Exercise 1: Developing positive social and interethnic relations in the classroom

Duration: 60 minutes

The goal of this exercise:  to focus on the social distance in educational settings that is manifested during classes and breaks, and that fundamentally determines school and interethnic communication in the classroom.

Teaching methods:

• discussion 
• teamwork
• individual work
• writing
• case study
• critical analysis of the text

Instructions for the teacher

• Before you start, be ready to face any possible incidents that could go wrong while discussing this topic of this e-module).
• Get ready for a discussion about a very sensitive topic. Ensure your thorough knowledge of the ethical aspects and conditions of a respectful discussion as well as creating and maintaining an inclusive environment.
• Read the introduction to exercise 1.
• Read story 1.
• Ask your students the questions to elicit their reflections on this topic (see Questions to elicit student reflections ).
• Create a space for student questions and discussion. You may collect questions that students may ask and write them down on a flipchart to be discussed together.
• Summarizing discussion – Try to cover all students’ points of view in brief regarding the issue. Then filter through the main arguments in detail and identify key points.
• Evaluation of exercise – Ask the students to write feedback on the exercise on a piece of paper. As they leave the classroom, they can put their pieces of paper signed or anonymously into the feedback box. Written feedback is part of the system of teacher-student communication (Nicol 2010). Constructive feed¬back is an important ele¬ment of every dis¬cus¬sion in education, and it can provide effective information for learning and teaching. Students can provide feedback to the teacher on the topic. What did they like about the exercise? What did they not like? What did the teacher do to help students feel safe and comfortable during this exercise? What improvements can the teacher make? What would they do differently if they were teaching the class? Students can take approximately 10 minutes to write feedback.

Introduction to Exercise 1

For the purpose of this exercise, picture a school class divided into two ethnic groups. These two groups hardly communicate with each other. To make the image of this situation clear, read the description of relationships mentioned under (story 1)

Story 1 One of a grade collective at Czech primary school is divided into two groups. The first group consists of all the non-Roma children, and the second consists of the Roma children. These two groups have big quarrels and generally are not on speaking terms with each other. There is a great social distance between the groups. For example, for reading the pupils move to the library, an especially adapted classroom with seat cushions. The way the children sit on the seat cushions make it clear who belongs to the first group and who to the second one. The first group sits closer to the teacher in the front area of the library, while the pupils of the second group sit further from the teacher, distancing themselves socially from her / him as well. Another example is a math class in which the children practice multiplication. The children are tasked with counting a column of examples. They are then asked to take a red pencil, find a friend, exchange workbooks with him or her and check the results. Most of the children find a friend from their group. Social distance is also obvious when there is a teaching project or some special event at the school – see the following observation record:

On Friday, the pupils of the first, second, and third grades were looking forward to school. A ping-pong show had been prepared for them. The third grade pupils met in their classroom in the morning. They changed into their gym clothes and after doing so they went to the gym with the teacher. Before leaving, they lined up in two groups. The first group moved to the front with the teacher, while the second moved more to the back with the assistant. The organizers of the event were unable to prepare the gym in time, so they announced to the teachers that the beginning would be postponed by fifteen minutes. The teacher no longer wanted to return to her classroom with the children, so she told them to sit on the wooden bench that is placed in front of the gym. All 18 children squeezed on one bench. The first group sat on the left, whereas the second one sat on the right. An identical situation occurred in the gym when the pupils sat on a bench and watched the start of the show. Again, they were divided into two groups. Every pupil knew his or her place. The division into two groups was also reflected in the show itself, as the pupils walked around the individual activity stations in their groups. For example, they played ping-pong at one station. At another station, they had to run between cones hitting a ball up in the air. The class never gathered together during this show and did not participate in any of the offered activities together. They did not join up together. They did not cheer for the other team, nor did they encourage each other in individual activities. There was a noticeable difference in this class as compared to the other classes that took part in the ping-pong show (observation records from Radek Vorlíček’s field diary, basic school in the Czech Republic, November 11, 2018).

Questions to elicit student reflections

•  Imagine you are a student of such a class. Your class is divided into two ethnic groups. What would you do to bring these two groups closer together and make friends?
• What is the concept of being different/diverse? How can “being different” be defined? How is difference constructed in education in your country?
• Do a school or society in any way contribute to the exclusion of pupils who are perceived as different? How can schools stimulate the inclusion of students who are perceived as different?
• Think about interethnic relations, ethnic identity, and interethnic communication at your school and your country. Is ethnic identity important to you? How do interethnic relationships work at your school?
• How is interethnic communication similar or different at your school compared to the communication that takes place in your social bubble?

Note on questions

Questions and a discussion might bring about some tension in a class, e.g. if a Roma or Muslim student is in attendance. If a student with a different ethnicity or culture participates in the exercise, it is better to first check with him / her before the lesson to ask whether he would mind such general questions.