2.4.3 Challenges around intergroup contact and intergenerational dialogue in educational settings
Introducing (or increasing) opportunities for intergroup contact, including intergenerational dialogue, within a formal educational setting can pose challenges for educators and institution leaders, especially as it may necessitate changing the existing classroom or organisational culture. These challenges may be related to:
- the persistence of strong hierarchies and power dynamics, especially relevant when bringing together adults and young people, or even people across different levels of seniority
- institutional constraints, e.g. time and appropriate physical and online spaces
- cultural constraints, e.g. the role of women and girls in the public sphere, in some contexts
- mental health-related issues, e.g. social anxiety and lack of confidence
- accessibility issues, e.g. disability-related barriers to participation.
Safety and safeguarding of the youth participants should be at the core of planning and creating such dialogic spaces.
Activity 4 The case for dialogic learning
Timing: Allow about 30 minutes
Read this blog post [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (Bleiman, 2021) and make notes on the following questions in the box below.
- What are the key differences between traditional instruction and dialogic teaching?
- The blog post talks about ‘authentic questions’. When teaching about climate change, what kind of authentic questions would you ask your students?
- Following on from the example of Philosophy for Children, what approaches might you use to enable learners to develop questions of their own?
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