School Matters: The Effects of School Experiences on Youth’s Attitudes toward Immigrants

Although schools have been described as an important socialization context for the development of intergroup attitudes, longitudinal multilevel studies are still rare within this field. This 3-wave study (with annual assessments) of German adolescents (N = 1292; Mage = 13.86; 51.8% female) examined the role of school experiences (perceived multicultural education, supportive peer relations in class, democratic classroom climate) in the development of youth’s negative attitudes toward immigrants. Longitudinal multilevel analyses revealed that a democratic classroom climate predicted youth’s attitudes at the individual level. At the classroom level class-average perceptions of a democratic classroom climate, supportive peer relations in class, and multicultural education (the latter solely among male, higher track students) were associated with less negative attitudes toward immigrants. In addition, age moderated the effect of school experiences on attitudes, showing that perceptions of a democratic climate at the classroom level mattered in particular among older adolescents. The findings suggest that school experiences are related to youth’s negative attitudes toward immigrants and can therefore help to reduce the risk of prejudice development.

Creating a Democratic Culture in Managing Classroom Contexts of Disability – PART 1

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) in South Africa ratified Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System- a policy document which made an explicit declaration to create inclusive classroom contexts within a targeted period of 20 years. Succinctly, this declaration has cast the year 2021, as a major social justice milestone for citizens with disabilities. The chapter strongly believes that this milestone deserves to attract both critical dialogue and empirical engagements as to determine the impact of the Education White Paper 6. Internationally, there are various policy guidelines available, in the quest to create a democratic classroom context with the objective of accommodating diversity, more specifically to address oppressive and non-inclusive disability contexts. The reader audience will be taken across various discourses on disability rights and literature readings responding to redress within the realm of the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation, among others. Before the chapter concludes, a reflective activity is provided; together with a practical assessment activity where the authors create a democratic culture-centric lesson plan meant to support teachers in their inclusive education quest to create ideal democratic classroom contexts.

Creating Joyful Learning within a Democratic Classroom

Learning is enhanced when it occurs within a positive environment where the learners feel a sense of passion and excitement about what they are learning. A joyful learning experience creates new neural pathways in the brain and enhances the acceptance of content. Learners learn more quickly and more deeply when their emotions are touched and the learning experience is accompanied by the positive feelings and reactions of their teacher and other fellow learners. This paper considers the factors and classroom processes that lead to positive learning sentiment and explores the way a teacher can create a suitable collaborative and democratic learning space.

Analyzing the Degree of Consensus in Current Academic Literature on Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy is a philosophy and approach to education which has influenced theory and practice for almost 50 years, most recently in the fields of Applied Drama and performative pedagogy. However, what exactly is understood by Critical Pedagogy in the 21st century is unclear, and whether its roots still align with the ideas and practices of its progenitor Paulo Freire is uncertain. Therefore, this systematic review of literature aims to explore the interpretations of Critical Pedagogy presented in 100 peer-reviewed papers published in recent times. After identifying frequently emergent themes in the selected literature, which are associated with the work of Freire, this paper examines the degree of consensus around Critical Pedagogy’s transformative aim, its associated democratic classroom approaches, and the concepts of conscientization and praxis. Through this analysis, the review distinguishes a number of peripheral discussions that are related to a modern/postmodern debate within the literature. This paper concludes by asserting that there are more points of convergence than of divergence in the various interpretations of Critical Pedagogy available in the articles surveyed. We suggest that the current branching out of Critical Pedagogy has not been rendered devoid of core meanings as an educational tradition, one which holds considerable potential for the field of Applied Drama, and for other forms of performative education.