The appreciation and understanding of value diversity' : an evaluation of a value diversity intervention at the University of Stellenbosch

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:South Africa has made a remarkable transformation from an openly racist to a tolerant anddemocratic nation. The transformation process removed the legal barriers between subgroupsthat formerly postulated separate development for the various racial groups and restricted thecontact between individuals to a major extent. In present day society, one can observe thetransformation process in that South African citizens from different backgrounds have todevelop new patterns of communication and interaction. This process was mirrored in thestudent culture of Stellenbosch.The first objective of this study was to research how individual students experienced their socialand academic environment. Since student relations do not always conform to the Universitynorm of mutual respect for human diversity, the University felt the need to facilitate anintervention for valuing human diversity. The second objective of this study was to evaluate theprocess of the intervention, focusing on the programme context, the programme activities andthe program theory. In addition, the impressions of workshop participants were studied.In order to conceptualise the research objectives, the theoretical principles of valuing diversitywere discussed in the form of a purposive literature review on the social psychology andsociology of stereotyping and related processes, which were examined as barriers to valuingdiversity.The Value Diversity Intervention was implemented in August 2001. The intervention aimed toheighten students' awareness of the diversity of the student body and to improve the interactionamong the various student subgroups. The intervention was designed as a workshop andincluded 50 students from various backgrounds who were living in the University residences.Two evaluation types were utilised in this study, i.e. the evaluation of perceived needs and theevaluation of the intervention process. The research questions were clarified and the specificmethods for gathering and analysing the data were specified. In addition, the aspect of validityand the quality of the obtained data were reviewed.The evaluation of perceived needs showed that individual students perceived the studentpopulation to be divided into minority ('coloured', 'black') and majority ('white') groups. Eventhough group membership did not affect specific instances of intergroup relations (e.g.individual friendships), it had implications for the social atmosphere on campus, which wascharacterised by a lack of intergroup contact and a domination by the majority group.Accordingly, minority group members interpreted the social atmosphere more negatively thanmajority group members. Hence, minority group members perceived a need to improveintergroup interaction.This analysis indicates that a value diversity intervention may be beneficial. This correspondedto the view of the Department of Student Affairs, which arranged the Value DiversityIntervention.The evaluation of the intervention highlighted both negative and positive aspects. Firstly, theintervention design did not include the promotion of the intervention itself, which might havebeen essential making students interested in the diversity topic and in motivating students toparticipate. Secondly, the intervention did not address the specific diversity challenges asexperienced by students of the University of Stellenbosch. Students expressed concernsregarding the applicability of the provided information in their daily life. Thirdly, the workshopfocused mainly on stereotypes. Yet, the possible effects of stereotypes were not sufficientlydiscussed. In addition, a large number of stereotypes were listed, but these were often biaseddue to the lack of participants from diverse groups. Further, no workshop technique whichquestioned the presented lists of biased stereotypes was applied or generated. Besides thesetechnical considerations, it should be noted that stereotypes in general perpetuate the divisionbetween subgroups. Thus, the workshop focused to a large extent on past and present aspects,which divide the student population, instead of focusing on uniting issues.The described negative aspects might have been balanced by one of the four observedworkshops. This specific workshop was characterised by a small amount of participants and apositive presentation of one of the main facilitators. This resulted in a productive discussion,where the participants used the possibility to reflect on the current situation out of theirperspective and reflected upon the contributions of the facilitator. Students might have beenmotivated to take positive impulses of this workshop in their daily life.Based upon this research, recommendations can be determined. Firstly, the promotion of theintervention should emphasize the desirability of diversity values and highlight the personalpotential benefits to participants. Secondly, it might be useful to acknowledge differencesbetween students, but to place a greater emphasis on similarities, i.e. on aspects that connectstudents. Thirdly, the curriculum of the intervention should be modified to cater especially forstudent needs. Fourthly, the selected workshop components should achieve an equal balancebetween lecture parts and interactive elements. Participants should have the possibility to takean active part in the intervention if they are interested in doing so. The final recommendationentails that future interventions should be based on a comprehensive, sustained strategy withlong-term goals. These strategies should be integrated in the already existing infrastructure of aninstitution.This intervention has to be understood as a contribution to the transformation process that SouthAfrica is currently undergoing. Based on the recent discussion at the University of Stellenboschabout the adoption of a comprehensive diversity strategy, it is hoped that this singularintervention will be linked to further contributions in this transformation process.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University