Increasing Awareness of Global Social Justice Among Doctoral Educational Leadership Students

• In Event: Supporting students' development and learning through contemplative, holistic pedagogy

Abstract

Introduction
This study examined the effects of critical, focused readings, and structured discussion questions on doctoral students’ reflections. The author analyzed students’ weekly reflective journals and classified them based on their level of reflections to demonstrate the students’ critical analyses advancement over the duration of a comparative education course.

1. Objectives or purposes of the paper.

The author examined the effects of readings and reflections on increasing awareness of doctoral educational leadership students. The author chose a global social justice theme for a comparative education course she taught in a doctoral educational leadership program. The author examined the changes in students’ reflections on issues such as poverty, gender inequality, cultural believes, and educational policies and their impact on students’ learning in a global context.
2. Main perspective or theoretical/conceptual framework used.

The author used Van Manen’s levels of reflections as the theoretical framework to examine the students’ weekly journals. Van Manen developed a categorization of reflections in 1977, which have been used by educators to analyze teachers’ reflections into three levels:
a. Technical Rationality, in which the reflective practitioners focuses on classroom management and competency as measured by outcomes;
b. Practical Action, in which the reflective practitioner tries to clarify the assumptions that underlie pedagogical practices and assess the consequences of such practices;
c. Critical Reflection, in which moral and ethical concerns are considered as the reflective practitioners develop curricula and decide on educational practices.

3. Analytical methods, research design, or modes of inquiry.

The participants in this study were 40 doctoral educational leadership students enrolled in a comparative education course at a university in Southern United States. The author utilized content analysis method of the students’ weekly journals to determine if they changed the level of their reflections as a result of their participation in the course. Additionally, she examined if the students, individually and as a group, elevated their level of reflection after they participated in course activities.

4. Data sources or evidence.

The author chose four texts for her doctoral comparative education course, all focused on issues related to social justice and education. There were three different groups of students who took the course over a period of three years, totaling 40 students. All students either held administrative or teaching positions in educational settings either in public schools, the state department of education, or higher education institutes. The students were to read the assigned chapters from their texts ahead of class and come prepared with responses to weekly class structured questions, which were designed to provoke group discussions. The questions were posted weekly on the course website ahead of class meetings. After class, the students were to reflect on the readings and class discussions as they relate to their educational practices in a journal to be submitted to the instructor by email at the end of each week. The author highlighted text from each journal indicating different levels of reflections using content analysis. Each paragraph was assigned a reflection level. The levels of reflection for each student were analyzed to see if the students’ reflections have progressed from the technical level to the practical or critical level as identified by Van Manen.

5. Results and/or conclusions.

The results of this study clearly indicated that a significant number of students have reflected at the first level at the beginning of the course but a large percentage of them have progressed to the highest level of Van Manen’s classification by the end of the course. Few students remained in the first level of reflection by the end of the course.

6. Significance of the study to the field of comparative or international education.

Educators have to enable their students to reflect and critically evaluate their own practices in light of the underlying beliefs that guide their actions. This study demonstrated how critical readings and structured discussions could focus educators’ thinking and promote reflective practices. The results demonstrated that reflective practices could lead to professional growth as supported by earlier studies (Loughran, 2002; Saleh, 2004, 2006). It is imperative that future educational leaders reflect on social justice issues and how they affect students’ learning. Increasing awareness of these issues should help educators to better address their students’ needs. This is not to say that increased reflection levels will necessary mean improved educational practices. However, increased awareness and consistent reflective practices should result in improved educational policies and practices (Costa & Kallick, 2000).

Author

• Amany Saleh, Arkansas State University