SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:
-
Edmonds, R. et al. (1973) A Black Response to Christopher Jenck´s
Inequality and Certain Other Issues, Harvard Educational Review,
43(1), 76-91. -
Flecha, R., & Buslon, N. (2016). 50 Años después del Informe Coleman. Las actuaciones educativas de éxito sí mejoran los resultados académicos. International Journal of Sociology of Education, 5(2), 127-143. https://www.hipatiapress.com/hpjournals/index.php/rise/article/viewFile/2087/1671
IMAGE:
COMMENT:
One indicator of poor quality is to quote the Coleman Report to state that schools cannot overcome inequalities, hiding the scientific evidence that shows how such information is false. Already in 1973, Harvard Educational Review published several articles demonstrating the errors ok this statement and its consequences in terms of increasing inequalities. The Coleman Report and the Jencks Report were made under request and told what those who requested them wanted them to tell. As reported in the HER articles, those reports were used to justify the budget cuts in education and specially to the programs oriented to the overcoming of inequalities. To quote those reports hiding the scientific literature is scientifically and ethically harmful for those most in need.
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Yo estudié el grado de Educación Primaria y muchos de mis profesores nos decían constantemente que como profesores teníamos poco que hacer desde las escuelas para superar las desigualdades, especialmente con alumnado gitano con el que decían que no era posible mejorar sus resultados.
I’ve been told by partners (primary school teachers like me) “we have to choose; we cannot save every children. Some are meant to succeed and others… There is nothing we can do for them. You are wasting your time and energy with these ones.”
COMMENT:
The report “State System of Education Indicators (SEIE)” has been published in Spain since 2000. This report collects in the section “ACTIVITY RATE AND UNEMPLOYMENT ACCORDING TO TRAINING LEVEL”, the increase in employability at higher level of academic training. It also includes “The male activity rate is always higher than the female; however, the differences are reduced as the level of training increases” (p. 100), therefore, the school helps to promote socially, economically and also overcome inequality of genre. https://sede.educacion.gob.es/publiventa/sistema-estatal-de-indicadores-de-la-educacion-2020/espana-organizacion-y-gestion-educativa/23979
In the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, two cities with low scores in the PISA reports, a 2010 investigation shows that one of the reasons expressed by people who left school early was to seek a job. However, two thirds expressed their regret for this decision and most would go back to study if they had the opportunity (p. 251). https://sede.educacion.gob.es/publiventa/el-abandono-escolar-temprano-en-las-ciudades-de-ceuta-y-melilla/educacion-ceuta-melilla/13896
The families, my family, wish for their sons and daughters a better future than they had and they know that this is only possible through academic promotion. Sometimes the immediacy of economic need truncates these dreams, therefore, the educational system must guarantee successful educational actions for all people regardless of the economic situation of children, overcoming social inequalities.
OTHER SOURCE:
In this other post you can read more reflections about this topic.
https://socialimpactscience.org/education/2020/09/27/educational-success-depends-on-the-socio-economic-level-of-families/
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:
COMMENT:
There are a lot of experiences that show that this post is a hoax. Several studies demonstrated that culturally responsive pedagogy effectively fosters literacy learning in schools and contributes to overcome achievement gaps and inequalities
https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/download/1407/1235/
https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2018.1458599
https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X18767226
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1295824
COMMENT:
El proyecto del Centro Rural Agrupado Ariño-Alloza en la comunidad autónoma de Aragón, España es uno de los muchos ejemplos que pueden mencionarse y que descalifican este “bulo”. Este proyecto se fundamenta en un conjunto de Actuaciones Educativas de Éxito, dirigidas a la transformación social y educativa de la comunidad. El objetivo del artículo referido a continuación nos presenta este caso de estudio, un caso real, en el cual una transformación educativa significó el punto de partida para contrarrestar problemas causados por la despoblación y por las pocas perspectivas de futuro que existían en la comunidad.
Ejes centrales de esta iniciativa → grupos interactivos, ampliación del tiempo de aprendizaje, bibliotecas autorizadas, aplicación de las herramientas TICs o la formación de familiares en diferentes áreas.
Los resultados están a la vista en el caso del CRA Ariño-Alloza, no solamente que las dinámicas entre profesores y el alumnado ha mejorado sustancialmente permitiéndoles estar interconectados todo el tiempo, sino que también la motivación ha aumentado entre los estudiantes, dando pie a nuevas iniciativas como periódicos o revistas escolares, etc. Y las mejoras académicas no solo tienen que ver con las facilidades que las TIC han proporcionado a los estudiantes, sino también que el internet, como sabemos, es una plataforma que te acerca a otros conocimientos, intereses, anhelos, etc. que se han ido despertando, tanto entre los alumnos como entre los familiares. También es importante resaltar el impacto que ha tenido la transformación del CRA en la comunidad. Ya esta escuela no es simplemente una infraestructura más de la comunidad, sino se ha convertido en un punto de referencia y de encuentro para investigadores y profesores que desean palpar de primera mano el impacto educativo de Ariño.
OTHER SOURCES:
http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn-427/sn-427-2.htm
Schools will not overcome inequalities if they have assumptions and practices that are not evidence-based and are moreover racist or elitist. However, I have seen many schools who are working with successful educational actions that have scientifically demonstrated to improve inequalities, even when their contexts where diverse and at times very adverse. It is another thing that some teachers or university professors do not want to work hard and change their educational theories and practices, but schools CAN have a great role in overcoming inequalities.
Bajo nuestra experiencia de más de quince años como alumnos podemos ratificar que esta afirmación es completamente falsa. Hemos tenido multitud de compañeros de raza árabe o negra provenientes de familias con bajos recursos económicos que tenian las mismas condiciones que los demás alumnos dentro de la escuela, porque debe ser así y por mérito de los propios alumnos, que obtenían las mismas o incluso mejores calificaciones que la media de clase. Un claro ejemplo de esto que estamos explicando es el joven que ha obtenido major nota este año en la EBAU en Cataluña, que es árabe y proviene de una família con bajos recursos.
Stating that schools cannot overcome inequalities is clearly a hoax to me, you only have to dig one bit to find different methods, strategies, and ways of learning that can clearly deny that statement. For example, in one of the articles I paste below, we can see how health literacy and participation of the families in the educational environment is creating healthier habits between Roma families and that they are overcoming some of the barriers that other researchers described. Other example of overcoming inequalities is the use of dialogical learning, which has succeeded in engaging families and improving learning among the Roma community. I also quote one article that talk about French educational system, which is one of the most unequal among OECD countries, the strategies implemented show how they can advance from that systemic power and make progress to overcome social inequalities.
In conclusion, it is obvious that inequalities and systematic powers exists in schools and it is a serious matter to take care of, but as for the affirmation that we can´t overcome those inequalities I have to say that it won´t be easy to achieve, but it isn´t impossible either.
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES
Lémonie, Y., Grosstephan, V., & Tomás, J. L. (2021). From a Sociological Given Context to Changing Practice: Transforming Problematic Power Relations in Educational Organizations to Overcome Social Inequalities. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 3640.
-Recuperado de: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33488472/
Flecha, A., García, R., & Rudd, R. (2011). Using health literacy in school to overcome inequalities. European Journal of Education, 46(2), 209-218.
-Recuperado de: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2011.01476.x?casa_token=bikxBWO1Kc0AAAAA%3A7rTF8VFqhAB5vYbqkrHkTbZYISEnyt1Zcf0bFOVqDXhBJ3lrxZJTIcLKQLiLN_hXDGTef4SK7WaXytQ
Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2013). Turning difficulties into possibilities: Engaging Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 451-465.
-Recuperado de: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2013.819068