Strengthening Social Justice in the Digital Era in the Educational Institutions

Digitalization has influenced in multifaceted ways the lives of the individuals as well as communities and societies locally, regionally, and globally. The impact has been felt in numerous ways, such as providing new opportunities, demand for renewal, and in various forms of acceleration. Also, the representatives of the public authorities have faced need to take a stand on this digital transformation.

Even tough painfully recognising the numerous forms of violating and oppressing use of authoritative power, the institutions representing public authority may also have a positive function in the society. Hence, regarding social justice in the digital era, it is of importance to identify such constructive elements and to nurture these to strengthen positive developments. We apply sociocybernetics in this endeavour focusing on the field of education.

Many of the choices for how social justice is understood in various settings and communities are made in the practical encounters of teaching and learning, teachers interacting with their students and with others associates in their community. In this paper we bring perspectives of Finnish & Indian social work education with respect to social justice in the digital era: through curriculum, experiential learning, field practicum, service learning, community camp and research projects.