Abstract:

Equity in the classroom is what all educators are striving for nowadays. It has its challenges and benefits. Equity is the concept that can be used in different fields. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as ‘a situation in which all people are treated equally and no one has an unfair advantage’. In education equity is considered to mean equal opportunities, support, resources and funding for all students regardless of their gender, cultural background, personal characteristics and proficiency level.

The idea of equity in education has been developing since the 20th century. It began with the theory of Zone of Proximate Development (ZPD) (1978) by Lev Vygotsky which stated that the traditional roles of teachers and students has changed. According to this theory teachers needed to become facilitators and supporters of the students who then built their knowledge with the help of their teachers and other students. The ‘Scaffolding’ theory by Jerome Bruner (1976) is also a fundamental idea which proposed that the teacher needed to organize ‘scaffolds’ in the form of support or help for the students to accomplish difficult tasks. One more theory is that of the Gradual Release Model (GRM) by P. D. Pearson and M. Gallagher (1983). It proposed that the classroom responsibilities should be changed by the teacher in such a way that a student`s learning autonomy is gradually developed.

Equity can be observed from different perspectives: an educational system perspective or that of an individual student. School leaders should ensure that all children have every opportunity to succeed and teachers should also provide students with high-quality academic content that meets their educational needs.

Thus, the aim of this paper is to reflect on the present day situation with equity in education and to review the methods and techniques that a teacher can implement to make the classroom more equitable, and learner-centered.

Keywords:

Equity, challenges, benefits, learner-centered, techniques.