Download - qendra per arsim demokratik

Education for all vs. education for each – a case studylike they had been there for quite some time, and it had flowers -a rarity in theclassrooms. Thirty-five children were sitting in groups, even though they werenot collaborating. The atmosphere was very positive, and the children lookedfocused. At the end of the hour, the teacher asked two Roma children to standup, and after reminding the rest of the class that their friends will come withthem in the fourth grade, wrote a simple, one digit addition for each child tocomplete. When they managed to do so, all children applauded, and the twoRoma kids were crowned the King and Queen of the Day.” 3Clearly, the teacher wanted the children to feel successful, but the underlyingmessage was that she was expecting little of them, and the other children as well.The teacher’s patronizing was not noticed in the observations held after the training.Code #4 Finding: Teachers’ heightened conscience towards equity vs. equitabilityconcepts was propelled by the interventions.When asked why she chose to do this, the teacher responded that it was a majorsuccess for these two children to be able to solve the additions, and they need to feelproud of themselves. When asked whether she believed that these two kids deservedto continue to go to the fourth grade, she said that they were very much behind inmath, and they wouldn’t be able to catch up. The next time we interviewed her, shestated: “It is not their fault that they are failing, it is not my fault that they are failing,it is our school system that doesn’t allow them to be successful.”Code #5 Finding: Teachers were shifting from an equality orientation to anequity orientation towards social justice“I had never thought that it is the school’s fault for not assuring additionalsupport for this child (a child with special needs). It is not fair to them, it is notfair to the other children, and it is not useful to anybody. I organized a PTA, inwhich they agreed to come in turns and stay with me in the classroom, and helpwith the child. Do they come? Yes, it’s only once a month or less. If the parentscan’t, the grandmother comes. This way is fairer for everybody”.Code #6 Finding: Teachers had shifted beyond the “objective facilitator” role,and actively advocated for equity and justice.Due to several issues, such as un contextualized and cognitively burdenedschool textbooks, overcrowded classrooms, ineffective teaching-learning processand inadequate school infrastructure, the teacher usually teaches to the “middle”:the average students, which would make up in the best case the majority of thestudents. Due to family pressure, and personal professional satisfaction theysometimes make efforts to fulfil the needs of higher achieving students, but very3. From field notes observations in a third grade classroom prior to the training65Volume 1 - Number 1 - 2013