Equality Issues, Human Rights, Diversity,
Anti-discriminatory Practice, Inclusion
Equal Opportunities, Citizenship
It is probably not helpful to have so many names, but they all overlap in the area of Social Justice.
I consider Social Justice an area of intellectual enquiry and experiential exploration linked to real life chances, the human rights of individuals, their legal rights and their values. What happens matters to people. In seeking good practice, learning to change, I believe that people need a framework for understanding their failures and prejudices as well as their ideals, that they know they are themselves part of the society they wish to change, and that they want to understand connections between personal attitudes, communities and cultures and institutional structures and constraints. I think this is why psychodynamic ideas, like internalisation, are as crucial to action as other fields of thought. What are the connections between what is personal, what is cultural, and what is structural in our society? It helps to understand that active participation, discrimination and influence for change can be very different, if the arena is personal, or if the arena is cultural or institutional. more about this
In simple terms, Social Justice is about ‘fairness’, an idea easy to express, but clearly very difficult for society to achieve. The Human Rights of Children are expressed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Within the wider community in Scotland, political developments have raised the profile of rights and associated issues, such as widening access and participation, meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse learner population [Reports: Riddell, Beattie], and developing the policy, training and implementation of anti-discriminatory practice. Currently there is much activity in this area, both hopeful and concerning. It is in itself hopeful that issues of rights and equality are no longer almost invisible, the province of a few activists only. I am interested in conversations which explore meanings and real change, not just apparent change. Make contact
My involvement in Social Justice – in teaching before retiring….ways in which I teach were more important than ‘What’ I taught.
Emotional Education Beginnings 