Do you have an inclusive approach to teaching? An inclusive approach includes all students and fosters equal educational opportunities for all. You probably answered yes. At the word ‘inclusion’ most teachers think about things like non-white students, students who are differently abled or those who need a little extra help to grasp concepts. But what about an inclusive approach to parenting, social class and family structure?
What does this stuff have to do with inclusion? Everything.
Say you give a homework assignment in which you ask students to interview their mother about how she spends her day at home. You also ask students to interview their father about a typical day at work. It’s a great assignment. But it’s not inclusive. It assumes a lot that may not be true. It assumes that students have parents. It assumes that students are in traditional two parent homes, with a male parent and a female parent. It assumes that the male parent works outside the home, while the female parent works inside the home. Indeed, many students have parents and live in such homes. And a growing number of students do not.
“An inclusive approach includes all students and fosters equal educational opportunities for all.”
The assignment and classroom activities connected to it excludes students in your class may be orphaned or in foster care. It excludes students who have same-sex parents. It excludes homes where the male works inside the home while the female parent works outside the home. In a sense, the homework assignment shows bias or a preference for 3 main things: (1) traditional family structures, (2) heterosexual relationships and (3) traditional gender roles. The assignment shows a preference for heteronormativity.
Heteronormativity is a world view, reinforced by institutions, policies, beliefs and cultures, that reinforces and promotes opposite sex relationships and the roles of men and women in these relationships as the preferred norm within society.
The assignment is biased against those who do not fit within traditional family structures, those who are not heterosexual and those who do not adhere to traditional gender roles. Most teachers, most people are unaware that they hold biases or preferences in matters of family structure, heteronormativity, and gender roles. These are unconscious biases. The main reason that people are unaware of them is that these ideas are linked to strongly held beliefs about the structure of society and strongly held beliefs about ‘how the world is,’ or ‘how the world should be.’
“Most teachers, most people are unaware that they hold biases or preferences in matters of family structure, heteronormativity, and gender roles.”
And these are not the only biases that can creep in. Others include things like social class, place of birth (or nativity) and language.
We talked about heteronormativity in this post. In the next few weeks, Look out for 4 short blog posts that discuss how unconscious bias about social class, gender roles, nativity and language operate in schools and strategies educators can use to help reduce instances of unconscious bias.
Happy Teaching! #redloheducation #heidiholder
