Democratic Schools
Democratic Schools: Making Shared Governance Meaningful
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Perry Rettig
School systems are governed in an antiquated model not reflective of the democratic principles they espouse. The present model was created in a bygone era and should be replaced with one that is more congruent with professional organizations and democratic structures. This paper will briefly show the present governance structures of our schools and the fallacies they support. The remainder of the presentation will focus on imagining a new model which supports the tenets of democratic decision making and leadership.
Critical Democratic Literacy: Using Multimodal Learning with Young Learners to Mediate Their Participation in Their Sociopolitical World
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Julie L Pennington, Kathryn Obenchain
Learning to make a social difference for young children requires instructional practices that allow all students to participate in their sociopolitical contexts. The United States has focused intently on the use of standardized tests to measure young children’s reading abilities. Broader views of literacy’s role in social access call for critical views of literacy that promote social justice. In this qualitative case study of elementary students, multimodal design was used to teach the concepts of civic virtue and engagement. Data from all class activities including lesson videos, student drawings, writings, and video creations were examined to understand how students expressed their understandings of civic virtue and engagement. Students demonstrated their understanding by creating a Public Service Announcement video. Students selected a scenario, created dialogue and gestures, with a narrative depicting how to stand up for the homeless and how to stand up to bullying. Findings indicate that multimodal instructional design coupled with critical democratic literacy concepts creates a means for students of all reading and writing abilities to surpass simplistic views of literacy to create critical meaningful expressions relevant to their own sociopolitical contexts. Young children understand concepts related to social justice and their engagement in topics related to democratic values related to social justice can be facilitated by multimodal learning. Instructional responses to individual differences as they relate to students’ literacy abilities (e.g., reading level, vocabulary knowledge, and writing abilities) can be expanded by relying on multimodal design, via oral story reading, class discussion, photos, illustrations, and video excerpts.
Teaching and Learning about Information and Reactionary Populism: How Faculty Can Make a Social Difference
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lorna E. Rourke, Pascal Lupien
In the past few years we have witnessed the rise of right-wing populist movements characterized by xenophobia, authoritarianism, and hostility toward democratic institutions, diversity, and human rights. One of the factors behind the success of populist leaders is the manipulation of information and ideas through the emergence of a “fake news” industry. Populist movements have devised misinformation campaigns that speak to the fears and resentment of large segments of the population. There is considerable evidence to suggest that a better educated population means a swing to populist politics is less likely (Waller et al, 2017). Information literacy (IL)—the ability to filter, analyze, and think critically about information—is particularly relevant in the current political climate. IL skills make people less susceptible to manipulation and support a more informed democratic citizenship. As such, educators at all levels must help students to recognize the relationship between information, politics, and democracy, and to learn how information manipulation contributes to the rise of authoritarianism. In this session a Political Scientist and a Librarian will review how information is created and controlled, and the ways in which misinformation and the lack of IL skills threaten democracy. We will suggest the important roles of educators in helping students understand the creation, suppression, and dissemination of information, and will provide practical examples of the ways in which educators can help our students and others at all levels of education and in all sectors of society develop the skills required of citizens in a democratic society.
Resilient Schools and Democratic Schools
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lucia Fernández Terol, Marta Olmo Extremera
Currently, the applications for the school management are increasingly demanding. Directive teams need to be ready for change, challenge and fairer societies. This is the reason why leadership can focus on the emotional and social aspects, as in the case of resilient leadership. This paper presents a study on how resilience can be developed in schools to build schools with social justice. The theoretical framework brings us closer to the concept of resilience and leadership. The methodological design is mixed through case studies. This study provides evidence that the centers seek to improve social and inclusive aspects. Among the characteristics to highlight leadership is the social commitment. Whereas, in the processes of teaching and learning, and restructuring and redesign of the curriculum is where we find the inclusion and justice. The directors recognize in their speeches, along with the rest of the informers, that being a director of educational centers with great challenges is a difficult task, especially when it is necessary to manage and organize it effectively. They are the principals with a strong social commitment, which is why they try to build school environments appropriate. Principals manage their centers with cultures of change The school is presented as an organization that seeks to generate spaces and an adequate school climate for the development of social justice. Focusing on the characteristics of resilient leadership, dialogue, decision making and social commitment are the ones that stand out. This research invites the educational community to reflect on resilient leadership.
