Social Justice Curriculum for Schools of the Privileged

A Ross Phillips

Teachers who find themselves employed in schools predominantly populated by privileged students may find themselves facing a moral dilemma. Inequality in society is growing and schools of privileged students are in the business of reproducing or even enhancing that privilege - just ask the parents of those students what they want from the school for their children.

Teachers often go into teaching because of the appeal of serving people or society in a meaningful way – one that provides a better future for all. In fact, it might be argued that this intrinsic motivation to care deeply about the future of all young people is an essential quality of a good teacher. Given this, should a teacher’s conscience lead her or him to teach at a needier school with greater numbers of disadvantaged students?

In this article, I outline some thoughts on the following questions:

·      Can teachers with a care for social justice find meaning in their work in a school for the privileged?

·      What opportunities are there to pursue social justice goals in these schools?

 To begin with, teachers have a duty to all children. In fulfilling that duty to the privileged, teachers justify their claim to making a vital contribution to society and, more than that, they have an opportunity to advance social justice that is distinct from the essential work done by teachers of the less advantaged. There are many reasons for an unfortunately very unequal distribution of privilege within schools. This article does not address these directly but asks about the work of the teachers within these schools.

An immediate response to the first question is that children born into a fortunate situation are as entitled to a quality education as anyone else. If I believe in the importance of the education of all children, then I must include those who are advantaged in terms of economic and cultural capital. Conversely, it would be unthinkable to add disadvantage to them, say by teachers boycotting these schools to try to level the playing field. This would probably be futile anyway as parents with high levels of education and/or money have other ways of ensuring that their children get every educational opportunity that they can – and why shouldn’t they? As teachers, most of us would understand parents using their resources to educate their children as best they can.

Teachers find meaning in teaching in privileged schools, as other schools, because they work for the children in front of them and believe that they have much to offer them in becoming highly functioning adults in society.

Most of the time teachers will see the students in front of them without any thought of status. There are times, however, when teachers are faced with issues related to the privileges of their students. One example is when there is a conflict between the parents’ expectations for their child's career and the student’s goals or performance. The caring teacher does not necessarily share the preferences of the parents but can help the student navigate the personal journey around parent expectations and personal goals. If this ends with the student choosing the preferred path of the parents, the teacher celebrates the fact that the student has found a direction. If the student has his or her heart set on another course, the teacher/school can provide the parents with additional perspectives that might allay the parents’ concerns. Teachers need not engage in any persuasion or manipulation of the student to follow the parents’ wishes when they do not believe those wishes to be in the best interests of the student but generally the parent and the teacher will have similar high aspirations for the student, even if the motivation might be slightly different at times.

But this is just the beginning. I think to fully answer the first question raised above, we need to respond to the second.

In my reading of Michael Apple's, Stephen Ball's and Pat Thomson's work to combat inequality in and through schooling, mostly by considering disadvantaged schools, I questioned how their thinking applied to schools where students do not face the same challenges (Apple 1990, Apple 2013, Ball 2013, Thomson 2002). Disadvantaged schools in this context are those whose students have relatively little economic and cultural capital. Economic capital is money and material resources to support their education; cultural capital refers to non-financial resources that assist students in the school culture, such as prior knowledge, appearance, attire, “social graces” and “refinement”. Schools assume a culture, including skills and knowledge to acquire, and expect students to fit it. They then evaluate students based on that culture. Those who come with the right cultural capital are going to have an advantage over those who do not. (In shopping for schools, parents and students seek one that they think is a “good fit”, which is a way of saying that they have the cultural capital to fit in and succeed at a school). Students in privileged schools tend to have high economic capital (can pay the fees or can live in the “right” suburb), and a lot of cultural capital as well (parents’ education, previous schooling, interests, holiday locations in common with other students, vocabulary). Those who stretch to pay the fees, have assistance from a relative or a scholarship, or travel far to school, may not have quite the same economic capital but will usually have some of the cultural capital through areas such as their parents’ education.

Below I outline some areas where I think socially conscious teachers can and should be active in a school where most students are protected from social and economic disadvantage. There are many ways and I would argue that these are not just clearing teacher consciences with token gestures but are key to the students’ development and precursors to social change.

1. Start by not describing the school in elitist terms. Students should always know that generally they are at this school rather than another school for reasons beyond their control. This is something for which they may be grateful rather than entitled to. It is rarely anything that they have done that has given them the economic or cultural capital to be there.

2. They should be made aware of the many and varied successes possible in schools and hear of the successes and wonderful people who have been to less advantaged schools. As Apple describes, labelling can become a form of social control (Apple 1990) and if there are schools that are “non-elites” who see other schools as “elites”, we may be entrenching a system of disadvantage simply through this categorisation.

3. Treat all students within the school as equally worthy of education. Even children with well-resourced parents are not identical in their educational needs. The issues of labelling cited by Apple are still powerful forces in privileged schools where there is likely to be a large range of academic performance. This range is the result of many causes and a school has a lot of work to do to ensure that all of the students receive a year’s worth of growth from a year of input as John Hattie expects of us.

4. Schools employ a lot of staff in different roles. Apple describes this as school not just being a part of society but being society (Apple 2013). Class and other social structures are present on campus. While we tend to think of teachers and students, there are also the maintenance staff, the cleaners, gardeners, canteen staff, uniform shop staff, business office staff, receptionists, clerical staff, sports coaches, teacher aides, nurses and psychologists, among others. These groups are likely to have unequal profiles in terms of pay (some being volunteers), gender, ethnicity and educational background. What are we teaching our students in subtle ways through this microcosm of society about ethnic groups, gender and careers, and social strata? Are all groups equally welcome and respected? Do the teachers know the maintenance staff and cleaners’ names and engage with them as they would with other teachers? Do the students? Or are there some silent agents in the school society who help keep everything running well without students noticing? What is that teaching the students? Here schools have a great opportunity to demonstrate respect for all groups in society.

5. Privileged schools generally run social service programs. At their best, these programs have the opportunity to demonstrate to the students how they can make a real difference in the lives of those less fortunate. We might ask whether these are run, with little assistance from others, by a chaplain or another passionate individual. Perhaps students should be able to see that all staff take an interest in social service to see that this is not just something for an interested group. Care must be taken as there is always the danger of these programs being tokenistic or patronising – actually heightening a sense of superiority.

6. Teachers need to consider the context for content in all subjects. Is it reflecting the diversity of the community, including indigenous culture and migrants? Does it raise the needs of the broader community? Do students have the opportunity to experience diversity, or is it just discussed?

7. Schools need to encourage collaboration. This is essential for learning and development (Vygotsky and Cole 1978) of individuals but it also brings together students (and staff) to work collectively who otherwise would not. Going beyond friendship groups and providing situations where teams can employ the various strengths in the group to achieve more than they could individually highlights what others can bring to a problem. Cross-age programs give students responsibility for supporting others.

8. Many people endowed with economic and cultural capital contribute generously to social service. Some parents in the school community will be able to share their work and passions with the students. Sometimes this is seen directly in the schools through the various volunteer contributions that the community make in canteens, events like fairs and fiestas, fund raisers for various causes, and supporting the school in various ways. This is excellent role modelling to young people who we want to show that life is not all about them.

9. Diversity among the student and staff populations in terms of religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, intellect, interest and background provide rich opportunities for students to respect all people and treat them appropriately.

10. Privileged schools are filled with students who through their aspirations, economic and cultural capital are likely to hold significant leadership positions in future where they will make decisions that affect people’s lives and may act to protect or challenge the dominant hegemony. As we provide them with leadership opportunities and training, they must be taught to consider the effects their decisions have on prevailing power structures and how those with less power will be impacted.

When one group is dominant over another, then it is the dominant group that is in the position to change things. Typically the group with the power will work to change the situation in a way that benefits them (at least in the short term), or that preserves the status quo. This is not generally a conscious act but when students are taught to consider a larger group, they may learn to make decisions that benefit more people than just themselves.

12. We need to be aware that the ATAR (student rankings) has a tendency to narrow the curriculum as senior students focus on achieving the highest score that they can. This leads students, particularly those in very competitive environments, to focus on what they think will best prepare them for examinations. Teachers are caught in this trap as well and need to ensure that the message in their teaching does not just reduce to being one that is all about scores for individual students. It is a good opportunity to reinforce the value of collaboration in learning and the deeper understanding that comes from interaction with others.

13. Teachers can give thought to the messages depicted in their displays, teaching examples and other stimulus around the schools. Are men and women depicted equally? Is the social chat all around men’s sport? Is the plight of the less fortunate represented and attention drawn to its structural causes?

14. When heroes are presented, are they from a range of ethnicities and backgrounds? Are the support structures, colleagues and antecedents included to show that great things happen in teams, and those teams cut across social strata?

 No doubt a little thought could extend this list substantially but I hope it helps to give sense to what could happen in privileged schools and often does. Certainly, teachers in these schools see a particular cross section of society in their classrooms and parent body that is not representative of society as a whole. It is incumbent on teachers in these schools to ensure that their students’ privileged environments and backgrounds do not exclude them from the essential learning outlined here, both for their benefit and ultimately hopefully for the benefit of those starting out without similar privileges.

 Apple, M. W. (1990) Ideology and Curriculum (2nd), New York: Routledge.

 Apple, M. W. (2013) Can education change society?, New York: Routledge.

 Ball, S. J. (2013) Policy_Paper_-_Education, Justice and Democracy.

 Thomson, P. (2002) Schooling the rustbelt kids : making the difference in changing times, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

 Vygotsky, L. S. and Cole, M. (1978) Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.