they’ve become people, you know, as opposed to this tag ‘asylum-seekers’ and
they’re lovely, they’re really nice. ” (Gareth)
However, the ability of courses to elicit such a change in values is dependent upon
educational access. Kim gives an example of how at Art School she was able to mix
with individuals from many different social backgrounds which she would not believe
possible given the current system of HE funding:
“ ... it was brilliant because I met people from many different backgrounds and
I think now probably that’s not the case because as far as I could see the only
people who go to College are people who,ve got money. I don’t see how you
could manage, my sister’s got children at University and it’s so difficult. ”
Role models
Teachers and other students can act as positive role models in terms of tolerance. A
common experience for respondents educated in other countries was that their
teachers were seen as a formative influence on their attitudes. Aurea adopted a
communitarian viewpoint as a result of her teachers’ activity. Her teachers took the
time to check that every student was happy with every aspect of their learning and if
there were problems, they would ask the parents in to discuss the difficulties. Aurea
generalises the actions of individual teachers to general school ethos:
“It was also an attitude of the school, that although we were individuals, we
were all part of a community. And of the country. And we could all put a little
dust on the cap of the mountain. ”
A tutor who represents and is an advocate for a different community can also change
values for students and pupils. Faith had a deaf tutor at College:
“ Eventually, talking to him you get another viewpoint on things because he’d
grown up in a deaf world and deaf community. Again, it just opens your eyes to
a whole new life and there he was teaching people and he’d coped and he’d
done really well, so there’s hope. ”
As Faith’s son was deaf, this led her to an understanding of his potential:
“ You just sort of realise that this isn’t that bad, he can still lead a normal life,
there’s loads of deafpeople in good jobs and it’s up to him. It shouldn’t be a
disability. ”
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