Disadvantage

This guide is written for trainee teachers who are expected to recognize disadvantage and respond to inequity as part of becoming socially just educators. It offers new strategies for reflecting on disadvantage, and it pairs the concept with inclusion and diversity. Readers are asked to engage with theories of disadvantage and are encouraged to recognize, support and lead change for students who have historically faced high levels of exclusion and marginalization.

The central question is what the word disadvantaged really means. The authors bring together international perspectives to examine the subtle and complex ways the term differs across geo-political contexts, and they consider its political, historical, social and cultural significance.

The book includes narratives from people who experience disadvantage, among them indigenous perspectives and the viewpoints of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. It also looks at how disadvantage is intersectional, for example in the lives of LGBTQI+ people living in poverty.