Social Justice Reflection

My definition of social justice in the field of education is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child and the British-Colombia School Act that state that every child has a right to a proper education (UNICEF, n.d.; School Act, RSBC 1996, c. 412). A proper education to me is based on opportunity. I believe that in order to have a proper education, children should all be entitled to equal opportunity in their learning process. Children should have equal opportunity to obtain the supports that will assist them in achieving their potential.

Inclusion vs. integrations in the classroom. Inclusion in the classroom is, to me, one of the most important social justice challenge in the field of education. I have often reflected

The biopsychosocial model has greatly influenced my way of perceiving social justice in the field of mental health and addictions. This model connects to my belief that mental health and addictions are represented differently depending on a person’s perspective, culture and beliefs. In a case study dealing with a youth who participates non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), for example, I was able to observe and analyze the issue through the lens of each of the biomedical, psychological, social, and spiritual models of health. A lot of power is given to the biomedical model. My case study connected to my idea that the high regards of the biomedical model is due to our society’s need for scientific proof. After all, the biomedical model is based on measurable evidence. The three other pieces of this model of health are equally as important and, in my experience, are underutilized. Used properly, the biopsychosocial model of health helps practitioners assess the mental health concerns and risks from all areas and contexts of their lives. In my case study, for instance, the biomedical model examined the addiction as a chemical imbalancement, the social model examined the addiction as a reaction to social factors or peer influence, the psychological model examined

Feminist theory, in particular, has influenced my sense of social justice and helped me discover my personal sense of social activism. Feminism, by definition, is a social justice movement. Its four main philosophies (liberal feminism, cultural feminism, radical feminism, and socialist feminism), as explained by Jones-Smith (2012) focus on equality. Of the four philosophies, I was very interested in social feminism. Socialist feminist has a goal of “change in institutional and social relationships” (Jones-Smith, 2012, p.365). I relate strongly to this philosophy as I believe that in order to attain social justice, change must be made at an institutional and political level. This philosophy has largely influenced my definition of social justice in the field of