- Email: [email protected]
Hunger and Prejudice. A study of Development Education in Teachers Training
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 950 – 955
7th International Conference on Intercultural Education “Education, Health and ICT for a Transcultural World”, EDUHEM 2016, 15-17 June 2016, Almeria, Spain
Hunger and prejudice. A study of development education in teachers training Suyapa Martínez Scott, Roberto Monjas Aguado & Luis Torrego Egido * Universidad de Valladolid, Plaza de la Universidad 1, Segovia, 40005, Spain
Abstract University education is key for social transformation to promote the development of attitudes and social and moral values, such as social justice, solidarity and respect .Currently, it is urgent to have an education based on analysis and reflection, a critical educai on, committed to the world around us, which allows people to become active subjects, remarkable presences in the world, people that can be protagonists in the transformation of the society in which they live. Development Education (DE), as a transforming educational process, committed to the defense and promotion of all people's human rights, seeking ways of action at individual, local and global levels to achieve human development (Boni, 2005, p.316) is key to foster a sense of belonging to a global community of equals. In teacher training, it is essential to develop this approach in order for the future teachers to commit themselves in achieving a global citizenship education (Banks, 2008; Hanson, 2010; Smith & Laurie, 2011). In the Teaching degree at the University of Valladolid, DE is part of the subject Education for Peace and Equality taught in basic training, which all students must take when starting college contents. The goal is not only for future teachers to acquire knowledge, but also to generate critical attitudes and promote involvement and social participation to complete the three fundamental dimensions in a process of teaching and learning: cognitive, procedural and attitudinal. Hunger is a major worldwide problem. Although it seems a distant reality, 795 million people worldwide are chronically hungry and in Spain although it is difficult to quantify, numerous cases of child malnutrition risk have been identified by social intervention organizations. The analysis of this reality must start from the knowledge and ideas on the subject that students have initially, in order to promote a comprehensive knowledge and understanding that generates restlessness and need to action. In this contribution we show how we work the terrible reality we have just described. It refers to the educational process carried out with three groups of future Nursery and Primary Education teachers, and the results obtained. We take the basis of a proposal from Sequeiros (1997), which uses group interviews and a participatory research techniques consisting of expressing the degree of agreement with a series of statements, and argue about them. Our study shows how the knowledge and preconceptions that students have about hunger in the world are based on topics that favor social inequality. However, after receiving specific training in DE,
* Corresponding author. Tel +34-921-11-2294 E-mail address: [email protected]
1877-0428 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2017.02.134
Suyapa Martínez Scott et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 950 – 955
they significantly changed their world view and therefore this problem. Based on this experience we present an action proposal seeking the integration of three key actions: development of critical judgment, being able to argue their own opinions, and the critical ability to understand and find the root of the problems, as well as the generation of a commitment attitude to take action © 2017 2016The TheAuthors. Authors.Published Published Elsevier © by by Elsevier Ltd.Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Keywords: Type your keywords here, separated by semicolons ;
1. Introduction University Education is a key area to promote social transformation. For this to happen, educational processes aimed at the development of attitudes and oriented towards social justice, solidarity and respect must be performed (Martinez Scott, Gea & Beard, 2012 values Martinez Scott, 2014; McLeod, 2014, San Romualdo & Vírseda, 2014; UNESCO, 1998). Within that university education, training future teachers is essential, since they are the ones who will have in their hands the education of future citizens. Also, any educational process is a way of political intervention in the world capable of creating opportunities for social transformation (Diez Gutiérrez, 2013). In Spain, the initial teacher training is regulated by the ECI / 3854/2007 and ECI / 3857/2007 Orders of 27 December, that include among its objectives the following ones: "To design and to regulate learning spaces in a diversity context and to attend to gender equality, equity and respect for human rights, satisfying the values of citizenship education"(specific competence 4 (EC4)) and "Assess individual and collective responsibility in achieving a sustainable future" (Specific competence 9 (EC9)). These objectives require providing with educational content to the initial training of teachers that can clearly form them in competences related with the Development Education (DE) and designed to transform our societies in fairer ones. Currently, there is an urgent need of an education based on analysis and reflection, a critical education committed to the world surrounding us, which allows people to become active subjects, notable presences in the world (Freire, 1994) capable of starring in the transformation of society in which they live. 1.1. Development Education (DE) Development Education (DE), a transforming educational process, committed to the defense and promotion of human rights of all people, seeking ways of action at the individual, local and global levels to achieve human development (Boni, 2005, p.316) is crucial to encourage a sense of belonging to a global community of equals. Therefore, it is essential to develop this approach in teacher training for future teachers so they can commit themselves in achieving education for global citizenship (Banks, 2008; Ghazi 2012, Hanson, 2010; Smith & Laurie, 2011) and the social transformation we have talked about before. In the Teaching Degree at the University of Valladolid (Spain), DE is part of the contents taught in the basic subject of Education for Peace and Equality, which all students must take in order to begin their university studies. It is not only for future teachers to acquire knowledge, but also to generate critical attitudes and promote the involvement and social participation to complete the three fundamental dimensions in a process of teaching and learning: cognitive, procedural and attitudinal. It is not only acquiring knowledge of inequalities related to the distribution of wealth or power, but also knowing its causes, its consequences and the role that we Northerners have in building fairer structures (Mesa, 2001 and Ortega Carpio, 2004), as well as providing the future teachers with the tools they need to work on these issues in the classroom and to take a step further in relation to the actions that they can carry out as citizens. 1.2. Hunger and Development Education (DE) Working DE as global citizenship means addressing issues related to development of human rights, environment, peace, gender equality, etc. It involves analyzing in depth the causes of inequality and its consequences and not just some of its manifestations, such as poverty, hunger, migration crises or humanitarian disasters.
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However, to get to address these global problems we can begin with its manifestations in order to understand them, since the humanitarian reflection, the desire to prevent and alleviate human suffering, is at the origin of DE and its concern for poverty, hunger and underdevelopment (Ortega Carpio, 2007). In this sense, hunger is a major problem worldwide (Fanzo, 2015). Although it seems a past reality, 795 million people worldwide are chronically hungry (UNDP, 2015) and in Spain, although difficult to quantify, there are identified numerous risk cases for child malnutrition by organizations of social intervention (UNICEF, 2014). Hunger, that desperate situation for a multitude of human beings, is a tremendously powerful force: "... nothing has influenced more the history of mankind. No disease, no war, has killed more people. Still, no plague is so lethal and, at the same time as avoidable as hunger” (Caparrós, 2013, p. 10). But for us, the rich population of the developed world, appears to be a distant reality. Therefore, analyzing this reality is an educational obligation. This analysis must come from the knowledge and ideas on the subject that the students have, in order to promote a comprehensive knowledge and understanding that generates restlessness and need to act. 2. Methodology We take as a basis a proposal from Sequeiros (1997), which is based on another one from Saez (1995), stating affirmations on the magnitude, the consequences and, above all, the causes of hunger in the world and the alternatives to end it. One part of these claims are proven and other parts are unfounded and respond to topics disseminated by the media. We have launched a participatory research strategy consisting of free expression of opinions about phrases, a brainstorming (Perkins & Tishman, 2011), in order to collect free expressions on hunger, with a subsequent group discussion and a summary of findings. The participants in this research are students of both sexes - almost two-thirds of each group are women in their first-year of Teacher Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education of the University of Valladolid. They´re, mainly aged between 18 and 20 years old, with little or no prior training on issues related to DE, except for one group (G.3). For this study, we have followed this technique of participatory research in three different groups, the first group (G.1) discussed the issues raised by Sequeiros (1997) before working the contents related to DE and therefore more related to the topic at hand, hunger in the world. The second group (G.2), participated after working in the subject these issues and the third group (G.3) although they had not come to work on these issues, had people who have recently conducted a course on Development Cooperation, out of the subject, involving these issues. Also, two group interviews were conducted before studying the subject of education for peace and equality and two after having studied the subject in which, although no explicit questions were made about hunger in the world, they were asked about what they think are the main problems worldwide. For the analysis of the collected data we have used the Atlas-Ti software and we have followed the thematic coding criteria articulated by Gibbs (2012), establishing a coding system guided by the own data, from where the categories used have being derived. 3. Results In the first group, we found there are clichés or simplifications of reality in the student's minds, as several answers were that the causes of world hunger are shortages of both food and land or "direct consequence of overpopulation in the third world"(G.1). Despite of turning mainly to inaccurate and cliché explanations, there are in this group other arguments with interesting reflections as claiming that the cause of hunger is the result of an unequal distribution: "We can summarize that hunger in the world it is not the lack of food, or overcrowding, as there is enough food, but what happens is that they are poorly distributed "(G.1). The answers provided by the second and third groups revolve around this line of thought where the majority attributed the causes of hunger to the unequal distribution of both land and resources and no longer see overpopulation as a problem to be solved by limiting the impoverished population to end hunger as in the first group countries: "the cause of hunger is the unequal distribution of resources among the different countries. Moreover, just the fact of limiting population seems barbaric "(G.3).
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When it comes to providing solutions for ending hunger, we find different answers depending on the solutions proposed. The first group chooses to propose an increase in food production or technological progress, in line with a development thinking, with statements such as: "[...] if the technology to produce food progresses, labor is cheaper and production food grows, so hunger in the world reduces"(G.1). The answers that are struggling to end the unequal distribution of wealth or that claim that there is a lack of economic interest to end the problem, follow the same line of thought that the ones given to the causes of the problem and are given mainly in the second and third groups with answers like: "the solution is not to produce more food but to be better distributed" (G.2). Other stereotypes are also reflected more in the first group, which chooses a paternalistic thinking, when considering that Third World farmers are so oppressed and conditioned to a state of dependency that are not able to mobilize themselves: "For they cannot have their own initiative and are not able to cope by themselves outside their environment "(G.1), but also some more elaborate reflections appear, trying to dig a little more into the causes of that dependence, as" [... ] we are (developed countries) the ones that condition their independent status"(G.1). Within the groups two and three, responses try to deepen into the causes, in the background of the issue with answers like this: "[...] heavily dependent on their lifestyle, however precarious it is, and since they are treated as means, not as purposes for those who abuse them, they are dispensable and replaceable so [...] they need support "(G.2) or "what happens is that they are subjected to oppression and conditioned by dictatorships and multinational monopolies "(G .3). On the other side, it appears that certain solutions are banished and unsustainable to end hunger, since all the groups, although their arguments are not too elaborate in the first, are clear that they do not pass or increase the consumption in the North, or to increase field crops or because they are engaged in export crops that are "natural advantages" over other countries, so they can use the revenues obtained in the imported food. In addition, neither group considers that, if poverty and hunger in impoverished countries is extinguished, we would have shortages in developed countries so that our food security was threatened. We agree with Beltrán Verdes (2010) in that for most people, the news come fragmented and full of stereotypes and simplifications, as observed in the clichés kept by the students when coming to the subject regarding the causes of hunger, that are attribute mainly to food shortages and land, overpopulation. Also, they choose a simplistic or reductionist view on the alternatives: solutions are focused on technical advances and increased production. They address the symptoms but not the causes. In addition, they frequently used terms such as underdeveloped or third world to refer to the impoverished countries of the South. After completing the block directly related to the DE or the Development Cooperation course, we could see that clichés regarding the causes of hunger have been dismantled, they use a more elaborate argument and the use of specific vocabulary related to DE has increased. The answers of the second and third groups provide arguments showing more thought and knowledge about the current world situation, appealing to measures such as cancellation of external debt, self-management of farmland, fair or responsible trade or redistribution of land and resources. Also, we can glimpse that there are insights leading to the concept of structural hunger, the existence of structural roots that hold the building of hunger, so well expressed by Petras (2008) and Ziegler (2010): external debt, climate change, privatizations, killer trade policies or the fact that "food is a commodity with a price not decided by governments ... but by the large transnational processing and distribution companies, as well as through stock markets, financial institutions and investment funds"(Saura, 2013, p. 7). 4. Conclusions Our study shows how the knowledge and preconceptions that students have about hunger in the world are based on clichés that favor social inequality and need to be broken. They match the thesis already supported by Spivak (1990) warning on the extent of a process of inequality or poverty naturalization. Poverty is considered a natural phenomenon, and not as a social relation product and, in a simplistic way, it is defined as decorated with charitable mythologies. They also endorse Andreotti's thesis (2014) supporting the need for a "critical literacy" to develop active engagement skills and reflexivity in thinking about power, social relations, and poverty. So it is not only important and necessary to carry out a DE with a global focus at all educational levels and allow its objectives to have a social impact, but also, it is essential to demonstrate that these simplifications of reality, myths
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and false beliefs they have been taken, thanks to the lack of critical information and to capitalist globalization and mass media that are not true, they can understand reality from another perspective. We have found that receiving specific training in DE significantly changed their view of the world and, therefore, of this problem. Hence the relevance of this study, as it provides indicators to transform the thinking of students who constitute the future teachers. Based on these results, we propose a didactic approach that seeks to integrate three key actions: the development of critical thinking, the ability to argue their opinions and the formation of critical consciousness, to understand and find the root of the problems and the generation of an attitude of commitment to take action. References Andreotti, V. (2006). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, Vol. 3, Autumn. 41, 40-51. Retrieved from: http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue3-focus4?page=show Banks, J. A. (2008). Diversity, Group Identity, and Citizenship Education in a Global Age. Educational Researcher, 37(3), 129-139. doi:10.3102/0013189x08317501 Beltrán Verdes, E. (2010). Derechos torcidos, Tópicos, Medias verdades y mentiras sobre la pobreza, política y derechos humanos. España: Debate. Boni Aristizábal, A. (2005). La Educación para el Desarrollo en la enseñanza universitaria como una estrategia de la cooperación orientada al desarrollo humano. (Doctoral thesis). Retrieved from: http://www.upv.es/upl/U0566708.pdf Caparrós, M. (2014). El hambre. Madrid: Anagrama. Díez Gutiérrez, E. (2013). El decrecimiento en la formación del profesorado. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado. 78(27.3). Retrieved from: http://aufop.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/el- decrecimiento-en-la-formacion-del.html Fanzo, J. (2015). Ethical issues for human nutrition in the context of global food security and sustainable development. Global Food SecurityAgriculture Policy Economics and Environment, 7, 15-23. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2015.11.001 Ghazi Jarrar, A. (2012). Global Citizenship Education in Jordanian Universities. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 1922 – 1926 Gibbs, G. (2012). El análisis de datos en investigación cualitativa. Madrid: Morata. Freire, P. (1994). Cartas a quien pretende enseñar. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Hanson, L. (2010). Global Citizenship, Global Health, and the Internationalization of Curriculum A Study of Transformative Potential. Journal of Studies in International Education, 14(1), 70-88. doi:10.1177/1028315308323207 Martínez, Scott, S.; Gea Fernández, J.M. y Barba, J.J (2012). Educación para el Desarrollo y su contexto: entre el desasosiego y la esperanza. REIFOP, 15(2). Retrieved from: http://www.aufop.com/aufop/uploaded_files/revistas/135041733210.pdf Martínez Scott, S. (2014). La educación para el desarrollo en la formación inicial del profesorado. Estudio de casos en la asignatura educación para la paz y la igualdad. (Doctoral thesis). Retrieved from: http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/5691 McLeod, J. (2014). A peaceful pedagogy: Teaching human rights across the curriculum. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 152 (7). 1225 – 1232 Mesa, M. (2001). La educación para el desarrollo en la Comunidad de Madrid: tendencias y estrategias para el siglo XXI. Informe a la Dirección General de Cooperación y Voluntariado de la Comunidad de Madrid: Mimeo. Orden ECI/3854/2007 de 27 de diciembre por las que se establecen los requisitos para la verificación de los títulos universitarios oficiales que habiliten para el ejercicio de la profesión de Maestro en Educación Primaria Orden ECI/3857/2007 de 27 de diciembre por las que se establecen los requisitos para la verificación de los títulos universitarios oficiales que habiliten para el ejercicio de la profesión de Maestro en Educación Primaria. Ortega Carpio, M. (2004). La educación para el desarrollo en el ámbito formal, espacio común de la cooperación y la educación: propuestas para una estrategia de acción integrada. Valencia: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Ortega Carpio, M. (2007). Estrategia de Educación para el Desarrollo de la Cooperación Española. Madrid: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación. Secretaría de Estado de Cooperación Internacional Dirección General de Planificación y Evaluación de Políticas para el Desarrollo. Perkins, D., & Tishman, S. (2011). El Lenguaje del Pensamiento. Educadores: Revista de renovación pedagógica, (236), 46-58. Petras, J. (30 de abril de 2008). Las raíces estructurales del hambre, las crisis alimentarias y los desórdenes. Rebelión. Retrieved from: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=66755 Sáez, P. (1995). El Sur en el aula: una didáctica para la solidaridad. Zaragoza: Seminario de Investigación para la Paz San Romualdo, R. y Vírseda, L. (2014). La Educación para el Desarrollo como herramienta para la transformación social: diagnóstico y propuesta en el título de Grado en Educación Primaria de la Universidad de Valladolid, Campus de Segovia. (Master dissertation). Retrieved from: http://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/10324/8195/6/TFM_F_2014_31-32.pdf Saura Estapà, J. (2013). El derecho humano a la alimentación y su exigibilidad jurídica. Lex Social: Revista de los Derechos Sociales, (1), 4-24. Smith, M. B., & Laurie, N. (2011). International volunteering and development: global citizenship and neoliberal professionalisation today. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 36(4), 545-559. doi:10.1111/j.1475-5661.2011.00436.x Spivak, G. (1990). The Post-colonial Critic: Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues. New York & London: Routledge. UNESCO (1998). World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century: Vision and Action. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm
Suyapa Martínez Scott et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 950 – 955 UNICEF (2014). La infancia en España 2014. El valor social de los niños: hacia un Pacto de Estado por la Infancia.Madrid: Comité Españolde UNICEF. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.es/sites/www.unicef.es/files/infancia- espana/unicef_informe_la_infancia_en_espana_2014.pdf United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] (2015). Human Development Report 2015. Work for Human Development. New York: Communications Development Incorporated. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2015_human_development_report.pdf Ziegler, J. (2010). El hambre en el mundo explicada a mi hijo. Barcelona: El Aleph Editores.
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ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 950 – 955
7th International Conference on Intercultural Education “Education, Health and ICT for a Transcultural World”, EDUHEM 2016, 15-17 June 2016, Almeria, Spain
Hunger and prejudice. A study of development education in teachers training Suyapa Martínez Scott, Roberto Monjas Aguado & Luis Torrego Egido * Universidad de Valladolid, Plaza de la Universidad 1, Segovia, 40005, Spain
Abstract University education is key for social transformation to promote the development of attitudes and social and moral values, such as social justice, solidarity and respect .Currently, it is urgent to have an education based on analysis and reflection, a critical educai on, committed to the world around us, which allows people to become active subjects, remarkable presences in the world, people that can be protagonists in the transformation of the society in which they live. Development Education (DE), as a transforming educational process, committed to the defense and promotion of all people's human rights, seeking ways of action at individual, local and global levels to achieve human development (Boni, 2005, p.316) is key to foster a sense of belonging to a global community of equals. In teacher training, it is essential to develop this approach in order for the future teachers to commit themselves in achieving a global citizenship education (Banks, 2008; Hanson, 2010; Smith & Laurie, 2011). In the Teaching degree at the University of Valladolid, DE is part of the subject Education for Peace and Equality taught in basic training, which all students must take when starting college contents. The goal is not only for future teachers to acquire knowledge, but also to generate critical attitudes and promote involvement and social participation to complete the three fundamental dimensions in a process of teaching and learning: cognitive, procedural and attitudinal. Hunger is a major worldwide problem. Although it seems a distant reality, 795 million people worldwide are chronically hungry and in Spain although it is difficult to quantify, numerous cases of child malnutrition risk have been identified by social intervention organizations. The analysis of this reality must start from the knowledge and ideas on the subject that students have initially, in order to promote a comprehensive knowledge and understanding that generates restlessness and need to action. In this contribution we show how we work the terrible reality we have just described. It refers to the educational process carried out with three groups of future Nursery and Primary Education teachers, and the results obtained. We take the basis of a proposal from Sequeiros (1997), which uses group interviews and a participatory research techniques consisting of expressing the degree of agreement with a series of statements, and argue about them. Our study shows how the knowledge and preconceptions that students have about hunger in the world are based on topics that favor social inequality. However, after receiving specific training in DE,
* Corresponding author. Tel +34-921-11-2294 E-mail address: [email protected]
1877-0428 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2017.02.134
Suyapa Martínez Scott et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 950 – 955
they significantly changed their world view and therefore this problem. Based on this experience we present an action proposal seeking the integration of three key actions: development of critical judgment, being able to argue their own opinions, and the critical ability to understand and find the root of the problems, as well as the generation of a commitment attitude to take action © 2017 2016The TheAuthors. Authors.Published Published Elsevier © by by Elsevier Ltd.Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Keywords: Type your keywords here, separated by semicolons ;
1. Introduction University Education is a key area to promote social transformation. For this to happen, educational processes aimed at the development of attitudes and oriented towards social justice, solidarity and respect must be performed (Martinez Scott, Gea & Beard, 2012 values Martinez Scott, 2014; McLeod, 2014, San Romualdo & Vírseda, 2014; UNESCO, 1998). Within that university education, training future teachers is essential, since they are the ones who will have in their hands the education of future citizens. Also, any educational process is a way of political intervention in the world capable of creating opportunities for social transformation (Diez Gutiérrez, 2013). In Spain, the initial teacher training is regulated by the ECI / 3854/2007 and ECI / 3857/2007 Orders of 27 December, that include among its objectives the following ones: "To design and to regulate learning spaces in a diversity context and to attend to gender equality, equity and respect for human rights, satisfying the values of citizenship education"(specific competence 4 (EC4)) and "Assess individual and collective responsibility in achieving a sustainable future" (Specific competence 9 (EC9)). These objectives require providing with educational content to the initial training of teachers that can clearly form them in competences related with the Development Education (DE) and designed to transform our societies in fairer ones. Currently, there is an urgent need of an education based on analysis and reflection, a critical education committed to the world surrounding us, which allows people to become active subjects, notable presences in the world (Freire, 1994) capable of starring in the transformation of society in which they live. 1.1. Development Education (DE) Development Education (DE), a transforming educational process, committed to the defense and promotion of human rights of all people, seeking ways of action at the individual, local and global levels to achieve human development (Boni, 2005, p.316) is crucial to encourage a sense of belonging to a global community of equals. Therefore, it is essential to develop this approach in teacher training for future teachers so they can commit themselves in achieving education for global citizenship (Banks, 2008; Ghazi 2012, Hanson, 2010; Smith & Laurie, 2011) and the social transformation we have talked about before. In the Teaching Degree at the University of Valladolid (Spain), DE is part of the contents taught in the basic subject of Education for Peace and Equality, which all students must take in order to begin their university studies. It is not only for future teachers to acquire knowledge, but also to generate critical attitudes and promote the involvement and social participation to complete the three fundamental dimensions in a process of teaching and learning: cognitive, procedural and attitudinal. It is not only acquiring knowledge of inequalities related to the distribution of wealth or power, but also knowing its causes, its consequences and the role that we Northerners have in building fairer structures (Mesa, 2001 and Ortega Carpio, 2004), as well as providing the future teachers with the tools they need to work on these issues in the classroom and to take a step further in relation to the actions that they can carry out as citizens. 1.2. Hunger and Development Education (DE) Working DE as global citizenship means addressing issues related to development of human rights, environment, peace, gender equality, etc. It involves analyzing in depth the causes of inequality and its consequences and not just some of its manifestations, such as poverty, hunger, migration crises or humanitarian disasters.
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However, to get to address these global problems we can begin with its manifestations in order to understand them, since the humanitarian reflection, the desire to prevent and alleviate human suffering, is at the origin of DE and its concern for poverty, hunger and underdevelopment (Ortega Carpio, 2007). In this sense, hunger is a major problem worldwide (Fanzo, 2015). Although it seems a past reality, 795 million people worldwide are chronically hungry (UNDP, 2015) and in Spain, although difficult to quantify, there are identified numerous risk cases for child malnutrition by organizations of social intervention (UNICEF, 2014). Hunger, that desperate situation for a multitude of human beings, is a tremendously powerful force: "... nothing has influenced more the history of mankind. No disease, no war, has killed more people. Still, no plague is so lethal and, at the same time as avoidable as hunger” (Caparrós, 2013, p. 10). But for us, the rich population of the developed world, appears to be a distant reality. Therefore, analyzing this reality is an educational obligation. This analysis must come from the knowledge and ideas on the subject that the students have, in order to promote a comprehensive knowledge and understanding that generates restlessness and need to act. 2. Methodology We take as a basis a proposal from Sequeiros (1997), which is based on another one from Saez (1995), stating affirmations on the magnitude, the consequences and, above all, the causes of hunger in the world and the alternatives to end it. One part of these claims are proven and other parts are unfounded and respond to topics disseminated by the media. We have launched a participatory research strategy consisting of free expression of opinions about phrases, a brainstorming (Perkins & Tishman, 2011), in order to collect free expressions on hunger, with a subsequent group discussion and a summary of findings. The participants in this research are students of both sexes - almost two-thirds of each group are women in their first-year of Teacher Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education of the University of Valladolid. They´re, mainly aged between 18 and 20 years old, with little or no prior training on issues related to DE, except for one group (G.3). For this study, we have followed this technique of participatory research in three different groups, the first group (G.1) discussed the issues raised by Sequeiros (1997) before working the contents related to DE and therefore more related to the topic at hand, hunger in the world. The second group (G.2), participated after working in the subject these issues and the third group (G.3) although they had not come to work on these issues, had people who have recently conducted a course on Development Cooperation, out of the subject, involving these issues. Also, two group interviews were conducted before studying the subject of education for peace and equality and two after having studied the subject in which, although no explicit questions were made about hunger in the world, they were asked about what they think are the main problems worldwide. For the analysis of the collected data we have used the Atlas-Ti software and we have followed the thematic coding criteria articulated by Gibbs (2012), establishing a coding system guided by the own data, from where the categories used have being derived. 3. Results In the first group, we found there are clichés or simplifications of reality in the student's minds, as several answers were that the causes of world hunger are shortages of both food and land or "direct consequence of overpopulation in the third world"(G.1). Despite of turning mainly to inaccurate and cliché explanations, there are in this group other arguments with interesting reflections as claiming that the cause of hunger is the result of an unequal distribution: "We can summarize that hunger in the world it is not the lack of food, or overcrowding, as there is enough food, but what happens is that they are poorly distributed "(G.1). The answers provided by the second and third groups revolve around this line of thought where the majority attributed the causes of hunger to the unequal distribution of both land and resources and no longer see overpopulation as a problem to be solved by limiting the impoverished population to end hunger as in the first group countries: "the cause of hunger is the unequal distribution of resources among the different countries. Moreover, just the fact of limiting population seems barbaric "(G.3).
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When it comes to providing solutions for ending hunger, we find different answers depending on the solutions proposed. The first group chooses to propose an increase in food production or technological progress, in line with a development thinking, with statements such as: "[...] if the technology to produce food progresses, labor is cheaper and production food grows, so hunger in the world reduces"(G.1). The answers that are struggling to end the unequal distribution of wealth or that claim that there is a lack of economic interest to end the problem, follow the same line of thought that the ones given to the causes of the problem and are given mainly in the second and third groups with answers like: "the solution is not to produce more food but to be better distributed" (G.2). Other stereotypes are also reflected more in the first group, which chooses a paternalistic thinking, when considering that Third World farmers are so oppressed and conditioned to a state of dependency that are not able to mobilize themselves: "For they cannot have their own initiative and are not able to cope by themselves outside their environment "(G.1), but also some more elaborate reflections appear, trying to dig a little more into the causes of that dependence, as" [... ] we are (developed countries) the ones that condition their independent status"(G.1). Within the groups two and three, responses try to deepen into the causes, in the background of the issue with answers like this: "[...] heavily dependent on their lifestyle, however precarious it is, and since they are treated as means, not as purposes for those who abuse them, they are dispensable and replaceable so [...] they need support "(G.2) or "what happens is that they are subjected to oppression and conditioned by dictatorships and multinational monopolies "(G .3). On the other side, it appears that certain solutions are banished and unsustainable to end hunger, since all the groups, although their arguments are not too elaborate in the first, are clear that they do not pass or increase the consumption in the North, or to increase field crops or because they are engaged in export crops that are "natural advantages" over other countries, so they can use the revenues obtained in the imported food. In addition, neither group considers that, if poverty and hunger in impoverished countries is extinguished, we would have shortages in developed countries so that our food security was threatened. We agree with Beltrán Verdes (2010) in that for most people, the news come fragmented and full of stereotypes and simplifications, as observed in the clichés kept by the students when coming to the subject regarding the causes of hunger, that are attribute mainly to food shortages and land, overpopulation. Also, they choose a simplistic or reductionist view on the alternatives: solutions are focused on technical advances and increased production. They address the symptoms but not the causes. In addition, they frequently used terms such as underdeveloped or third world to refer to the impoverished countries of the South. After completing the block directly related to the DE or the Development Cooperation course, we could see that clichés regarding the causes of hunger have been dismantled, they use a more elaborate argument and the use of specific vocabulary related to DE has increased. The answers of the second and third groups provide arguments showing more thought and knowledge about the current world situation, appealing to measures such as cancellation of external debt, self-management of farmland, fair or responsible trade or redistribution of land and resources. Also, we can glimpse that there are insights leading to the concept of structural hunger, the existence of structural roots that hold the building of hunger, so well expressed by Petras (2008) and Ziegler (2010): external debt, climate change, privatizations, killer trade policies or the fact that "food is a commodity with a price not decided by governments ... but by the large transnational processing and distribution companies, as well as through stock markets, financial institutions and investment funds"(Saura, 2013, p. 7). 4. Conclusions Our study shows how the knowledge and preconceptions that students have about hunger in the world are based on clichés that favor social inequality and need to be broken. They match the thesis already supported by Spivak (1990) warning on the extent of a process of inequality or poverty naturalization. Poverty is considered a natural phenomenon, and not as a social relation product and, in a simplistic way, it is defined as decorated with charitable mythologies. They also endorse Andreotti's thesis (2014) supporting the need for a "critical literacy" to develop active engagement skills and reflexivity in thinking about power, social relations, and poverty. So it is not only important and necessary to carry out a DE with a global focus at all educational levels and allow its objectives to have a social impact, but also, it is essential to demonstrate that these simplifications of reality, myths
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and false beliefs they have been taken, thanks to the lack of critical information and to capitalist globalization and mass media that are not true, they can understand reality from another perspective. We have found that receiving specific training in DE significantly changed their view of the world and, therefore, of this problem. Hence the relevance of this study, as it provides indicators to transform the thinking of students who constitute the future teachers. Based on these results, we propose a didactic approach that seeks to integrate three key actions: the development of critical thinking, the ability to argue their opinions and the formation of critical consciousness, to understand and find the root of the problems and the generation of an attitude of commitment to take action. References Andreotti, V. (2006). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, Vol. 3, Autumn. 41, 40-51. 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