Pointing education to the right direction
Speaking from experience, curriculums in schools tend to give importance in technical subjects rather than subjects, which create an anti-bias learning environment. Educational environments that reflect the rich diversity of a community enable students to broaden their horizons and engage more actively in the learning experience. Prejudice can be avoided directly in the educational environment through the process of critical thinking development.
Teachers should learn to incorporate in their classes, discussions that can effectively raise the complex issues of social exclusion and hate within their community. Involving parents as well and other community members in the learning process is crucial since the families and communities are the ones who provide the context in which students are willing to learn. Practices that support the social and emotional competence of students lead to the elimination of disruptive child behaviors and foster pro-social behaviors. Through actively working towards this goal they can help their students to understand differences and accept them, something that will spread later on in the community through these students. These kinds of conversations regarding difference and acceptance should not based only to specific days/events but rather be a part of everyday business in the classroom. Creating an inclusive classroom is after all an ongoing effort, which needs constant work. The need to develop new skills for the purpose of coping effectively with social issues such as exclusion practices will only be met with a comprehensive educational reform.
In Jamaica, the educational system has been heavily criticized in recent years. Anti-social behavior and increased violence in schools is among the many issues that the education sector is facing. In the Proposed Vision Statement for Education, the Task Force of the NDP, the imperative is to create a globally competitive high quality workforce that will meet the needs of an increasingly knowledge-based economy and society. To this end, the Vision Statement aims to create a “Well - resourced, internationally recognized, values-based system that develops critical thinking, life-long learners who are productive and successful and can effectively contribute to an improved quality of life at the personal, national and global levels”. School environments must be a safe, alcohol and drug-free environment, where individuals are disciplined about violence, demonstrate respect for others and uphold equal rights.
Jamaica is in the right path to create such positive environments for the promotion of an inclusive classroom and an inclusive society in general. But further actions need to be taken by specially designed trainings for teachers in order to prepare them to raise successfully issues of diversity and bias in their classroom and make this kind of practice, an integral part of their daily work. This way, teachers will learn how to promote positive behavior and how to make full time long-term commitments to behavioral change. Inclusion in Education must be considered a long-term process for securing economic progress and social stability. Jamaica must continue to provide the framework that will transcend all boundaries so that our most treasured, the human capital, will thrive in a truly inclusive society.
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