Transforming Schools Through Minority Males’ Participation

The Influence of Masculinity on Violent Behaviors

A wide range of factors have been identified that could explain the increase in school-based violence. Among them, a significant body of theoretical work points to the connections between violence and hegemonic masculinity, a concept that Connell and Messerschmidt (2005) defined as a tendency for males to dominate other males and subordinate females (Kersten, 1996; Messerschmidt, 1993; Ullah & Ali, 2012). Similarly, Goodey (1997) emphasized a hierarchy of oppression: Those who are Western, White, middle-class, heterosexual, and in their 30s are placed at the top, and those who do not fit into the model are looked down upon and even despised. When Connell and Messerschmidt (2005) reexamined the concept of hegemonic masculinity, they identified a range of masculinities, occupying different places in a hierarchy. More recently, Connell (2012) stated that hegemonic masculinity is displayed through diverse types of masculinities, not all of them linked to violence. Researchers have further explored this concept of a diversity of masculinities, defining three specific types: dominant traditional masculinities, oppressed traditional masculinities, and new alternative masculinities (Flecha, Puigvert, & Ríos, 2013).

Masculine identity is created and negotiated in the schools where these different types of masculinities coexist. Researchers have found that schools become institutions where hegemonic masculinity and some of its violent variations are promoted (Donaldson & Poyting, 2005; Mac an Ghaill, 2003; Philipps, 2007). In particular, they have focused on the ways that schools reproduce gender inequalities, homophobia, and gender-based violence; they also look at the roles teachers can play in preventing or addressing these attitudes (Donaldson & Poyting, 2005; Kimmel & Mahler, 2003; Lee, 2011; Mac an Ghaill, 2003). In general, these researchers agree that children and adolescents who do not follow the model of hegemonic masculinity are more often the victims (Donaldson & Poyting, 2005; Gini & Pozzoli, 2006; Klein, 2006; Renold, 2001). According to Renold (2001), children who are “studious” and act differently are distanced from the others; then other children may ridicule, insult, and even physically abuse them.

Race-Based Violent Behaviors

Researchers have also found that racist violence in schools is closely connected to bullying and hard to differentiate from it. Race-based violence can range from name-calling to serious physical attacks. Analyses aiming to link adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence have found how race and ethnicity matter for African American students (Kimmel & Mahler, 2003); when they do well in school, they are accused of acting “White” or like “girls.” In Spain, two groups that are persistently targeted are the Roma and migrants, specifically those of Arab-Muslim descent. Romani and Arab-Muslim immigrant children are often associated with violence, lack of academic achievement, poor hygiene, inability to socialize, and little motivation to gain an education. Commentators on Roma culture often emphasize that Romani children find it very difficult to yield to the authority of a female teacher, because of the chauvinist pattern typical of their culture. Thus, stereotypes affect not only the students but also their families and communities, as Romani and Arab-Muslim fathers are labeled as being chauvinist and as maintaining too much control over their wives who must remain at home, in the private sphere, with no chance of a satisfying social life (Macías & Redondo, 2012). These stereotypes are a determining factor in relationships between teachers and families and among students from different backgrounds; they can lead to violent confrontations and must be addressed (Kane, 2008).

Data Collection

In each case study, qualitative fieldwork was carried out in two rounds between February 2010 and May 2011; it consisted of open-ended interviews, communicative daily life stories, and communicative observations. First, five open-ended interviews were conducted with White female teachers: Julia at Montserrat School, and Rocío, María, and Carmen at La Paz School, along with one head teacher, Lucía, at Montserrat. Six communicative daily life stories and two communicative observations were conducted at each school. These non-traditional and interactive techniques aim to develop reflection and consensus, creating a common understanding between the researcher and the participants (Valls & Padrós, 2011).

At Montserrat, communicative daily life stories were conducted with two Moroccan fathers, Hassan and Abdel, and with Abdul, a 9-year-old Moroccan boy. At La Paz, these stories were conducted with two Roma fathers, Alejandro and Manuel, who are both actively engaged in the school, and with one community activist: Luis, a Roma pastor very involved with the neighborhood and the school. In addition, the research team conducted several communicative observations, gathering meetings where minority males were deeply engaged. Data were mainly collected at the schools, after agreements were developed with the principals, teachers, and families.

Data Analysis

We coded and analyzed the data using two dimensions: exclusionary and transformative. The exclusionary dimension refers to those obstacles and elements that contribute to violent behavior continuing in schools, and the transformative one includes elements and approaches that help prevent it. In this article, we present only data that we deemed to be transformative.

We followed several ethical guidelines. First, like all projects funded by the European Commission, ours had to meet the commission’s ethical guidelines for research, in a series of reviews. Moreover, we were careful to protect participants, by rigorously explaining the research to them, gaining their informed consent, and guaranteeing their confidentiality. All individuals’ names used here are pseudonyms.

Montserrat School

This school is located at the outskirts of Terrassa, in northeastern Spain. People living in the neighborhood have low educational levels and few qualifications for employment. Among the parents of children in the school, 32.4% have a basic level of education, and 10.8% said they had not completed any level of education (European Commission, 2006-2011). Consequently, they take on jobs that require no qualifications, such as caring for elderly people or cleaning houses. In particular, the majority of Arab-Muslim fathers in this school had been working in the building sector, which has been deeply impacted by the economic crisis. As a consequence, in January 2013 they were facing an unemployment rate of 100%.

In academic year 2000-2001, 12% of the students there were immigrants; in 2009-2010, the figure became 64%. That year the school’s ethnic composition was as follows: 61.2% of students were of Moroccan origin, 11.4% from South America, 4.4% from Black African origin, and 14.4% of Roma descent. Before the school opened its doors to the community, there were many conflicts, mainly between children of Roma and Moroccan backgrounds. These frequent conflicts also kept the families from developing good relationships with the school. School data show, however, that the numbers of conflicts dropped once the community became more involved.

La Paz School

This school is located in the La Milagrosa neighborhood, at the outskirts of Albacete, in southeastern Spain. Only 8% of adults in the neighborhood have more than primary education; few have completed basic education and many are illiterate (EAPN, 2010). The unemployment rate is over 40%, and 55% of people were on welfare during the time of the study. Moreover, many adults have problems associated with drug addiction and the justice system, making them even more vulnerable. In 2007, 41% of the total crimes in the city took place in this neighborhood. The situation within the school had become hopeless: Students were failing, drop-out rates were around 40%, and conflicts between students and between teachers and families were common and led to physical attacks on teachers. In 2006, the media reported on the confrontations between families and teachers, who were requesting police protection in the classroom. At the time of writing this article, the situation has substantially improved at all the mentioned levels.

Overcoming Male-Related Stereotypes

In both schools, efforts were made to bring Roma and Arab-Muslim family members into the school to work with the children in multiple ways; this approach generated many new kinds of interactions between people of different cultures, genders, and generations. As they entered the classrooms and collaborated in learning activities, adults from different cultural backgrounds engaged in dialogue, encouraging positive patterns of behavior based on mutual respect and mutual knowledge. Students’ and teachers’ perceptions changed. The more family members participated in various ways, prejudices and stereotypes that others held about their cultures were transformed.

During one assembly at Montserrat school, the school held a debate about the possibility of offering family education, particularly addressed to women; this assembly constituted one of the study’s communicative observations. Fatima, an Arab mother involved in the school, described one of her dreams: “to learn Spanish and Catalan in order to find a job.” Another member of the community argued that it was not that important for Arab women to participate in any kind of training: “after all,” he said, “they are staying in the home.” Younes, Fatima’s neighbor and a father involved in the school, replied that it was very positive for women like Fatima to learn Spanish and Catalan. The assembly agreed on the need to offer literacy courses for Arab women, with many men like Younes helping drive the decision. At the school, the teachers, staff, and various family members continued to discuss this conversation; they recognized that Younes’ point forced them to change their perceptions about gender relations within the Arab-Muslim community. This is only one of many examples in which interactions between community members led to reverse cultural stereotypes.

When the Catalan class began, many mothers saw it as their first chance to do something outside the home and independent from their families. For those who did not know the country’s language and also knew few other people in the community, this class was an enlightening experience: They saw that opportunities were available for them. The first class started during school hours, so the women could attend the school while their children were in the class.

Hassan’s wife Nora could not take the daytime class because they have younger children, not yet in school, and no extended family to rely on. In the daytime, Nora took care of the household while Hassan worked in construction. Therefore, Hassan said, Nora enrolled in the evening class, but they had to find a way to care for the children. In telling his daily life story, Hassan realized how important it was for Nora to attend the class and continue learning. Therefore, he decided to take care of the children in the school playground while Nora was in the evening class.

Some people in the community could see clearly how this made it possible for her to attend class and not worry about their children, but others commented that Hassan was there just to control her. In time, the others in the class, and the volunteer teacher, came to understand the real reason why Hassan was waiting outside (caring for the children), and were able to move forward from their original chauvinist interpretation.

In the Montserrat school, Arab-Muslim fathers became involved at the school not only to support their wives’ participation in educational activities but also to further their own education. Julia, a teacher, explained how this process began. Some fathers enrolled in training courses that fit their timetables, especially computer courses. Having participated at the school as much as their work schedules allowed, they decided to create dialogic literary gatherings in which they read classical works, including Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Julia described how these fathers then started to be involved in other areas of the school. For instance, when Abdel lost his job as a builder, despite the devastating consequences for his family, he saw it as an opportunity to get more involved in the school, which he could not do earlier. Julia reflected on the impact of Abdel’s participation:

Abdel was not an isolated case, . . . many fathers found themselves in a similar situation because of the crisis. They started to get more involved in the school with the aim of supporting their children’s learning. For instance, these fathers started to attend school meetings and to participate in the decision-making processes, as well as to get involved in learning activities. Many of us on the teaching staff were positively surprised; this helped us crack open the images we used to have of them: that they were just ignoring their children’s education or were reluctant to support their daughters’ education, and so on.

As Julia argues, the fathers’ engagement participation in the school led others at the school to see them differently, creating an atmosphere that has less tolerance, and time, for racist or sexist comments.

The case study at La Paz provided similar evidence about the Roma population there. As Romani males became involved in the school, teachers and other parents let go of some of their stereotypical images of them, and even the students changed their views. One key stereotype about Roma fathers is that they do not take care of their children, that the women do all the child care. When Roma fathers and other community members started to participate in the classroom and in school activities, the whole community was able to see firsthand the ways that these males relate to their children. Rocío, a White teacher in Albacete, reflected on how this exposure helped her to reframe her beliefs about Roma families. In particular, she recognized to be initially shocked to see fathers taking care of their children, just as the mothers do:

. . . you find Romani men giving their babies the bottle . . . They’re doing it at the school in order to make it to the meetings and people see them and discuss it and it changes, it breaks stereotypes.

The involvement of Roma males at this school also upended another generalized belief that fathers do not want their daughters to go to high school. Drop-out rates during the transition from elementary to secondary school are higher for Roma students than for non-Roma, and these rates are even higher for Romani girls. Once Roma fathers began to participate in their children’s education, this situation changed. During a school assembly, the entire community decided to implement secondary education in the same building that houses the elementary school. Roma fathers insisted that their 12-year-old daughters should not have to go into town—several miles from their neighborhood—to complete their compulsory education. The Roma men were clearly the ones pushing the educational administration to find a way to prevent the girls from dropping out. In the weeks that followed, several public representatives and teachers described their great surprise at this turn of events.

Luis, a Romani pastor who is very involved in the school, played a key role in implementing this decision. He described how he went door to door to speak to each Romani family in the neighborhood to make sure that no girl stayed at home, so that all of them would benefit from this opportunity. Four years later, eight girls have graduated—the first in the school’s history to get a high school diploma—and the entire community is celebrating because, as Luis says, “this might not seem that important for non-Roma, but for us this is unbelievably important.”

Developing an Atmosphere That Will Not Tolerate Bullying

The diverse groups of volunteers involved in both of these schools enrich the interactions taking place in and out of the classrooms. By involving minority fathers in other learning spaces, the schools can capitalize on their knowledge and values. At the same time, opening up the decision-making processes about school norms and rules to the community has facilitated a more diverse and inclusive approach, which in turn is creating a safer environment. At Montserrat, the Arab-Muslim fathers are encouraged to participate in agreeing on the norms for the school, an approach that leads to everyone watching out for the others. Maria, a tenth grade teacher there, explained how this works:

They are taking part in everyday practices. From the very beginning, we saw that if we [teachers] and parents and students did not establish common norms and agreements, it could be a jungle. We sat and discussed, and decided coexistence norms in each class and for the school in general.

Following the same community-based approach, in which the families became involved in decision making, everyone at La Paz saw a clear improvement in the level of peaceful coexistence. Up to then, students were involved in verbal and physical aggression nearly every day. This naturally reduced their opportunities to learn in the classroom, and created a violent and unsafe atmosphere in the school. Carmen, one of the teachers, describes how they have improved coexistence:

In the beginning there were very serious behavioral problems . . . [and] the coexistence committee, which is in charge of working on all these issues, . . . we called family members so that they could come and also collaborate, so they were aware of what has happened and could collaborate . . . [and] so that they can contribute . . .

A crucial element in this change was Roma fathers participating in the coexistence committee, helping to decide on the rules; their involvement helped to reduce conflicts and also made students feel more responsible about respecting and upholding the rules. The fathers’ participation in the committee extended to the classroom context, where they participate in students’ learning activities. Valls and Kyriakides (2013) described what happens when a diverse group of volunteers act as facilitators in interactive groups: small groups of students who are diverse in terms of gender, culture, and ability level. The diversity of the dialogic interactions helps all students learn more quickly and raises the level of cooperation. The diversity of the volunteers keeps the students from engaging in racist and bullying behaviors. Our research shows that when the volunteers are minority males, the effects of this form of classroom organization are even more pronounced. We asked Lucía, the head teacher at Montserrat, the reasons why the level of conflict inside the classroom had dropped. Her response confirms the value of working in such groups:

Well it [the conflict level] falls the most when we are doing Interactive Groups. When more people are helping the children to learn, they are more attentive to learning and not so involved in other silly things like wasting time and annoying their classmates . . . In fact it is the opposite: the children are involved in the work and . . . they can talk to the volunteers to get them and teach them other things, about other lives, which they are probably not aware of, or they can share things . . .

This idea is reinforced by Alejandro, a Roma father who volunteers in the classroom at La Paz. Alejandro has noticed that when fathers are in the classrooms and when the norms are agreed upon and continually discussed, children—even the most rebellious—focus on studying and stop engaging in their earlier disruptive behavior:

Since their fathers are in [the classroom], they study more, they get more into their work, so the children who are around them, they see it as well, and they don’t . . . they are more reluctant to misbehave and then they lean more towards their studies rather than anything else.

Manuel’s narrative adds another layer to this discussion. The everyday life story he shared with us is an example of the personal and social transformation that is possible for adults who engage in the school. He moved from being in prison to participating as a volunteer in countless activities in school, transforming both himself and his relationship with his children. That was the beginning of a process of change which has led him to work in a local workers owned cooperative. Our case studies show that when relatives like Manuel and Alejandro participate in these spaces in the school, their interactions with the children generate new ways of relating to each other and help to create a violence-free environment. People around Manuel say that it is not despite his story but because of it that he has become a role model for the children, introducing a way of being male that is both non-violent and egalitarian.

As we conducted daily life stories with the students, they also pointed out the positive effects of having male volunteers in school. Abdul, a 9-year-old Moroccan student, explained how several of his classmates had made a game of touching the girls’ backs. When the girls reported this, the teacher decided that everyone in the class could touch the boys’ backs. Abdul felt bad: He believed that touching behavior was not right. He said that if a Moroccan father had been in the playground or in the class, this situation would never have developed. He said that boys do not misbehave in front of their parents, and would never have played such a game. He suggested that having fathers as volunteers during the break times would be an effective way to prevent any type of violence at the school. Thus, having the Romani and Arab-Muslim participating at the school, along with other male volunteers, introduced meaningful relationships and opportunities to think about behavior and widened the range of interactions to which the students are exposed. This contributed to both boys and girls being socialized in spaces that are free of violence.