The Sociopolitical Context of Teaching
Understanding the Diversity of Caring and Critical Teachers
Aug 4, 2009
In the era of frequent standardized testing, it can seem as if the goal is to pour students into a specified mold. Each student, however, is very different, with different learning styles, family life and experiences. Just as students can be defined in a sociopolitical context, so can teaching.
Since teachers are humans, they have their own personal and ideological bias created by their own learning styles and experiences. They also work within collective and institutional environments that both define and challenge their beliefs. Understanding this background can help teachers identify their own strengths and weaknesses involved with meeting the needs of their students while remaining caring and critical educators.
Understanding and Valuing the Collective and Institutional Environments
Collective and institutional environments can also foster bias. This type of bias, sometimes also referred to as systemic bias, could be deliberate or unconscious. For example, the school and colleagues would be considered the collective environment and there could be a school culture that fosters or does not discourage a racial, social, economic or other bias. Teachers are also part of the educational institution which, as stated by the K12 Academics website, allegedly include areas such as gender, religious and the meaning of governmental actions.
Identifying Personal and Ideological Bias
The Workforce Network published a summary of a diversity conference in which Dr. Sondra Thiederman, president of Cross-Cultural Communications, explained bias as an attitude that can be reduced or even unlearned. She explains five steps to bias free leadership, all of which can be directly applied by teachers both in the classroom and towards colleagues. These steps are:
- Become aware of biased reactions to people of stereotyped groups.
- Stereotypes give an illusion of control, so identify what benefits are gained by the biased reaction.
- Determine which biases could be the most detrimental to the classroom or school.
- Analyze personal experiences or ideas that have given the bias a foundation.
- Identify something shared with the other student or colleague; such as a love of animals, a favorite book or subject, meal at the cafeteria, and focus on the shared connection instead of the bias.
As teachers identify and work with understanding their own biases, whether personal or group based, they better understand how their own diversity hinders their ability to teach their students. From this understanding they can not only identify the cause of their bias but also turn that around to focus on their students and the learning environment. By being reflective about the source of their bias teachers can improve their ability to be caring and critical while meeting the learning needs of their students.
For articles related to fostering positive learning environments, read Respectful Classroom Environment or Positive Learning Environment.
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