Abstract
The editors of Education as the Driving Force for Equity of the Marginalized (2022) explore the text for implications for teacher preparation. Authors of each chapter focus on a specific country and explore the role education has or can play in promoting equity. The impact of oppressive systems (societal forces that marginalize particular groups) is explored with a focus on how to mitigate such systems. Tseng et al.'s promotion for social change framework guided the editors' design and execution of this international text. Through qualitative meta-synthesis of the chapters, the editors have analyzed the book's content for themes that can be translated into actionable recommendations framed within the promotion for social change framework. These recommendations are targeted toward a range of education pre-college and higher education stakeholders.
TopLiterature Review
To best conceptualize the structure of the study and the meaning of the results, a clear understanding of key terminology, as used throughout this study, is warranted. This section provides insight into the academe’s understandings of equity issues that face the following groups: females, males, people who are of lower socioeconomic status, migrants, immigrants, and refugees.
The term “minority” is often used in reference to people who are marginalized. However, the term “minoritized” will be used in place of “marginalized” or “minority.” We turn to Wingrove-Haugland and McCleod’s (2021) wonderfully concise explanation, “Using “minoritized” makes it clear that being minoritized is about power and equity not numbers…” (pg 1). The challenge oppressed groups face is not about being small in numbers or the “minority”, though their numbers may be small. Rather, the issue they face is that they do not hold power in their society. They are subject to disparities that grow from political, legal, educational, and social systems created by power holders. These systems support and promote power holders; they serve to maintain power. These systems also serve to minoritize other groups, enforcing limits on power for non-power holders. Minoritized people are those living within societies that have been architected to deny them power; these systems have indoctrinated their denial of power.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Qualitative Meta-Synthesis: Analysis of qualitative studies to identify research questions (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2007).
Indigenous: People whose origins in a region date back to pre-colonial times and who retain their identity, considering themselves different from the society of people currently controlling the region.
Schools: Institutions of learning that vary by age and specialization.
Native-Born: People born and living in a region as part of the prevailing society in post-colonial times.
Equity: Conditions under which people have what they need to have the same experience as others. Different than equality, where everyone has the same in an effort to be fair.
Promotion for Social Change: A theoretical framework that places societal impact at the center of the data analysis (Tseng et al., 2002).
Migrant: A migrant refers to a person who has moved to a new place, inside or outside of their native land, for a short time.
Immigrant: An immigrant refers to a person who comes to another country to permanently settle.
Marginalization: The act of oppressing a group and excluding them from those who hold the most social and political power.
Refugee: Refugees are people who move to a new place out of fear for their safety and/or lives due to a natural disaster, war, or other dangers/threats that target them.
Oppression: The act of treating others as less than those who hold power.
International: Involving more than one country.