Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de
Patterns of discrimination in my work surroundings This work sheet is meant as an invitation to observe and reflect on your and your students’ teaching and learning surroundings and to maybe start to talk to your students and colleagues about experiences of discrimination. It can be used as a basis for evaluating measures already in place and further steps to be taken. It is meant for your personal reflection, so you do not have to show it to anyone. Is there discrimination in your work surroundings based on‌? Please take a few notes in the corresponding space for which group of people what can become a problem. You can use the last two columns for other mechanisms of inequality and discrimination which are relevant in your work surroundings but not named on the sheet. You will find further questions on the penultimate page and a short explanation for the mentioned forms of discrimination on the last one. E.g. for Germany: Juridical access to education/Racism etc.: Illegalized immigrants etc. often can not send their children to school for fear of being discovered and then deported. Also for Germany: Safety on the way to and from school/Sexual Orientation: Openly gay boys or boys being perceived as gay sometimes are not safe from psychological, physical or sexual violence on their way to school, the same can happen to openly lesbian girls or girls being perceived as lesbian.
Class
Racism/ Gender/Sex Culturalism/ Antitziganism
Sexual Orientation
Ableism
Antisemitism
Bodyism/ Lookism
Access to education Juridical
Material
Spacial
School Forms & Quality of Education 1
Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Personal surroundings Space to study, concentrate and recreate Is this offered at school? Appreciation of education at home Is there special support at school for children lacking this?
Help with school problems Does school rely on outside help? Conflicting school, family and peergroup norms How does school deal with those conflicts? Does it protect students concerned by those conflicts? 2
Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Violence – physical, psychological, and sexual Safety on the way to and back from school Safety at school breaks and school trips Safety in school toilets, change rooms etc. Safety during lessons
Ignorance/ Acceptance of violence by students against… Ignorance/ Acceptance of staff violence against… Victim blaming/ banalization 3
Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Othering – Who is treated as not normal/ special needs group etc.? In general
In teaching styles
In teaching contents
In grading standards
In teaching materials: needs and competences
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Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de In teaching materials: representation – who is depicted as normal, who is depicted as not normal (minority, needy, problem group‌), who is not depicted at all?
In conversations/ jokes etc. inside and outside the classroom Whose competences are not treated as valuable?
Who isn’t encouraged?
Who is treated rather as a representative of a group than as an individual? 5
Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Future perspectives and learning models Representation among school staff – Who is represented only in low pay jobs or not at all?
Who has not got learning models for self efficiency in their family? Who has not got learning models for self efficiency in society? Who anticipates future discrimination and lack of chances? Whose questions and concerns regarding their future are not addressed at school? 6
Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Which measures against discrimination in education do already exist in your national/regional school system?
Which measures against discrimination do already exist in your school?
Which measures against discrimination do you already implement yourself?
What makes it difficult to act up against discrimination? (e.g. work conditions, big classes, formal demands, fear of getting problems with colleagues or superiors, feeling resigned/frustrated, being alone/isolated, etc.)
What resources can you use to fight against discrimination? (e.g. networks with colleagues/friends/family/students, positive responses by students, seeing that it helps and changes things, political networks, ngo materials or support, internet materials, EU programmes, fault tolerance, approach of life long learning, solidarity etc.)
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Katharina Debus katharina.debus@dissens.de Forms of inequality •
Class: money, other forms of property (real estate etc.), (parents‘) education, (parents’) job security/precarity, habitus, cultural capital, social capital, milieu/social environment
•
Racism/Culturalism incl. Antitziganism: phenotypical differences (e.g. skin and hair color), culture, ethnicity, citizenship status, (religion)
•
Gender/Sex: male, female, intersexual, transsexual, gender queer, bodies and body norms, social behavior and corresponding norms
•
Sexual orientation: heterosexual, homosexual/bisexual/gay/lesbian, queer, real or perceived by others, in terms of desire/sexual practice/forming partnerships
•
Ableism: physically or mentally „handicapped“, physically or mentally „ill“, „healthy“
•
Antisemitism: religion, ethnicity, conspiracy theories, being identified with the state of Israel, being identified with capitalist problems etc.
•
Lookism/Bodyism: advantages for people complying with body norms, discrimination for others, e.g. figure/weight, height, breasts, penis size etc.
•
Others: ageism, regionalism/city-countryside, center/periphery (regional, national, global), marital status/family form, etc.
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