Many professionals in the social domain and education struggle with moral dilemmas on their own. That can be quite lonely. And sometimes the outcome is that they bury their heads in the sand.
No longer burying your head in the sand
That is precisely what cannot happen in an Ostrich Session; a dilemma is examined from every angle in a group setting. What makes the issue a dilemma? What are the different perspectives, and who is involved? What do organizational rules and legislation say about it? What are the possible responses, and which response is the most appropriate? And what is needed to put that response into practice?
Cheerful and clear
The discussion tool looks cheerful and clear. Fleur Nollet was involved in developing the tool on behalf of the School & Safety Foundation. “The design guides the discussion leader and participants through the process step by step,” she says. It makes moral dilemmas manageable. “There are time indications for the various steps. And it also contains many practical examples to show what it is about.”
Freedom versus discrimination
Annemarie van Hinsberg was involved in its creation on behalf of KIS. She explains how it works using an example from a pilot session. “This dilemma came up: a volunteer in a buddy project did not want to work with an Eritrean boy. This was a difficult dilemma for the coordinating professional. On the one hand, the volunteer’s freedom of choice carries weight; on the other, organizational values such as inclusivity and anti-discrimination carry weight.”
A shared course of action
“One possible response is simply to pair the volunteer with someone else,” Van Hinsberg adds. “The opposite extreme would be to no longer welcome the volunteer because of her refusal. During the session, an alternative response was chosen as the shared course of action: one based on diversity and inclusion. The approach was to try to help the volunteer in question understand the value of these principles.”
Communicating them more actively
According to Van Hinsberg, inclusivity and diversity were already important values in the organization in question, “but they still needed to be made explicit and communicated actively. That is the final step of the session: creating a plan specifying who will do what. In this example, one of the agreements could be for the manager to include in the volunteer contract that these are important values and that the volunteer must endorse them. That way, it is formally recorded.”
A greater sense of certainty
The discussion tool gives professionals a greater sense of certainty in situations involving difficult dilemmas, as well as the organization’s backing, Nollet explains. “Participants in test sessions call it a real relief. They have a better idea of how to act, and they also know that their colleagues will act in the same way, based on the same agreed professional framework. Everyone is expected to commit to it. Sometimes a professional has to rise above their own personal views.”
Recurring situations
Many situations that can lead to dilemmas recur and are more or less similar. Ramadan takes place every year, for example, bringing questions about whether or not students who are fasting should take part in sports. Hurtful slurs are also timeless. Sometimes one slur is popular, and at other times another, but they are almost always hurtful. And everywhere, well-liked volunteers may unexpectedly take a stand on controversial issues, such as insisting that Black Pete should remain unchanged. Van Hinsberg believes that situations like these are ideally suited to an Ostrich Session. “Because then you can keep referring back to the course of action you agreed on together.”
School rules or the constitution
When a new dilemma arises, it helps if you have already held a session. Van Hinsberg says: “It becomes easier to start the conversation with colleagues. And you know how to organize a new session.” The experience gained during a first session also helps in another way, Nollet concludes. “Because you realize that you do not have to struggle with an issue on your own. You have seen that, for many dilemmas, the existing school or organizational rules already provide direction. Or, as in the case of discrimination, the constitution.”
View the Ostrich Session discussion tool here.