Identity, Education and Belonging examines the social and educational experiences of Arab and Muslim Australian youth against a wider political backdrop. Arab and Muslim Australian youth have long faced considerable social obstacles in their journey towards full integration, but as the discourse of insecurity surrounding these conflicts intensifies, so too do the difficulties they face in Australian society. Events such as the war in Iraq, Australia's presence in Afghanistan and perceptions of Iran as a nuclear threat--together with domestic events such as the Cronulla riots--place Arabs and Muslims at the centre of global instability and exacerbate feelings of tension and anxiety. At a time when fear and confusion permeate their experiences, Identity, Education and Belonging is an all-important study of the lives of Muslim and Arab youth in Australia.
This practitioner-focused guide to creating identity-safe classrooms presents four categories of core instructional practices: Child-centered teaching ; Classroom relationships ; Caring environments ; Cultivating diversity. The book presents a set of strategies that can be implemented immediately by teachers. It includes a wealth of vignettes taken from identity-safe classrooms as well as reflective exercises that can be completed by individual teachers or teacher teams.
Welcome to Identity Safe Classrooms! In identity safe classrooms, students facing negative stereotypes or viewed as different are "seen," accepted, and valued for who and what they are. Their identity is embraced as an asset not a barrier for school success. Identity safety is a research-based set of practices that counter the harmful effects of stereotype threat and allow our students to reach their full capacity for learning, foster positive relationships, and better appreciate the full spectrum of human differences. The second of a two-volume set, Identity Safe Classrooms, Grades 6-12, is a call for educators to come together and realize a vision of schools as transformative places of opportunity and equity for all students. Inside you’ll find: Design principles for promoting belonging and a welcoming classroom environment Compelling evidence from identity safety research on ways to mitigate stereotype threat along with counter-narratives that challenge societal biases about gender, race, and other differences Pragmatic strategies for student-centered teaching, including trauma-informed practices, that hold high expectations and validate each student’s background as a resource for learning Vignettes with concrete examples and try-it-out activities and prompts for self-reflection Devour Identity Safe Classrooms, adopt its practices, and soon enough you’ll inspire in all of your students a greater sense of empathy and agency in their educational experiences. "Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas along with Alexandrea Creer Kahn and Amy Epstein show us the intersections between adolescent identity development, racial identity development, and social-emotional development so we know how to use the diversity in classrooms as our strength." -Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain "Identity Safe Classrooms should be in the hands of every educator who walks into a school. It′s clear and accessible, grounded in research, thought-provoking and engaging, and actionable, and fills a crucial gap in our resources for creating just and liberated schools." -Elena Aguilar, Author of The Art of Coaching "The authors have done an excellent job showing how an identity safe classroom integrates the growth mindset in a secondary school. When students feel accepted and valued, when they feel safe learning from mistakes and encouraged to continually grow as learners, they can reach their highest potential." -Carol Dweck, Stanford University
Draws from a wide research base documenting best practices for identity safety, including inclusive classroom practices, positive teacher-student relations, diverse and challenging tasks, and the use of student diversity as a resource Includes interactive activities and tools for professional development, linking strategies to theory Offers guiding principles to help leaders stay true to the core values of equity and identify safety, equipping leaders with the adaptive expertise needed to confront evolving challenges Covers professional growth models for teachers, counselors, campus supervisors, and other school staff Tackles the difficult issue of equitable data collection; shares principles, systems, and best practices for assessment that take bias, stakeholder voice, and universal design into account.
In Belonging and Identity in STEM Higher Education, leading scholars, teachers, practitioners and students explore belonging and identity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and how this is impacted by disciplinary changes and the post-pandemic higher education context. In STEM fields, positivist approaches and a focus on numerical data can lead to assumptions that they are unemotional, impersonal disciplines. The need for mathematical competency, logical thinking and disciplinary contexts can be barriers to engagement, belonging and success in STEM. STEM ways of thinking, such as those underpinning abstract and complex mathematics, can form the basis for new ways of conceptualising belonging for both staff and students, going beyond socio-demographic and cultural differences. In this book, chapters and case study contributions analyse what is unique about STEM educational environments for staff and students in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Scandinavia and Asia. The authors examine the role of STEM pedagogies in facilitating belonging, variable impacts across student characteristics and the experiences STEM students face in their higher education experiences. It provides a valuable resource for those working in equity diversity and inclusion (EDI), STEM educational researchers and practitioners, as well as offering insights for academics and teachers in STEM higher education.
Tony Eaude argues that the foundations of a robust but flexible identity are formed in early childhood and that children live within many intersecting and sometimes conflicting cultures. He considers three meanings of culture, associated with (often implicit) values and beliefs; the arts; and spaces for growth. In exploring how young children's identities, as constructed and constantly changing narratives, are shaped, he discusses controversial, intersecting factors related to power in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, religion, class, physical ability and age. Eaude explores how young children learn, often tacitly, highlighting reciprocity, example, habituation and children's agency and voice. He emphasises the importance of a sense of belonging, created through trusting relationships, and inclusive environments, with adults drawing on and extending children's cultural capital and 'funds of knowledge.' Eaude shows how a holistic education requires a breadth of opportunities across and beyond the school curriculum, and highlights how play, the humanities and the arts enable children to explore how it is to be human, and to become more humane, broadening horizons and helping challenge preconceptions and stereotypes. This radical, inclusive and culturally sensitive vision, for an international audience, challenges many current assumptions about identity, culture, childhood and education.
The emergence of new kinds of racism in European societies—referred to variously as “Euro-racism,” “cultural racism,” or, in France, as racisme differential—has been widely discussed by citizens and scholars alike. While these accounts differ, there is widespread agreement that racism in Europe is on the rise and that one of its characteristic features is hostility to migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Migrant Voices aims to provide a new understanding of the social, political, and historical forces that marginalize these new “others”—culminating in an investigation of the narratives of day-to-day life that produce a culture of everyday racism.
Disability, Intersectionality, and Belonging in Special Education focuses on preparing educators who use socioculturally sustaining practices, curricula, and instruction through an intersectional lens. This book empowers preservice students and special education practitioners and administrators to meet the needs of disabled individuals. Understanding the full range of requirements relating to socioculturally sustaining practices is imperative to working with individuals with disabilities as well as with their families and caregivers. Being able to understand and explain this complex issue to others is important and often necessary. Social injustices in special education are historical and systemic. Special education practitioners are typically unaware of the importance of intersectional differences because they have been prepared to address cultural perspectives only during awareness days or through specific units in curricula. At other times they discuss the topic diagnostically—for example, as part of an educational plan or when teaching English as a second language. Other issues stem from the value system of the special education practitioners themselves; some are not willing to engage in these concepts, while others prioritize treating all students the same by using the terms “fairness,” “equity,” and “colorblindness” to justify this treatment. Even when special educator practitioners attempt to address injustices on behalf of their students, they tend to center on only the student’s disability, which means they are ignoring or erasing other aspects of their students’ identities. These concerns highlight the importance of building the sociocultural competence of our teaching force. This book will help practitioners build this competence in their own spheres of influence.
Displacement, Identity and Belonging is a book about difference. It deals with ethnicity, migration, place, marginalisation, memory and constructions of the self. The arts-based and auto/biographical performance of the many voices in the text compliment and interrupt each other to create a polyvocal rendition of experience. The text unfolds through fiction, memoir, legend, artworks, photographs, poetry and theory, historical, cultural and political perspectives. As such, it is a book that confronts what an academic text can be. Written in the present tense, it weaves its narrative around one small Hungarian migrant family in Australia, who are not particularly special or extraordinary. Their experience may appear, at least on first blush, to be paralleled by the post-war diasporic experience for a range of nations and peoples. However in many ways, this is not necessarily so. It is this crucial aspect, of the idiosyncrasies of difference that is at the core of this work. The layering of stories and artworks build upon each other in an engaging and accessible reading that appeals to a multitude of audiences and purposes. The book makes significant contributions to the literature on qualitative research, and in particular to arts-based research, auto/biographical research and autoethnographic research. Displacement, Identity and Belonging is in itself an experience of journey in the reading, powerfully demonstrating a life forever in transit. This work can be used as a core reading in a range of courses in education, teacher education, ethnicity studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology, history and communication or simply for pleasure. “Displacement, Identity and Belonging offers an excellent example of the use of novel approaches to social research that are designed to raise important questions and provide unique insights. The multigenerational perspective of Hungarian migrants to, and immigrants in, Australia, disclosed and examined herein, is not merely a fascinating and urgent topic in itself. It also encourages and enables the reader to imagine analogous social phenomena in other places and times. This fact, in conjunction with an extraordinarily effective format, is what makes this, for readers of all sorts, an important and empowering book – one that I heartily recommend. – Tom Barone, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University (USA) Dr Alexandra Cutcher is a multi-award winning academic at Southern Cross University, Australia. Her research focuses on what the Arts can be and do educationally, expressively, as research method, language, catharsis, reflective instrument and documented form. These understandings inform Alexandra’s teaching and her spirited advocacy for Arts education.
