Optimism as an Act of Social Justice in Inclusive Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782025000100011Keywords:
Optimism, Hope, Inclusive education, Social justiceAbstract
There is still a lack of resources and institutional support to make inclusion in the classroom effective, and we continue to need bold policies that enable teachers to tackle the numerous challenges they face in their daily work. That being said, it is necessary to recognise that sometimes something deeper and less visible is also lacking: the ethical conviction that all students can learn. Without that conviction, without that radical optimism, true inclusion cannot happen.
Inclusive education cannot be sustained solely through innovative methodologies, curricular adaptations, or teacher training. It is based, first and foremost, on perspective. The teacher's perspective towards the student is a form of power: it can either build or stifle potential. Let us base our words on a classic among classics. Philp Jackson, in his work Life in Classrooms (Jackson, 1968), analyses how teachers' expectations and the hidden curriculum contribute to the reproduction of inequalities in schools. The daily dynamics of the classroom, as described by this author, create a cycle of differentiation in which teachers' expectations act as a central mechanism in the reproduction of inequalities. Through subtle but persistent interactions (the differentiated distribution of attention, the assignment of tasks of varying complexity, or the way in which praise and corrections are given), labels are consolidated that classify students as “fast” or “slow”, “responsible” or “problematic”. Once established, these categories guide teaching decisions and shape opportunities for participation and learning, so that students end up responding to the opportunities (or limitations) provided to them. Thus, initial expectations are transformed into divergent academic trajectories which, far from neutralising differences of origin, contribute to reproducing inequalities within the school. Exclusion, therefore, begins long before academic failure: it begins with the gaze that expects nothing from the other.
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Murillo, F. J. y Duk, C. (2024). La esperanza crítica como elemento imprescindible en una educación inclusiva para la justicia social. Revista Latinoamericana de Educación Inclusiva, 18(1), 11–13. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782024000100011
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