Easily one of the best promotions for para-sport ever. I showed this to my classes in September 2016 after the Rio Paralympics as the introduction to our lessons on para-sport. We watched this in class one night, later in the fall when discussing Adapted PE and disabilities in sport.
Chapter 6 presentation from the course textbook, done with Kris Ewing.
Conducting a Site Audit
Social Justice in physical education (PE), as in all education, is a growing concern for the forward-thinking educator. Encompassing many aspects of the social fabric of a school and community, social justice issues can be varied and many. Every community is different, every school is different, and thus the approaches to Social Justice Education need to reflect these differences. There is no "one size fits all" approach that will work. Within the field of Social Justice Education (SJE) the focus typically revolves around a few key ways in which people identify themselves; as aboriginal or indigenous peoples, as people with disability, through ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ identities, through mental health, through race, through religion, and as people with obesity/weight/body image.
Robinson and Randall (2016) quote Bialystok’s 2014 position from Politics without “brainwashing”: A philosophical defense of social justice education.
The lack of consensus about the meaning of social justice
education (SJE) is not in itself a problem… SJE as it is currently understood
refers to values that are broadly recognized as “progressive”. It takes up to
various degrees the goals of anti-oppression politics, anti-colonialism, environmentalism, and a critique of corporate globalization, with more or
less overt sympathy for the social welfare state and resistance to educational
policies characteristic of neoliberalism. (p.1,2)
So, with the idea that there is no consensus to a definition of SJE, the first step in auditing any school or program should be to define the terms that may be a part of the audit.
Anti-bias curriculum is an activist approach to educational curricula which attempts to challenge prejudices such as racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of kyriarchy; the approach is favoured by civil rights organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League. (1)
Anti-oppressive education encompasses multiple approaches to learning that actively challenge forms of oppression. Premised on the notion that many traditional and commonsense ways of engaging in "education" contribute to oppression in schools and society. It also relies on the notion that many "commonsense" approaches to education reform mask or exacerbate oppressive education methods. (2)
Culturally Inclusive Classrooms (CIC) are an environment where students and staff alike recognize, appreciate and capitalize on diversity to enrich the overall learning experience. (3) In addition, the author believes that a CIC addresses more social justice issues than may simply be thought of as “culture”. Included would be all aspects of social justice education discussed earlier - aboriginal or indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, differing ethnicities, gender, LGBTQ identities, mental health, race, religion, and people with obesity/weight/body image issues.
Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach inspired by Marxist critical theory and other radical philosophies, which attempts to help students question and challenge posited "domination," and to undermine the beliefs and practices that are alleged to dominate. (4)
Critical theory is a school of thought that stresses the reflective assessments and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities. (5)
Culturally relevant teaching is a pedagogy grounded in teachers' displaying cultural competence: skill at teaching in a cross-cultural or multicultural setting. They enable each student to relate course content to his or her cultural context. (6)
Culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching in which the students' unique cultural strengths are identified and nurtured to promote student achievement and a sense of well-being about the student's cultural place in the world. (7)
Engaged pedagogy, per bell hooks, involves a classroom in which the teacher aims to learn as much from her students as he or she intends to teach. A classroom that employs engaged pedagogy is a classroom that is centered around conversation and discussion. (8)
Social Justice Education is an interdisciplinary program of study with a focus on social
diversity and social justice education particularly as they apply to formal educational systems, kindergarten through higher education. (9)
With an understanding of the definitions surrounding social justice education the process of conducting a site audit can then begin.
Site Audit
In preparing to review and audit a suburban NS elementary school concerning the social justice issues that may be present as well as the efforts in place to resolve them, ego must be cast aside and a critical eye used to identify any aspects of social justice needing attention within the school, community and programs. To begin the process, a series of questions, designed to think about social justice on a school and community wide scale, will assist in directing the audit. Examples of some questions could be:
To do this the PET must focus instruction to create an inclusive physical education program, where one of the necessary components is that students work together to achieve the learning objectives. One of the teacher’s roles is to teach them how to work together and, in addition to focusing on individual student performance, to observe what is happening within groups. As discussed, to achieve all this the program and learning needs to connect to student’s lives, have real world applications and view problems from multiple perspectives, create community in the classroom and school. Additionally, though the need for evaluation with authentic assessments is also a key. Without authentic assessment of learning there is no way to determine the effectiveness of any initiatives geared at educating for social justice. (Tripp, Rizzo, & Webbert, 2007)
Some rules for authentic assessment are detailed by Russell in the 2010 presentation Authentic Assessment in Physical Education.
Conclusion
To quote Joannie Halas from the forward of Robinson and Randall’s Social Justice in Physical Education: Critical Reflections and Pedagogies for Change, we need to seek how “to identify a better way forward for Physical Education and, in particular, its students from diverse gender, race, class, culture, ability, sexuality, health, and religious backgrounds.” (p. 5)
Conducting a site audit of a school community is just the way to accomplish this “better way forward”. Without having the knowledge of where you are, it is very difficult to determine where you need to go. Given the strong emotional responses associated with social justice and as an institution with many differing opinions, beliefs, values and morals among the staff, students and parents it is vital to get a firm grasp of what is happening and where people want to go regarding social justice issues at the school and in society in general. Through this critical reflection and review an institution and its members are then able to put in place meaningful actions and plans, however, without having conducted an audit such as this, the opportunity to address inequality, marginalization, oppression, and all the “isms” is lost.
Robinson and Randall (2016) quote Bialystok’s 2014 position from Politics without “brainwashing”: A philosophical defense of social justice education.
The lack of consensus about the meaning of social justice
education (SJE) is not in itself a problem… SJE as it is currently understood
refers to values that are broadly recognized as “progressive”. It takes up to
various degrees the goals of anti-oppression politics, anti-colonialism, environmentalism, and a critique of corporate globalization, with more or
less overt sympathy for the social welfare state and resistance to educational
policies characteristic of neoliberalism. (p.1,2)
So, with the idea that there is no consensus to a definition of SJE, the first step in auditing any school or program should be to define the terms that may be a part of the audit.
Anti-bias curriculum is an activist approach to educational curricula which attempts to challenge prejudices such as racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of kyriarchy; the approach is favoured by civil rights organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League. (1)
Anti-oppressive education encompasses multiple approaches to learning that actively challenge forms of oppression. Premised on the notion that many traditional and commonsense ways of engaging in "education" contribute to oppression in schools and society. It also relies on the notion that many "commonsense" approaches to education reform mask or exacerbate oppressive education methods. (2)
Culturally Inclusive Classrooms (CIC) are an environment where students and staff alike recognize, appreciate and capitalize on diversity to enrich the overall learning experience. (3) In addition, the author believes that a CIC addresses more social justice issues than may simply be thought of as “culture”. Included would be all aspects of social justice education discussed earlier - aboriginal or indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, differing ethnicities, gender, LGBTQ identities, mental health, race, religion, and people with obesity/weight/body image issues.
Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach inspired by Marxist critical theory and other radical philosophies, which attempts to help students question and challenge posited "domination," and to undermine the beliefs and practices that are alleged to dominate. (4)
Critical theory is a school of thought that stresses the reflective assessments and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities. (5)
Culturally relevant teaching is a pedagogy grounded in teachers' displaying cultural competence: skill at teaching in a cross-cultural or multicultural setting. They enable each student to relate course content to his or her cultural context. (6)
Culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching in which the students' unique cultural strengths are identified and nurtured to promote student achievement and a sense of well-being about the student's cultural place in the world. (7)
Engaged pedagogy, per bell hooks, involves a classroom in which the teacher aims to learn as much from her students as he or she intends to teach. A classroom that employs engaged pedagogy is a classroom that is centered around conversation and discussion. (8)
Social Justice Education is an interdisciplinary program of study with a focus on social
diversity and social justice education particularly as they apply to formal educational systems, kindergarten through higher education. (9)
With an understanding of the definitions surrounding social justice education the process of conducting a site audit can then begin.
Site Audit
In preparing to review and audit a suburban NS elementary school concerning the social justice issues that may be present as well as the efforts in place to resolve them, ego must be cast aside and a critical eye used to identify any aspects of social justice needing attention within the school, community and programs. To begin the process, a series of questions, designed to think about social justice on a school and community wide scale, will assist in directing the audit. Examples of some questions could be:
- What is happening at the school to address social justice issues in the learning community? Is the school “trapped” in the tourist approach to social justice, that limits diversity to holidays, special events, and history months.
- What is happening in the classrooms to examine social justice issues? What issues are being examined?
- Are social justice issues being perpetuated unconsciously through language used or resources displayed and used?
- How are families involved in learning about social justice?
- How could exploring a social justice issue(s) strengthen the community and the school?
- As an institution, what has the school done to implement specific practices that address social justice issues?
- Are my interactions with students helping or hindering their ability to learn? Who do I favor? Are there any students I ignore? Who gets help? Who gets feedback? What types of feedback? Does any bias exist in my behaviours toward the students?
- Is my behaviour and attitude toward my classes effective for their learning? Am I excited to be teaching? Are the students excited to be in the class?
- Do I have evidence of learning? Who is learning? Who isn't learning? Are there any trends to this?
- Is the program appropriate for all students? Is there any bias in the program? The lessons? The instructional methods? The resources and materials? The displays?
- Am I challenging students? Am I adapting for students? Am I providing options and choices in activities?
- Am I using the diversity that exists in my classes to encourage inclusiveness? For example, do I include students in creating modifications to games so everyone can participate?
- Do my assessments reflect the learning? Is there any hidden or institutional bias in the assessments?
- Are you constantly striving to educate yourself on social justice issues that affect you and your students?
To do this the PET must focus instruction to create an inclusive physical education program, where one of the necessary components is that students work together to achieve the learning objectives. One of the teacher’s roles is to teach them how to work together and, in addition to focusing on individual student performance, to observe what is happening within groups. As discussed, to achieve all this the program and learning needs to connect to student’s lives, have real world applications and view problems from multiple perspectives, create community in the classroom and school. Additionally, though the need for evaluation with authentic assessments is also a key. Without authentic assessment of learning there is no way to determine the effectiveness of any initiatives geared at educating for social justice. (Tripp, Rizzo, & Webbert, 2007)
Some rules for authentic assessment are detailed by Russell in the 2010 presentation Authentic Assessment in Physical Education.
- Establish criteria – What is “good” performance when you establish learning outcomes?
- Use Self-Testing tasks frequently
- Use simple Check Sheets and Rating Scales
- Can be used to assess simple and complex behaviors
- Enables students to see / learn critical components of skills
- Use Peer Assessment
- Forces student to consider and focus on criteria and develop critical observations skills
- Use “Exit slips” or “30-second wonders” to assess lesson objectives
- Use Videotape
- Sample Student behavior - Not every behavior must be assessed to evaluate teaching or program objectives
Conclusion
To quote Joannie Halas from the forward of Robinson and Randall’s Social Justice in Physical Education: Critical Reflections and Pedagogies for Change, we need to seek how “to identify a better way forward for Physical Education and, in particular, its students from diverse gender, race, class, culture, ability, sexuality, health, and religious backgrounds.” (p. 5)
Conducting a site audit of a school community is just the way to accomplish this “better way forward”. Without having the knowledge of where you are, it is very difficult to determine where you need to go. Given the strong emotional responses associated with social justice and as an institution with many differing opinions, beliefs, values and morals among the staff, students and parents it is vital to get a firm grasp of what is happening and where people want to go regarding social justice issues at the school and in society in general. Through this critical reflection and review an institution and its members are then able to put in place meaningful actions and plans, however, without having conducted an audit such as this, the opportunity to address inequality, marginalization, oppression, and all the “isms” is lost.
References
Riehl, P. (1993). Five ways to analyze classrooms for an anti-bias approach. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), School-age connections, 2(6), pp.1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service. Retrieved from https://www.cdrcp.com/pdf/AntiBias-FIVE%20WAYS%20TO%20ANALYZE%20CLASSROOMS%20FOR%20AN%20ANTI%20BIAS%20APPROACH.pdf
Robinson, D. & Randall, L. (Eds.) (2016). Social Justice in Physical Education Critical Reflections and Pedagogies for Change. Toronto, ON, CA: Canadian Scholars Press.
Russell, W. PhD. (2010). Authentic Assessment in Physical Education. Retrieved from: http://jonesytheteacher.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ped-393-authentic-assessment-in-physical-ed1.ppt
Tripp, A., Rizzo, TL., & Webbert, L. (2007) Inclusion in Physical Education: Changing the Culture. JOPERD (78)2 pp. 32-36,48.
Web Pages cited for Definitions
Riehl, P. (1993). Five ways to analyze classrooms for an anti-bias approach. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), School-age connections, 2(6), pp.1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service. Retrieved from https://www.cdrcp.com/pdf/AntiBias-FIVE%20WAYS%20TO%20ANALYZE%20CLASSROOMS%20FOR%20AN%20ANTI%20BIAS%20APPROACH.pdf
Robinson, D. & Randall, L. (Eds.) (2016). Social Justice in Physical Education Critical Reflections and Pedagogies for Change. Toronto, ON, CA: Canadian Scholars Press.
Russell, W. PhD. (2010). Authentic Assessment in Physical Education. Retrieved from: http://jonesytheteacher.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ped-393-authentic-assessment-in-physical-ed1.ppt
Tripp, A., Rizzo, TL., & Webbert, L. (2007) Inclusion in Physical Education: Changing the Culture. JOPERD (78)2 pp. 32-36,48.
Web Pages cited for Definitions