UNIT 3: Equality – Minorities and majorities

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Unit 3: Key concept – “Equality” (for primary level)

Background information for teachers: how to raise awareness about minorities and majorities in primary students’ daily lives

“All different, all equal” is a very well-known expression in Europe. It ref ects one of the core values of EDC/HRE, which can be expressed as follows: “With some people I share a lot, while with others I share very little. Although I share certain characteristics with them, I don’t share others. For some elements of my personality I belong to a majority, for others to a minority.” When raising awareness about minorities and majorities at primary level, it is necessary to clarify the terms themselves. Generally, a minority is a group within a country that distinguishes itself from the majority of people by means of personal or cultural characteristics. In most cases, a minority lives as a demographic group in a certain territorial unit (a region, for example), but it can also be scattered and spread over an entire country or across a country’s borders. The different characteristics of minorities are very often language, ethnic background or religion, but sometimes also moral attitudes, sexual identity or social status distinguish them.

The term minority is generally used when a group is dominated by a larger group but doesn’t assimilate into that group. Therefore, in general, minorities describe ethnic or national minorities.

The Council of Europe, the United Nations and other international organisations have passed laws on the rights of minorities. These rights are respected to different degrees. The Council of Europe has two binding instruments: the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (ETS No. 157, adopted in 1995) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148, adopted in 1992).
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly also adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. In 1988, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) was founded in Tokyo to try to shift attention to the problems of racism and discrimination against minorities. IMADR advocates the rights of underprivileged groups.
In most cases, the term minority refers to a group of people characterised by the following elements:

  • small in size compared to the overall population of a state;
  • having a non-dominant status in the country;
  • possessing common features such ethnicity, religion or language;
  • having a feeling of solidarity or identity through perceiving themselves as a minority.

It is difficult to categorise minorities. The following categories are most commonly used:

  • National or ethnic minorities: groups of people living in the territory of a state which is dominated by a different group of people.
  • Linguistic minorities: a group of people speaking a different language from the majority of people in the country.
  • Religious minorities: those with a different religion from the majority of people in a country, such as Protestants in Ireland, Christians in Saudi Arabia, or Muslims in Denmark or Germany.
  • Sexual minorities.
  • A minority of older people.
  • A minority of younger people.

When working at primary level with the terms minorities and majorities, it is essential to explain these characteristics to the students. Only then can the function and status of a minority or a majority be analysed. The concept of minorities is not something that is unknown in students’ daily lives, At primary school level, students frequently experience “belonging to” or “not belonging to” a minority.

The definition of minority in this context refers to the composition of the school population. The following series of lessons therefore begins with students’ daily lives and their own experiences of minorities and majorities (lessons 1-3). In a second step, the lessons tie in with majorities and minorities in society and identify different groups (lesson 4). It will depend on the depth of discussion, the motivation of the students and the overall academic achievement of the class to what extent the status of the different groups in society can be analysed. Not all minorities are underprivileged. There are some small groups in our societies which are very dominant for several reasons. It will be the teacher’s task to steer the process of debate.

The aim of education for democratic citizenship is to support the development of competences in three areas. This unit has the following competence profile:

Competence in …
… political analysis and judgment … the use of methods … political decision making and action
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Toolbox support
In this unit the following tools from the students’ toolbox will be used. The teacher must decide if some or all of the students need additional preparation to be able to work with these tools.
0 Researching in libraries
0 Researching on the Internet
X Carrying out interviews and surveys
0 Interpreting images
X Mind maps
0 Creating posters
0 Holding exhibitions
0 Planning and giving presentations
0 Preparing overhead transparencies or a PowerPoint presentation
0 Writing newspaper articles
0 Putting on performances
0 Holding debates

 

Unit 3: Equality

Minorities and majorities
How to raise awareness about minorities and majorities in primary students’ daily lives

 

Lesson title Learning objectives Student tasks Resources Methods

Lesson 1:

All different, all equal

 

 The students learn to know and accept each other as part of a group. The students discover what they have in common that they were unaware of before. They become aware of attitudes and practices related to difference. The students are presented with a series of characteristics one by one. They have to decide whether or not they have each of these character-istics. After having noticed their own characteristics and those of their other class-mates, they discuss issues concerning equality. A piece of chalk or string to draw or make a line on the ground. Group work, plenary discussion.

Lesson 2:

Is it fair? (research)

 The students become aware of the situation in their own school by observing other students at break time. The students conduct research in the school playground by counting the number of students taking part in different activities. They note down the results and conduct interviews with the students who are not involved in any activities. A copy of the table for taking notes in the school playground, pencils. Groups of four.

Lesson 3:

Is it fair? (follow-up)

 The students reflect upon the data they have gathered and analyse and interpret the interviews. They come to a conclusion about the minorities and majorities in their school. After having gathered all the data in quantitative as well as qualitative terms, the students analyse and interpret the results. They work with statistics and present their results to their classmates. Notes from lesson 2, copies of the statistics table, coloured pencils, posters, glue. Groups of four,
presentation.

Lesson 4:

A matrix of power

 In a plenary discus-sion, the students understand that there are several minorities as well as majorities present in their country. They understand that a sense of exclusion can be the result of not only the way other members of society see you, but also of the way members of your own group see you. The students are presented with various cards showing groups within a society – with some groups belonging to a minority, and some to a majority. They sort the cards according to whether they think the groups belong to a minority or a majority. They assign power cards (low power or high power) to the groups. In a plenary session, they discuss what effect belonging to a majority or a minority can have. Word cards, power cards. Plenary discussion.

 

Lesson 4: Europeans are different and equal
Lesson 1: All different, all equal
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