Social Justice Teaching and Research: Clearing a Pathway Toward Social Transformation
Location
Session 4 Presentations - Social Justice
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
In this paper, we address the conceptual vagueness of teaching for social justice by providing a spectrum that synthesizes the extant literature and defines the four foundational tenets of social justice education. We then provide an example of social justice teaching, drawing on a larger ethnographic study that explored how a high school English teacher endeavored to promote social justice in her classroom. We describe the extent to which this teacher’s instruction represented each components on the social justice spectrum. We argue that understanding the factors that contribute to teachers’ critical awareness is important for moving toward social transformation and equity in education.
Keywords
critical literacy, teaching for social justice, urban education
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Gordon, Charity T. and Fournillier, Janice B., "Social Justice Teaching and Research: Clearing a Pathway Toward Social Transformation" (2021). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 73.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2021/2021/73
Social Justice Teaching and Research: Clearing a Pathway Toward Social Transformation
Session 4 Presentations - Social Justice
In this paper, we address the conceptual vagueness of teaching for social justice by providing a spectrum that synthesizes the extant literature and defines the four foundational tenets of social justice education. We then provide an example of social justice teaching, drawing on a larger ethnographic study that explored how a high school English teacher endeavored to promote social justice in her classroom. We describe the extent to which this teacher’s instruction represented each components on the social justice spectrum. We argue that understanding the factors that contribute to teachers’ critical awareness is important for moving toward social transformation and equity in education.
