490052 SE Theory and practical experience of education and consulting (2015W)

Not only parents but also teachers wish for equality among all pupils in the classroom. Yet, empirical as well as theoretical findings continuously point out different forms of inequality in the classroom that privilege 'normal' pupils. Reflecting inequalities as well as dealing with difference and 'otherness' therefore constitute crucial professional tasks in the classroom. Nonetheless, the necessity to engage professionally with differentiation and 'otherness' for the purpose of reflecting on (the adoption of) social stereotypes and their workings in the school and on personal preconceptions regarding specific differences is frequently underrated. Likewise, there often is no critical examination of school as a technique of normalization or of the school system as supporting the already privileged The seminar will raise and discuss key issues regarding inequalities, difference and normalization:

What does equality mean? What equal rights? What respectively who is considered normal – and what or who not normal?Why? Because of which criteria? How is normalcy defined and established? By whom? Which bodies are considered normal? What is the role of gender in the classroom? The gender of the teacher, pupil, client, …? Are girls, female students, women* treated differently than boys, male students, men* - or genderqueers? How does social, cultural or national background matter? Which cultural, religious or gender stereotypes do professionals unintentionally reproduce? And in which way do things get more complicated if we talk not only about feminine and masculine persons, migrants and majority austrians but about Austrian_turkish girls, Polish caretakers or Nigerian asylum seekers? How do gender and background interact? How can education work against social differences and discriminations? And what does a professional approach look like that not only accepts but actually embraces and supports difference and diversity?