Inclusive pedagogy, as an institutional strategy endeavors to establish an educational setting that fosters a sense of belonging, appreciation, and integration for all students. It recognizes the sociocultural nature of gender, which influences individuals’ self-perception and their perception of others. Sociological application over this issue can meaningfully engage us in comprehending how to effectively understand and work with such a framework.
Leveraging Sociological Imagination to Understand the Gendering of Our World.
“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both”- C. Wright Mills.
Gender, being a key component of one’s identity, exerts a substantial influence on the educational sphere and can profoundly alter the experiences of students. Understanding individual experiences of gender, we can transform our institutions to be inclusive and open to students of all identities.
By leveraging our sociological imagination, we can position ourselves to examine our social world by observing the patterns and structures that work to create gender-based challenges for students. As these patterns become clearer, we can frame our world better through a formalization that is grounded in social justice.
In essence, sociological imagination helps us uncover the strange in the familiar and the general in the particular, lifting off the veneer to reveal the extraordinary patterns in ordinary experiences of individuals and so enabling us to reconceptualize our vision and scripts for our society.
In this regard, institutions should be equipped to understand the multifaceted nature of gender identities and manifestations, acknowledging that not all students identify strictly within the male or female binary. Creating a gender-inclusive learning environment necessitates educators to embrace instructional approaches that interrogate binary conceptions and cultivate a secure space that promotes and honors self-expression.
Embracing such transformations and tackling gender-based barriers head on requires a stronger role not just by educators, but by our institutions that can formally address the issue of gender within the very core design of the institutions we operate with.
In acknowledging the influence of gender norms or unequal treatment, inclusive pedagogy actively promotes equitable participation, so that students of all genders are afforded equal opportunity to engage and mutually benefit from their interactions. The use of a collaborative approach in education facilitates the creation of a learning environment that is both enriching and inclusive.
Inclusive education can help engage in deliberate introspection of prejudices and stereotypes, so assuring the provision of impartial criticism and avoidance of favoring of discriminatory practices. Educators can effectively contribute towards gender equality and exert a substantial influence on the educational experiences of their students by exemplifying inclusive behavior and actively addressing both explicit and implicit biases.
Pit Stop: Identifying the Challenges in the Classroom
Microaggressions in the Classroom
Microaggressions is an umbrella term for a variety of subtle types of prejudice that projects biased or discriminatory attitude towards others. It can be of three types” microassault, microinsult and microinvalidation.
Microassault implies when someone purposefully acts in a discriminating manner, being explicit and conscious of it. Demeaning or objectifying female students, passing homophobic or transphobic comments, or mocking or belittling student’s religious beliefs are ways that express microassaults in the classroom.
Microinsult implies making judgements about someone’s talents based on their gender or race are examples of subtle, frequently unintentional behavior or remarks that denigrate or diminish a person’s identity. Telling someone you are “too intelligent” for a girl, for example may be one way to categorize this statement as a microinsult.
Microinvalidations refer to behavior that can lead to a hostile or unwelcoming learning environment by making students feel invisible, unheard, or undervalued. In the context of the classroom, a microinvalidation can be seen when an educator may ignore or dismiss a student’s idea due to their identity or background.
Minimizing or rejecting discriminatory experiences of students by claiming that a student is exaggerating their sentiments or experiences when they talk about prejudice might invalidate their thoughts and feelings. If educators frequently use terminology or references that exclusively relate to a particular group, it may make other students feel left out or ignored.
Let us look at some of the ways through which educators can foster more positive and inclusive environment for students.
Fostering Inclusivity in the Classroom: Some Strategies
Creating a Community of Learners
Developing a community where students feel accepted, connected, and valued by others is vital for inclusivity. A stronger sense of belonging among students can help experience higher levels of happiness and can lead to increased motivation, engagement, and participation in learning.
Action Tips: Get to know your students. Learn their names and have formal procedures in place to be aware of any accommodations necessary or required for a fruitful learning experience.
Pedagogy as an Effective Tool for Inclusivity
Pedagogy can be a potent way of fostering inclusivity in academia. Educators should work towards creating a positive learning environment for students that is welcoming, respectful, and accessible to all students.
Action Tips: Include learning material that incorporates diverse perspectives, alternative formats, and different types of assessments. Include a combination of lectures, group work, hands on activities, closed caption and transcripts for videos, and experiential learning components. Strive to assess learning through multiple ways of demonstrating performance. Have diverse and inclusive course objectives and learning outcomes.
Students as Participants in their Own Learning
Encourage open and respectful dialogue in the classroom. Ensure there is voice and representation of all the groups. Encourage learning that is centered on student inputs for course design and delivery.
Action Tips: Co-create class norms with students for the academic session. Structure regular feedback from students about teaching and learning in your classroom. Allow opportunities for group and teamwork including peer feedback.
Inclusive Mentorship
Mentoring in education can foster diversity and inclusion by providing ways to connect with students beyond academic assistance. It can lead to holistic development of students as faculty-student interactions can help break down barriers and create more equitable opportunities for all.
Action Tips: Help build custom programs of faculty and students to support students from underrepresented backgrounds including but not limited to gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation as well as disability. Provide training to mentors to aid them in recognizing their own implicit biases and develop strategies to overcome them.
Be Ready to Learn and Unlearn
Be open to continuous growth and improvement. Have an open mindset and continuously assess and refine your teaching practices to align it with student needs.
Action Tips: Stay current with best practices through professional development opportunities and workshops. Recognize your own implicit biases and be ready to unlearn and work through them. React swiftly and constructively to all forms of microaggressions.
At the Crossroad of Gender and Culture: Concluding Thoughts on Intersectionality
It is imperative to recognize that gender identities are not independent of other aspects of our identity, including but not limited to caste, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, region, and sexual orientation. Kinberle Crenshaw’s 1980s work highlights the need to go beyond a singular focus on gender alone and acknowledge that actual discrimination is a combination of other social issues emanating for example from discrimination owing out of gender and race, being born a black and female.
An intersection of race, gender and sexuality will further create unique challenges and obstacles. People experience multiple forms of oppression simultaneously and we need to analyze and study them as they impact and act together. Taken to the classroom setting, validation of such diverse experiences and viewpoints helps in cultivating a positive impact on students’ self-esteem and develop a sense of community and belongingness among individuals from varied backgrounds.
Through the act of questioning and confronting gender stereotypes, advocating for a curriculum that encompasses all genders, and actively addressing the dynamics inside the classroom, educators can strive to assure that the experiences of each student are duly acknowledged, esteemed, and treated with reverence. Inclusive educators play a crucial role in molding the educational achievements of students and, consequently, contribute to the cultivation of a more inclusive and equitable society.
BIO
Sneha Kadyan is a distinguished social scientist known for her pioneering work in the field of sociology. With a career spanning 11 years, she has made significant contribution to gender studies, trade and development and environmental sociology.
Presently, she is a Lecturer of Sociology and Assistant Dean of the Mentoring Programme at Jindal Global Business School at O.P Jindal Global University in Haryana, India. She is a PhD Candidate of Sociology and a researcher with Centre for Fair and Alternative at Colorado State University, United States. Her professional training includes inclusive pedagogical course design, creating inclusive student assignments as well as certificates in building student motivation and critical engagement in first four weeks of academic session. In addition, she is trained in online course format and delivery.
Throughout her career, Sneha has been a mentor and advisor to countless students, many of whom have gone on to make significant contribution to the field themselves. Her dedication to teaching and research has earned her admiration and respect of both her peers and students.
