Humility’s role in the student voice for social justice pedagogical method

Abstract

Humility, in a variety of forms, has been examined in educational contexts in recent years. However, its association with a particular pedagogical method remains an unexplored area of inquiry. Likewise, social justice and student voice are a concern in international education arenas, including in higher education, but are not usually connected to virtue acquisition or demonstration. The student voice for social justice (SVSJ) pedagogical method, based on the framework of Nancy Fraser, seeks to aid practitioners in higher education to ensure that social justice and student voice, mediated by notions of humility, are at the forefront of higher education practices across disciplines. This is accomplished by creating spaces for students’ active participation and voice in course content development and classroom learning. In this paper, we expand philosophical explorations of intellectual humility (IH) and cultural humility (CH) as virtues that mediate teaching and learning practices and interactions in classrooms during SVSJ implementation. This ensures that each student is recognised as an important knowledge holder and that diverse ways of knowing, knowledge systems and cultural traditions are valued in higher education teaching and learning spaces.

Keywords:

• Intellectual humility
• cultural humility
• social justice
• pedagogy
• higher education

Disclosure statement

The author(s) have no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research.

Notes

1 Ethics approval references – HREC Ref. no. 2017-2018-0442, 2019-2020-0347, and 2022-2023-0287.

2 Although modern scholars conceptualise IH as an ‘openness’ to others’ epistemologies and nonsuperiority of one’s knowledge community, a robust conceptual, theoretical, and empirical understanding of IH is lacking in the literature (Roberts & Cleveland, 2017). Currently, CH is more well developed in multiple contexts because it is viewed as an important aspect of mitigation in cross-cultural conflicts and aids in repairing ruptured social bonds (Davis et al., 2013), an unfortunate aspect of contemporary culture prevalent in many societies and regions.

3 Social justice in education is concerned with making education more equitable for students in various domains, such as guaranteeing access to education and ensuring education promotes tolerance and diversity appreciation. This may include systemic reform or grassroots initiatives. See Papa (2019) for a thorough international discussion of social justice in education discourse.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by The Free Exploration and Independent Innovation Basic Research Fund, Xi’an Jiaotong University (11913323000002) and The EPL Departmental Grant (DG), The Education University of Hong Kong (EPL-S435-2022/23).

Notes on contributors

Carla Briffett-Aktaş

Dr. Carla Briffett-Aktaş is an Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Her research interests include social justice in education, socially just pedagogy, and student voice.

Ji Ying

Dr. Ying Ji (Yumjyi) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at the Education University of Hong Kong. With a disciplinary background in international and comparative education, sociology of education, and educational policy studies, her research interests include international and intercultural education, teacher education, teacher professionalism, and school-family relations.

Koon Lin Wong

Dr. Linnie Koon Lin Wong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include citizenship, well-being, student voice, and school leadership for civic learning. Her most recent publications include ‘School Leadership for Civic Learning’ and ‘A Proposed Model for Teachers’ Perceptions of National and Moral Education’.