UNDERSTANDING EQUALITY Shared perspectives

Mole (Laura) Chapman

Welcome• Powerful language.

• Professional purpose.

• Validating experience.

• Not a add-on.

Without certain groups represented in the room, we miss out on the voices we need to hear in order to change.

Ground Rules

Agreed understandings or social contract?

What do you need to participate?

Path • Welcome• Ground rules and shared outcomes• Inequality • Stereotypes and Behaviour • Equality & Diversity• Equity • Inclusive practice• Positive and Possible• Commitment and compliance

Shared Outcomes:

• Hopes and fears:

From mindscapes to landscapes

We would be foolish to assume that it’s easy to achieve a fairer society.

If it was easy we would have cracked it, and we would all live in an equitable world.

• It is not.• We have not.• We do not.

Perceived Inequality

High InequalityLow social mobility

Deprivation and povertyDeprivation and poverty

Low InequalityHigh social mobility

The wider the perceived inequality - the unhealthier the community

“The first thing to recognise is that we are dealing with the effects of relative rather than absolute deprivation or poverty” Fullan

Stereotypes and Prejudice

Myths and assumptions Professional reaction

Behaviour and communication

Feeling Action

Equality:• Equal treatment for all: The availability of the same

rights, position, and status to all people, regardless of gender, sexual preference, age, race, ethnicity, ability or religion.

• Agreement of equal value• State of being equal: rights, treatment, quantity, or value

equal to all others in a specific group• All individuals need to have equal choices and opportunities

regardless of their ability.

Diversity:• Understanding that each individual is unique, and

recognizing our differences.

• Acceptance and respect. • It is the exploration of these differences in a safe,

positive, and nurturing environment. • It is about understanding each other and moving

beyond tolerance to embracing and celebrating the dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.

EquityThe principle of equality has to be reinforced and extended by the

practice of equity. On the basis of the discussion so far three broad principles about the nature of social justice:

• Equality: every human being has an absolute and equal right to common dignity and parity of esteem and entitlement to access the benefits of society on equal terms.

• Equity: every human being has a right to benefit from the outcomes of society on the basis of fairness and according to need.

• Social justice: justice requires deliberate and specific intervention to secure equality and equity.

(West-Burnham & Chapman 2009)

What’s fair?Inequality is best explained as a powerful social force that generates community divisions and oppression.

Inequality weakens community life, reduces trust and increases violence across populations.

Culture Change• Tackling inequality is best understood as a

practitioner’s ethical commitment to realise every learner’s rights in full.

• Cultural change takes both time and innovation: it is neither immediately available nor instantly achievable.

(Adapted from Chapman, L. 2010)

Context of Professional Services

• Pressure from society and education.

• Worth of human contribution.

• Failure to secure employment.

• Negative attitudes towards marginalised groups.

• Need to value the individuals voice

• Appearance of engagement: A divided response.

Language & Dialogue

• A bridge between people.

• Words can hinder or empower.

• Links Professional, personal, and private.

• Avoid ‘them’ and ‘us’.

• Validates: active and engaged participants.

Challenging Ideas of Status

• Learning and Development. • Trust and intimacy.• Vulnerable: needs arise from critical stress.• Those whose needs are repeatedly ignored

or whose concerns are trivialised. • Oppression lack of full entitlement due to

wider social divisions and no control over same adult priorities.

Dialogue as community intervention • Personal: inner, reflective, analytical, synthesizing. The way issues are

internalized. A process that makes sense. [Private voice]• Social: family and friends, deep, open, direct, love and unconditional

acceptance. [Personal voice]• Professional dialogue: a closed ‘expert’ language - ‘jargon’ to the

outsider. The writer, the journalist and the professional communicator… the questioning of technique and practice. [Public voice]

• Learning dialogue: process of mentoring, coaching, and tutoring. Enquiry, discovery, questioning, affirming. [Expert voice]

• Community dialogue: process of debate and shared decision taking. Trust, convention, shared understanding and protocol. [Shared voice]

West-Burnham, J. 2009, pg 122

A Tool in Practice:

• Between people,practitioners and

community?

• Trust: time and space.

• Growth and thinking.

• Respectful challenge.

Growth and Capacity building

Positive & Possible

We can:

Meaningful relationships

Our judgements about almost all social interactions, organisations and communities depend upon our perceptions of the relationships involved.

Professor John West-Burnham

Implications for personal and shared practice?

Personal meaning • What do I understand by

inequality? • How do I promote wellbeing

and health and happiness?• How do I connect to the

whole?• How do I strengthen my own

understanding?• How do I enable others to

grow?• What can I do to take more

responsibility?

Shared understanding • How do we tackle hierarchy?• How do we work together?• How do we value others?• How do we address common

language?• How do we enable our children?• How do we involve parents and

other groups?• How do we share leadership?

Multi-Agency Teams

• Respect for equality and wellbeing though joined up service and shared resources

• Personal meaning - acknowledge different models• Shared understanding - develop shared language• Leadership - identify management and personal

responsibility

Closing Circle Good bye!

See you again

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