Social Justice Aims Research Articles

Nature of science in early years science teaching

ABSTRACT The research field of science education has gathered questions about what science is, how scientific knowledge is developed and in what ways humans are involved in these processes under the umbrella concept ‘nature of science’ (NOS). Previous research has suggested that teaching ought to focus much more on these issues, but so far the focus has been on older children and students, while there is a lack of research on NOS teaching for the youngest children (up to six years). In this conceptual article, we suggest that NOS should be taught from the outset, and thus be part of science teaching in the early years. We put forward arguments as to why this early introduction coupled to the overall values and aims of democracy and social justice is important, and elaborate on the kind of NOS issues that could be included in science teaching aimed at the youngest children.

“Is This a Safe Space?”: Examining an Emotionally Charged Eruption in Critical Language Pedagogy

Unexpected conflicts, or eruptions, in class during discussions of controversial issues are not uncommon in the field of English language teaching (ELT). This can be especially true for critical English language teachers who hope to address social justice issues in their classrooms. Existing literature of these events often mentions emotional responses of teachers and students, without fully analyzing the ways in which emotions are processed and constrained around these eruptions. This article examines a homophobic incident during an in-service English language teacher course taught by the author to illustrate ways in which emotions shaped the response to the incident, and how social justice aims can be achieved for critical language teachers in emotionally challenging environments, where there may be competing claims of injustice and narratives of oppression. Drawing on feminist theories of emotion, the case is made for a conceptualization of emotions not as private, individual experiences, but rather as public, socioculturally and materially mediated experiences. Social justice is theorized as an active fight against injustices that cannot be seen as an individual, isolated effort. Implications for critical language educators are shared.

Student experiences of democratic education and the implications for social justice

Using data from a case-study school as a springboard, this article explores how enactments of democratic education might both problematise and illuminate new possibilities for the way we conceptualise social justice in education. Nancy Fraser’s tripartite framework of social justice is used to analyse in-depth interviews with students aged 14–16 from a democratic school in the United Kingdom. The article makes two key arguments: first, it highlights the interdependence of ‘recognition’ and ‘representation’ and, consequently, calls on mainstream policy and practice to make a substantive commitment to participatory democracy as part of the ‘inclusive education’ agenda. Second, it points to the tensions between ‘redistributive’ justice and other social justice aims which may be particularly stark in democratic education (and other progressive education) spaces. The article suggests that a strengthened relationship between democratic schools and research communities would offer a crucial contribution to collective critical reflection on social justice in education.

Critical Mindfulness in Social Work: Exploring the Potential of Reflexive Self-Care in the Journey from Student to Social Worker

AbstractThis article reports on one aspect of a study investigating mindfulness in social work education and practice. Specifically, it explores its potential as a reflexive form of self-care in the journey from student to newly qualified social worker. Comprising a participatory action research approach, longitudinal qualitative design and bespoke mindfulness programme that included compassion-based and non-violent communication practices, the study tracked six participants who completed the programme from the end of the first year of their MSc in Social Work to six months into post-qualifying practice. The experiences of three other participants who were unable to complete were also considered. Data were gathered using interviews, discussions groups, questionnaires and the researchers’ reflections and analysed using thematic and framework analysis, and transformative learning theory. The findings suggest that a critical framing of mindfulness encouraged reflexive forms of self-care in three key ways: validating the importance of self-care and developing awareness of internalised oppression; supporting reflexive engagement with service users; and better mitigating work-related stress and role conflict. Further study of these emergent findings is recommended, focusing on the synergies between critical mindfulness and reflexivity and the profession’s social justice aims.

The official discourse of social justice in citizenship education: A comparison between Japan and China

Against the contemporary background of international and national commitments to citizenship education for social justice, this paper examines and compares the subject, aim and extent of social justice in citizenship education behind official rhetorics in Japan and China. It develops a three-dimensional framework of social justice to analyse, through mixed methods of text analysis, a set of selected authoritative documents, including official policies, national curriculum guidelines and government-authorized textbooks. The results reveal discursive divergences and convergences between the Japanese and Chinese cases. Social justice in the Japanese discourse tends to be constructed as recognitive injustice eliminable through identical treatment towards one another by individuals. By contrast, social justice in the Chinese discourse tends to be constructed as distributive justice achievable through differential treatment by the party-state. Common to the two cases is that both pay scant attention to collective actions for and the global bearing of social justice. The paper argues that the two cases similarly stop short of promoting comprehensive, transformative and global social justice education.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ІНТЕРНАЦІОНАЛІЗАЦІЇ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ У СУЧАСНОМУ СУСПІЛЬСТВІ

The article presents the updated concept of the notion of internationalization of higher education and describes its peculiarities in modern society. Recently the most important factor of the formation of internationalization of higher education is considered to be globalization. According to the current-day concept in the foreign literature, internationalization of higher education is the intentional process of integration of international, intercultural or global dimensions into the purpose, functions, and delivery of post-secondary education to improve the quality of education and research and to make a meaningful contribution to the development of society.Between many fundamentally accepted academic advantages of internationalization, the most prominent is the improvement of quality of education and research. The aims of internationalization of higher education are divided into aims of social justice (general education of the public, support of active citizenship), economic development (support of the local economy, knowledge transfer) and public good (support of social integration, democracy, and peace, fight against xenophobia and radicalization, development of global citizens). The degree of participation of educational institutions in internationalization is determined by the fact whether internationalization activity is planned and strategic or the result of the initiative of separate individuals. Four broad categories for rationales of internationalization are determined: political rationales (foreign policy, national security, and peace), economic rationales (economy growth, competitiveness), social and cultural rationales (intercultural understanding, intercultural competence) and academic rationales (extension of the academic horizon, institution building, profile, status). The important factor for the successful introduction of internationalization is the availability of adequate institutional strategies.Despite the unfavorable political conditions recently and the COVID-19 pandemic this year internationalization remains the mainstream direction in the development of higher education.

A Call for Radical Imagining: Exploring Anti-Blackness in the Music Therapy Profession

This spotlight presentation explores the relationship between anti-Black violence and music therapy. Centering the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, George Floyd, and Tony McDade, the speaker discusses protests taking place in the United States and throughout the world that demand justice for Black lives. In this presentation, the speaker discusses the interconnectedness of physical and social death as a continuum of oppression the field must contend with to meet social justice aims. Music therapy across the globe is situated within complex socio-political, socio-structural, socio-historical, and socio-cultural systems. It holds the vestiges of White European settler colonialism and is founded upon dominant cultural values and ideals that support its existence and simultaneously benefit and harm client communities. While, as a professional body, we aim to deepen music therapy access and conceptualize empowerment from a social justice frame, we must explore the various ways music therapy leverages proximations of power. Any calls for access and empowerment in music therapy amplify our existence within unjust systems and our participation in their perpetuation in education, theory, research, practice, and praxis. The speaker explores anti-Blackness from a Black feminist lens and discusses the radical repositioning of music therapy as we collectively strive to meet social justice aims.

Collaboration for Improving Social Work Practice: The Promise of Feminist Participatory Action Research

Feminist research and participatory action research (PAR) share the belief that research should directly serve social justice aims and work to alleviate suffering of marginalized and oppressed people. This article presents the results of a unique feminist PAR (FPAR) approach to designing and implementing an evaluation of an intervention with women who have used violence. The site of our analysis is the steering committee that oversaw this work and the extent to which members adhered to FPAR principles. Over the two decades since feminist critiques of PAR began to emerge, new discourses of collaboration have appeared. As researchers, we must be alert to FPAR discourses that mask ongoing hierarchies. Our findings suggest that, while reflexivity and genuine commitment to collaboration are fundamental to enacting FPAR principles, social workers nevertheless face real challenges confronting structural barriers that impede anti-oppression goals. This study highlights the challenges of adhering faithfully to feminist participatory principles in real-life settings and the need for future research to examine the effectiveness of FPAR processes in achieving authentic collaboration among committee members who are chosen to represent disparate perspectives and are backed by vastly different levels of social and institutional power.

Migrant Communities and Participatory Research Partnerships in the Neoliberal University

Participatory research holds the potential to decolonize knowledge production and put research into action to advance social justice aims and the concerns of participant communities. Participatory approaches are becoming more accepted, yet the output and impact demands researchers must fulfil remain mismatched to participatory work, driven instead by a neoliberal academic model. In this context, I see a cautionary tale in the history of participatory practices among international development institutions, where participation was brought into the mainstream but in the process hollowed out and de-radicalized. Reflecting on my experiences with two participatory research projects over the course of my PhD studies, I ask whether the incomplete opening for participatory research could similarly push research in particular directions. Specifically, I consider whether participatory work with strong organizational partners will be structurally favored over potential partnerships with non-organized or highly marginalized communities and groups.

Managing the disconnect: A critical case study of neoliberalism in youth development practice.

This critical ethnography interrogates the influence of neoliberalism on youth development practice as instituted by the evidence-based practice and positive youth development movements. I employed participant observation and grounded theory analyses in my role as facilitator of a youth participatory action research program in the context of violence prevention work at a large urban youth development agency. The disconnect between professionalized youth development and the lived experience of youth manifested in organizational policies and practices and meant that the agency had to balance competing interests and worldviews, reconcile the need for funding with social justice aims, and cope with the consequences of such conflicts. Neoliberalism exacerbates a disconnect between youth development practice and youth experience, contributing to an epistemic form of violence. Results are discussed in relation to Martín-Baró liberation framework, which emphasizes the recovery of historical memory, deideologizing everyday experience, and utilizing the virtues of oppressed people.

Mapping the Travels of Intersectionality Scholarship: A Citation Network Analysis.

In this study, we conducted a citation network analysis of intersectionality scholarship. We aimed to elucidate content domains in this scholarship's citation network. In addition, we explored a citation-based genealogy of this scholarship, attending to the representation of women of color identified in prior critical analyses of intersectionality scholarship as key but under-acknowledged contributors to intersectional thought and praxis. We used CitNetExplorer to analyze a network of 17,332 records and 60,132 citation links. The analysis yielded 17 clusters, with the five largest clusters focusing on (1) conceptualizing intersectionality theory, methodology, and analysis; (2) psychology, identity stigma, and multiple minority statuses; (3) sociology of gender inequality, labor markets, and organizations; (4) political science, political systems and policy, including in the European context; and (5) violence against women, gender and health, and health equity. Although some of the key women of color contributors to intersectional thought were among the most cited authors in the network, others were cited infrequently or not at all across the network and clusters. Taken together, the analyses revealed substantial and ongoing engagement with efforts to define and refine intersectionality as epistemology and methodology. However, the analyses pointed to the need for scholars to reengage with, cite, and follow the examples of the women of color who contributed to intersectional thought by actually doing intersectional praxis that directly advances social justice aims. Some of the smaller clusters in the citation network reflected content domains, such as environmental justice and community planning, ripe for such activist-scholar work. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684320902408.

Ambedkar on the Haughty Face of Dignity

AbstractCan a concept such as dignity, with roots in hierarchy and exclusion, serve as the constitutional basis for advancing egalitarian justice within a democratic political community? This article highlights some concerns, via engagement with the work of Indian constitutional architect and anti-caste champion B.R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar strongly associates dignity with upper-caste status in Hinduism, and with dispositions to haughtiness or arrogance toward lower-status persons. His analysis has implications for recent treatments which frame dignity as a property which is possessed equally by all persons and is suitable for grounding egalitarian justice within political communities. In such accounts, dignity is shown to entail a defensive disposition and indignation against others as potential rights violators. This introduces tensions between the dignitarian foundation and in some cases very expansive social justice aims. Ambedkar offers an alternative conception of innate worth or worthiness, entailing dispositions to openness and inclusiveness, rendered as fraternity, Deweyan social endosmosis, and ultimately the Buddhist maitri. Such an approach avoids some tensions between dignity/indignation and egalitarian aims, while also offering a way to conceptualize human and non-human animal relations that avoids simply reinscribing status hierarchies.

Measuring Rights-Based Practice: Introducing the Human Rights Methods in Social Work Scales

AbstractThis article introduces a measurable framework for rights-based social work practice and an accompanying set of instruments, the Human Rights Methods in Social Work (HRMSW) scales: (i) ‘participation’, (ii) ‘non-discrimination’, (iii) ‘strengths perspective’, (iv) ‘micro/macro integration’, (v) ‘capacity-building’, (vi) ‘community and interdisciplinary collaboration’, (vii) ‘activism’ and (viii) ‘accountability’. These scales, designed for use by researchers, educators and practitioners, are the first to measure social workers’ use of rights-based methods. An electronic survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 1,014 licensed US social workers, and a confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the scales’ psychometric properties. A respecified model using eight error covariances fit the data (χ2/df ratio = 2.9; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91; tucker lewis index (TLI) = 0.90; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04; standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.07). Thus, factor analysis yielded a set of eight related scales—collectively called the HRMSW—each measuring a different human rights practice method that social workers can use to promote human dignity and the rights-based principles of participation, accountability and non-discrimination. Scholars argue that ‘human rights’ are a more appropriate yardstick for measuring the impact of social work intervention rather than our traditional aim of social justice; the HRMSW scales can help us begin to test this proposition.

Adult education programmes of NGOs operating in Non-Western contexts: a review of empirical literature

ABSTRACTAdult education is a key component of worldwide collaborative efforts to achieve social justice aims, such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Such collaborative efforts require the involvement of all sectors, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In particular, given the prevalence of globalising and neoliberal influences on development, NGOs providing adult education programmes must navigate complex political and financial hurdles in addition to cultural differences. To evolve our understanding of the role NGOs and their efforts play in international development education, this systematic literature review investigates adult education programmes of NGOs operating in Non-Western contexts. Findings indicate programmes require stakeholder commitment to social justice, concerted efforts to adapt to social and economic contexts, and intentional cultivation of local and international partnerships. While findings align with a general understanding of effective practices within different cultural contexts, this synthesis of empirical work provides a foundation for deeper understanding of how to implement such culturally relevant practices and improve the path forward for NGO adult education programmes and partnerships.

78.1 FOR BETTER: POSITIVE ASPECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LGBT YOUTH

In this session, we will review how marginalized and stigmatized youth, including LGBTQ youth, use social media for education, support, and social justice aims.

What about race?: internalised dominance in the Opt Out Florida movement

ABSTRACTOpt Out Florida, a largely White, middle-class social movement comprised of parents – most often, mothers – opposed to high-stakes standardised testing in U.S. public schools, has received media criticism for its homogeneity. This article elucidates that trend while simultaneously offering a more nuanced view, using theories of internalised dominance, colourblindness, and powerblindness to analyse Opt Out members’ racial story lines and testimonies. These discursive frames underscore the paradox of a White, middle-class movement purportedly acting for social justice aims: to democratically solve the problem of high-stakes testing, Opt Out members must seek out diverse perspectives. Otherwise, they are not just opting out, but missing out.

Student Activism in the Neoliberal University: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Analysis

Student activism is a highly underresearched topic in psychology despite the field’s commitment to studying person–environment interactions and advancing social justice aims. Furthermore, less is known about the ways in which student activists navigate the neoliberal or “corporatized” university in the United States. This research study utilizes a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative method in order to attempt to describe the experience of being a student activist within a “corporatized” or neoliberal university. The results demonstrate that the apolitical rhetoric and the consumerization of student life, characteristic of neoliberalism in higher education, influence the process through which students become activists and become explicit targets of discipline as well. Students understand their activism in terms of repoliticizing the university and reconfiguring their approach toward education away from consumer metaphors. The results also have significant implications for understanding how the experience of student activism interacts with the other social and economic stressors, simultaneously increasing demands on students while creating possibilities for connectedness and purpose.

Diversifying the medical workforce requires a step change in widening participation - Putting the cat amongst the pigeons!

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Worldwide there is a call for diversifying the healthcare workforce through widening participation (WP) necessitating a significant change in current recruitment and selection policies and practices. However this is advocated without a well understood conceptualisation of WP or consensus between stakeholders about its purposes. Employers, and patients, require a medical workforce that is both caring and competent but also accessible. This presents a significant challenge for most countries, especially in some areas of healthcare, for both common and varying reasons. For example Australia and NZ have long struggled to recruit healthcare workers to remote and rural parts of their countries, whilst currently general practice within the UK, is in crisis due to under recruitment and low morale. Higher Education institutions wish to recruit the best students but it is not clear who the "best students" are and who will progress to fulfil future workforce requirements. Globally universities are concerned by market forces and face significant financial constraints often directly competing with WP policies. Furthermore an established culture of meritocracy, schemes to "top-up" perceived deficits within certain student groups, and fears surrounding the performance of non-traditional students once at university, deter both would be students and the institutions themselves from increasing diversity. Whilst medical schools may aspire to the aims of social justice and fair opportunities such a trajectory is plagued with difficulties, such as university tariff leagues tables, and concerns with student attrition and differential attainment. However considering the aforementioned workforce issues it is timely to look afresh at what our priorities are in selecting for the future medical workforce. Better understanding the available evidence and the inherent tensions within WP would help us make the required step change that facilitates selecting a more appropriate medical workforce.

Tailored Intervention for Smoking Reduction and Cessation for Young and Socially Disadvantaged Women During Pregnancy

Rates of smoking during pregnancy remain high in Canada, and cessation rates are low among women who are younger than 24 years and who are socially disadvantaged, that is, have few social and economic resources because of poverty, violence, or mental health issues. On the basis of findings from literature reviews and consultation with policy makers, we developed and operationalized four approaches that can be used by health care providers to tailor interventions for tobacco use in pregnancy. These four approaches are woman centered, trauma informed, harm reducing, and equitable. Public health initiatives that address smoking in young and socially disadvantaged women could be more sharply focused by shifting to such tailored approaches that are grounded in social justice aims, span pre- and postpregnancy periods, and can be used to address women’s social contexts and concerns.

Adultery Laws in Islam and Stoning in the Modern World

This article looks at the legal basis within Islamic scholarship for imposing stoning for the crime of adultery. Traditionally it has been accepted that, based on Qur'an, hadith and examples from the Rightly Guided Caliphs, stoning is the Islamic punishment for married adulterers. However, upon closer inspection it appears these sources may not be as solid as once believed. While the jumhoor (majority) opinion for stoning remains, there are notable scholars, traditional and modern, who discount, question and even reject these arguments. Despite the jumhoor, the severity of the punishment is greatly tempered by the high evidentiary standards that act as its safeguard. These safeguards are briefly discussed.
 The second part of this article looks at stoning in the modern world, which has occurred as a by-product of the rising phenomenon of sharia application in modern Muslim countries. The challenge for these countries is how to apply sharia punishments such as stoning, while maintaining sharia’s aims of equality, social justice and morality.
 Solutions for existing and emerging Muslim states regarding the application of punishments are made and practical suggestions for a way forward. This article essentially argues Muslim scholars and jurists must reassess the legitimacy of imposing sharia punishments such as stoning and reach meaningful conclusions about the future of capital punishment in the Muslim world.