IMPACTS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN LEARNING COMMUNITIES

ASSIGNMENT 1: IMPACTS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN LEARNING COMMUNITIES
This assignment requires you to conduct online and physical research into the sociological aspects of a learning community based in New South Wales Australia. Using a place based pedagogy you will construct a map of a learning community to give a sense of how social justice issues might impact upon students. You will then and critically analyse how these issues fit into the broader Australian and global discourses and give specific examples of how power and inequality play out in educational contexts. Focus on ONE sociological aspect in your learning communities such as socioeconomic class, ethnicity/ race, gender, sexuality, cultural and language diversity or issues of globalisation and be sure to specifically discuss how individual students and communities may be marginalised or discriminated against through inequality and power imbalances using appropriate theoretical frameworks.
LENGTH: 1800
WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBMIT?
 Assignment – Electronic PDF file of your cultural profile map plus an electronic word document of your 1800 word critical analysis of social justice issues in essay format.
ASSIGNMENT 1 DETAILS
In order to complete this assignment you need to:
1. In our first class we will make a map of a local learning community of your own choice. We will discuss the different kinds of learning communities and how these are nested in a network of local, national and global communities. Your map will be unique as you have different personal connections, experiences and relationships to your local place
2. In your own time research your chosen learning community by visiting the local place, taking photos and video, observing and taking notes as well as conducting online searches about this local area. You need to be an explorer and look with fresh eyes. Look for sociological clues about
o socioeconomic class,
o gender sexuality,
o cultural and language diversity
o issues of globalisation such as asylum seekers, migration, fundamentalism, where inequality exists
o Ethnicity and race.
3. Once you have gathered general knowledge about your learning community choose one sociological area to focus upon for your critical analysis. Make annotations on your map to highlight where you have identified possible injustice, inequality and power imbalances. For example you might notice that in your learning community that some ethnic groups are discriminated against or that particular genders are more represented in some jobs or that some there are tensions evident possibly due different cultural values.
4. You will then need to write an essay that situates your local knowledge within the bigger national and global discourses for your chosen social justice issue. Your critical analysis needs to discuss what social justice issues were identified in your research and how these reflect the dominant discourses in broader society. You will need to use sociological theoretical perspectives to explain how inequality and power imbalances occur in learning communities and give specific examples to illustrate your ideas.
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Assessment criteria
 Creatively present your map to highlight the main social justice issues impacting these communities. Use annotations to demonstrate the significance of the social justice issues. Provide documented evidence to support your claims /10
 Demonstrate in-depth analysis of your place based research and mapping exercise. Identifies specific social justice issues present in your learning community and how these might impact students. /10
 Applies appropriate sociological theory to explain how the mechanisms of power imbalances and inequality may work to exclude and marginalise some individuals and benefit others in your learning community /10
 Critically analyses how political and societal discourses in the broader Australian/Global context filter down to influence attitudes towards your chosen sociological issue (class, ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, language and cultural diversity, globalisation) /10
 Presents work professionally, with clear academic writing and within the word/limit and uses APA referencing style correctly, including competently integrating evidence. /10

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