Abstract
The concept of diversity has been foregrounded in educational discourse, since inequalities, including educational inequalities, are constitutive of and are, in turn constituted by diversities. This is the starting point of the argument in this chapter, en route to presenting new ways of thinking about diversity, social justice, difference and solidarity in the context of teacher education. It takes issue with the ghettoized construction of equality, amidst empirical evidence that indicates that South African society’s deeply embedded prejudices are antithetical to social justice. We thus take the approach that it is more sustainable and desirable to interpret and anchor social justice within a conceptual frame that logically links difference and diversity with the political notion of solidarity, so human agency can be advanced. Derrida’s reworked notions of hospitality, diversity and difference are rearticulated with the political purposes of social justice and solidarity. Applying these constructs to re-examine findings on teacher education, we conclude that teacher education/training should not simply be aimed at managing the expressed or demonstrated diversity in the classroom, but rather at how to engage with diversity as an operative notion for social justice, and solidarity with humanity, and human suffering.
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- 1.
Some examples of authors here include Cochran-Smith, M., Foster, M., Grant, C., & Secada, W., Ladson Billings, G. Villegas, A., inter alia.
- 2.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, which includes the Bill of Rights, Section 9 (3) on Equality states: “the state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”
- 3.
Examples abound: the University of Free State incident involving white students and black cleaners in one example, The Ministerial Commission on the Climate in HEIs focusing on racial and xenophobic issues, recently released a damning report entitled “Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions”.
- 4.
In isiXhosa, the notion of ubuntu is explained through the phrase “Umntu ngumntu ngabantu”, which translates into English as “you are what you are through other people”; essentially asserting that one’s humanness comes from the interrelationship with other human beings. In Afrikaans, the terms ‘medemenslikheid’ is used to capture this notion.
- 5.
Graduates of the other two higher education institutions in the province do sometimes end up teaching in primary schools. However the teacher education programme at these two institutions was not specifically geared for the primary school situation.
- 6.
Thompson’s original model refers to the PCS model (Personal, Cultural, Structural). For various reasons, Thompson emphasized the “personal” level. Keet therefore converted his PCS model into a SCP model.
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Zinn, D., Keet, A. (2011). Diversity and Teacher Education. In: Sporre, K., Mannberg, J. (eds) Values, Religions and Education in Changing Societies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9628-9_8
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