Learning from difference: Considerations for schools as communities

In today's highly complex and heterogeneous public schools, the cur-rent no tion of schools as homogeneous communities with shared beliefs, norms, and values is inadequate. Drawing on Barth's (1990) question of how to use diff erence as a resource, I take up ideas from feminism, multiculturalism, and inclusive education to consider the development of community in schools. I argue that despite the valuable contributions of these theoretical perspect ives, each also includes the potential for increased fragmentation and pola rization. As rye consider how to use differences as a foundation for commun ity, it is important not to reify any particular perspective, thus marginal izing others and erecting nerv barriers. Explicitly embracing the need to i dentify and respect difference, being open to new ideas without caking an e xclusionary position, and committing to ongoing participation in dialogical processes may help schools to develop as more authentic communities of dif ference. Among the dominant issues identified in today's climate of turbulent educat ional reform al-e concerns about how to restructure schools to ensure equal ity of student opportunity and excellence of instruction (Elmore, 1990; Lie berman, 1992; Murphy, 1991). Many proposals include modifying present leade rship and governance structures, overcoming the hegemony of existing power bases, del eloping mechanisms for accountability, enhancing professionalism , and co-ordinating community resources. One of the suggestions frequently made to address these issues is to change fi om a focus on schools as organ izations to a recognition of schools as communities (Barth, 1990; Fullan, 1 993; Lupart a Webber, 1996; Senge, 1990). However, despite the widespread use of the metaphor of community as an alte rnative to the generally accepted concept of schools as rational or functio nal organizations, there seems to be little clarity about the concept of co mmunity, what it might look like, how it might be implemented, or what poli cies might sustain it. Indeed, theories about schools as communities have o ften drawn from Tonnies (1887/1971) concept of gemeinschaft-a concept which perhaps evokes a more homogeneous and romanticized view of the past than o ne which could be helpful for improving education in today's dynamic, compl ex, and heterogeneous context (Beck & Kratzer, 1994; Sergiovanni, 1994a). M ore recently, several writers (Fine et al., 1997; Furman, 1998; Shields & S eltzer, 1997) have advanced the notion of communities of otherness or diffe rence. These authors have suggested that rather than thinking of schools as communities that exist because of a common affiliation to an established s chool ethos or tradition, it might be more helpful to explore an alternativ e concept. A school community founded on difference would be one in which t he common centre would not be taken as a given but would be co-constructed from the negotiation of disparate beliefs and values as participants learn to respect, and to listen to, each other. In this concept, bonds among memb ers are not assumed, but forged, and boundaries are not imposed but negotia ted. Over the past eight years, as I have visited and worked with a large number of schools trying earnestly to address the needs of their diverse student bodies, I have become increasingly aware of the limitations of the concept of community used in the gemeinschaft sense with its emphasis on shared val ues, norms, and beliefs, and have begun to reflect on the question framed b y Earth (1990): "How can we make conscious, deliberate use of differences i n social class, gender, age, ability, race, and interest as resources for l earning?" (p. 514). In this article, I consider how learning from three of these areas of difference: gender, race, and, ability, may help us to a bet ter understanding of educational community. This article begins with some illustrations and examples from practice, mov es to consider how some theoretical perspectives may illuminate them, and c oncludes with reflections on ho rv the implications of the combined reflect ions on practice and theory might actually help to reconceptualize and to i mprove practice. While it draws heavily on questions and impressions which have arisen out of much of my fieldwork, it is not intended to be an empiri cal paper, but a conceptual one-one which promotes reflection and discussio n on the concept of schools as communities of difference. The examples of life in schools taken from longitudinal research studies in which I have been involved demonstrate several common ways in which differ ence is dealt with in today's schools and some of the problems inherent in these approaches. Some ideas drawn from alternative perspectives then begin to address Earth's question of how to make deliberate use of diversity as a way of thinking about community. Taken together, I hope that these ideas will be helpful in creating what I have elsewhere called "schools as commun ities of difference" (Shields & Seltzer, 1997).