by doing, and there is an emphasis on relating personal lives to public issues (Freire, 1970; Shor, 1992; hooks, 1994; Darder, 2002). In these student-centered classes, a power-sharing arrangement enables participants to explore issues and themes of interest to them and to relate academic materials to their lives and worlds (Freire, 1970; Shor, 1996). Ideally, an engaged pedagogy includes a critical analysis of power, domination, and knowledge and an opportunity to devise strategies and engage in activities that foster change (Freire, 1970; Solorzano, 1997). For the past decade, the political climate has been ripe for building an engaged pedagogy that is linked to community struggles. The neoliberal phase of capitalism has ravaged social spending while capital accumulates at an ever-increasing rate. The result has been growing disparities of wealth, accompanied by overt xenophobia, anti-immigrant campaigns, and a general entrenchment of racism in the world's wealthiest countries. At the same time, imperial powers such as the United States have aggressively sought to expand their domination. Grassroots and popular movements throughout the world have challenged these trends. This has resulted in international mobilizations against corporate globalization and most recently has spawned a

Education for Social Transformation

This paper discusses the preparation of social workers who are committed to social transformation. Humanist and radical traditions are reviewed regarding their strengths and limitations. From a merging of elements of these traditions four principles-personal power, group support, critical awareness and action-are developed as guidelines for a social work education program which is able to facilitate both personal development and a commitment to social transformation.