Wednesday, 8th of March marked the 2023 International Women’s Day in which one of the most conversed on topics was Equity. While the main theme on this day’s concept put more weight on gender equity, the concept of equity has been an agenda in loads of local and global forums and platforms. Equity is linked to justice and fairness based on individual’s factors and abilities, unlike equality which means same share for all regardless of other’s inability to benefit from the same shares. Equity creates a level developmental playing ground by considering advantages and disadvantages of certain groups over another group within a community. This ensure distribution of resources in a manner that benefits each person equally despite being disadvantaged in one way or another.
Complete equity is yet to be achieved, and one way to facilitate its eventual achievement is to make aware the young generation on the significance of equity. One of the best platforms to do this is in classrooms where we have learners from different cultural, religious and economic backgrounds, as well as varied intellectual capacities. These learners all need to feel comfortable and not insecure while trying to achieve their dreams. In this piece, we share four simple ways in which educators can help nurture a sense of equity in their learners during classwork.
- Be flexible in your learning and assessment style.
Being flexible in your mode of teaching to help all learners, fast and slow understand, is a sense of equity. This would make slow learners, for instance feel safe in the midst of fast learners and the hands of the educator. Same goes to assessments or rather examinations. Equality is when you give the same test to all learners without putting into consideration their learning abilities. Equity is when you standardize the tests, by putting into consideration learners with low intellectual capacity. - Address inappropriate/ discriminatory remarks immediately.
In most cases, children become too naïve to realize the impact of their negative/discriminatory remarks on their colleagues. It is our duty as adults to make them aware and work on preventing a repeat of the same. Riding out discriminatory statements in classrooms ensures vulnerable learners do not become victims. This makes them feel accommodated and in the same status as other learners. - Give equal voice to all learners.
Every learner’s voice should count, and they should never be made to feel like their opinions do not matter. In giving voices, in occasions such as class presentations, educators/teachers should always consider learners’ ability to give their presentation in a specified period of time. For instance, learners with speaking disabilities should never be given same amount of time as those who speak fluently. - Don’t separate learners in terms of individual factors.
One mistake teachers make is separating learners based on individual factors such as intellectual capacity and sex orientation. Though many may not know this, one group always feels disregarded and therefore denying them a sense of equity and belonging. You can group learners based on other factors but not personal ones like race, religion, socio-economic backgrounds and sex-orientation.
Fostering a sense of equity in classroom helps build learners self-esteem and confidence. It creates a safe environments for academic success and creates a level playground for all learners while also boosting the probability of a high overall class performance.
