Browsing by Subject "intersektionaalisuus"

Aims. Muslim pupils experience many negative attitudes and challenges at school. The class teacher has a big role to play in promoting cohesion and integration of Muslim pupils. The class teacher's tools for integrating Muslim pupils include open discussion, religious literacy, and concrete support measures. This thesis aims to explore classroom teacher students' capacities to promote cohesion among Muslim pupils and their experiences in applying them. The focus of the study is on students in classroom teacher training. Methods. I obtained my data through a questionnaire. The respondents to the questionnaire were classroom teacher education students (N=21). My research was a qualitative study based on phenomenography. I used the theoretical content analysis method to analyse the data. Theoretical analysis explores a phenomenon based on an already known theory, which in this study is the skills needed by classroom teacher students to promote the integration of Muslim students. Results and conclusions. Classroom teacher trainees have low or no perceived capacity to promote cohesion among Muslim pupils. Student teachers knew very little about Islam and the challenges faced by Muslim pupils. The results of the survey highlighted the respondents' lack of knowledge about the importance of the research topic and ways to improve cohesion among Muslim pupils. A large proportion of survey respondents also felt that classroom teacher training does not provide the necessary skills to integrate Muslim pupils. The results are not generalisable to all teacher students, but they do reflect the ideas, practices and roles that may emerge among teacher students more generally.

The aim of this thesis was to explore teachers' perceptions and experiences of normative whiteness and white power. This is important because whiteness is built into the education system, and it is a way of maintaining racist perceptions and values. It also allows for the maintenance of ableist values and perceptions, as whiteness has historically been associated with notions of intelligence, efficiency, and ability, for example, thus justifying racism through categories associated with disability. The thesis therefore drew on an intersectional framework identifying "race" and disability to identify the ways in which ideologies of whiteness are manifested in the education system, producing multiple, overlapping forms of oppression. The examination of the issue from the perspective of teachers is essential, as teachers are in a position of significant power in producing and maintaining categories of "normal" and "non-normal". The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. Through narrative synthesis, 7 themes describing teachers' perceptions and experiences emerged from the data. Themes were divided into two groups (perceptions and experiences of white teachers and perceptions and experiences of PoC teachers) to find the widest possible range of findings about the ways in which ideologies of whiteness manifest in teachers' perceptions and experiences. The division was made in line with the anti-racist agenda of the study and the Disability Critical Race Theory framework. The findings of the study confirmed previous research findings on epistemologies of white innocence, which manifested in white teachers as fear and avoidance of talking about "race", downplaying racism, exploiting ignorance, defensiveness, focusing on whiteness, and emphasizing their own white goodness, among others. PoC teachers' perceptions and experiences were related to multiple experiences of racism. PoC teachers also described several ways in which normative whiteness and white power were implemented in the education system, manifested in eurocentric and whiteness-centered examination structures and materials. The groups' findings complemented each other in that while white teachers described their ignorance of racism, PoC teachers described their experiences of white teachers not taking responsibility or recognizing oppression in the education system. The findings also mirrored each other in that as white teachers used trendy words ("woke") to elevate their own social status, PoC teachers expressed concern that challenging racism would be a trend for the privileged, rather than a sustainable, anti-racist activity. The findings of this study reflect the multiple ways in which normative whiteness and white power are manifested in the education system. To be truly equal, we need to look critically at the power structures in the education system and challenge what are perceived as "normal" perceptions and values.