A Social Justice Framework to Demystify Teachers’ Critical Consciousness
Abstract
In this paper, I present a social justice framework for interpreting, analyzing, and increasing the critical awareness of teachers who wish to enact critical pedagogy in their classrooms. I use data from an ethnographic case study in which I collaborated with, interviewed, and observed a high school teacher who was enacting critical pedagogy in her classroom for the first time. After a close examination of how this teacher enacted critical pedagogy, the ideological conflicts she experienced, and the extent to which she promoted social justice, I gained a deeper understanding of how her critical consciousness evolved over time and impacted her practice. An analysis of her evolving critical awareness provides valuable insights on what it means to teach for social justice. Equipping teachers with the research tools to increase their critical consciousness and the pedagogical strategies to promote social justice in their classrooms will potentially enact long-lasting transformations within schools and communities.
Keywords
Critical pedagogy; Teaching for social justice; critical consciousness; teacher education
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Gordon, Charity T., "A Social Justice Framework to Demystify Teachers’ Critical Consciousness" (2018). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 11.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2018/2018/11
A Social Justice Framework to Demystify Teachers’ Critical Consciousness
In this paper, I present a social justice framework for interpreting, analyzing, and increasing the critical awareness of teachers who wish to enact critical pedagogy in their classrooms. I use data from an ethnographic case study in which I collaborated with, interviewed, and observed a high school teacher who was enacting critical pedagogy in her classroom for the first time. After a close examination of how this teacher enacted critical pedagogy, the ideological conflicts she experienced, and the extent to which she promoted social justice, I gained a deeper understanding of how her critical consciousness evolved over time and impacted her practice. An analysis of her evolving critical awareness provides valuable insights on what it means to teach for social justice. Equipping teachers with the research tools to increase their critical consciousness and the pedagogical strategies to promote social justice in their classrooms will potentially enact long-lasting transformations within schools and communities.
