Research aim:

To ascertain how teachers in higher education (HE) conceptualise and practise education for social justice (ESJ), their perceptions of students’ engagement with it, and underlying values as educators.

Theoretical framework:

The research is underpinned by notions of social justice articulated by leading philosophers - notably Nancy Fraser (2005), Martha Nussbaum (2011) and Iris Young (1990) - applicable to education, against which lecturers’ conceptions of ESJ may be compared.

Methods:

Using an opportunistic sample (volunteers gathered via professional networks), semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 academics from various disciplines and 20 institutions in the UK and EU. Thematic analysis of the interview data was based on the educational research guidance set out by Wellington (2015).

Findings:

Main findings are that ESJ is construed as provision of equitable and conscientising education opportunities across the whole HE journey - from widening access, to stimulating critical learning and awareness that can empower graduates to transform their lives and societies. Teaching practices featured study of topics related to social justice; collaborative and creative learning activities, and assignments offering choice and connection to students’ realities. Student responses could be mixed but mostly positive in terms of gaining increased confidence and awareness of equality and social responsibility. Overall, the research highlights the strong, values-based commitment of HE teachers to facilitating student learning engagement, wellbeing and development towards building a better world.

Relevance to Conference theme and specific strand(s):

Our paper presenting a pedagogical analysis of committed university teachers' accounts of their ESJ practice aligns directly with the Conference theme of "equitable quality teaching". Regarding specific strands, it could serve to illustrate "research on equitable teaching practices", with the emphasis on the practices gleaned from research; alternatively, it offers real examples of "Addressing social justice by leveraging ... innovative approaches" across a range of disciplines.

Purpose

As new faculty in a state that allows teacher educators to address social justice issues, I am conducting a self-study of my teacher education practices and praxis (Kucera, Ovens, & Bennett, 2020; Orland-Barak, 2010; Kitchen, Fitzgerald, & Tidwell, 2016; Martin, 2020), I seek to discover if my teaching practice encourages students to develop social justice awareness as they explore teaching as a career (Croom, 2020). As the course is exploratory, it is a survey course only briefly teaching pedagogy, history, literacy, and social justice issues. Therefore, I will investigate my students’ growth in liminal moments and spaces (Friesen, 2022; Gray & Phillips, 2023; Jacobs, 2023). Additionally, I will also be evaluating my teaching practice in light of my shift in identity from graduate student to professor (Buchanan & Mooney, 2023; Shah & Coles, 2020). Another new faculty member is my critical friend (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2016). If my students remain in the teacher education, I will conduct a longitudinal study of their growth in their identity as teacher candidates and teachers (Craig & Curtis, 2020).

Theoretical Framework

My study will be ground in qualitative theory including (Cresswell, 2013; Whitehead et al., 2020) self-study methods (Kitchen, 2020; Tidwell & Jónsdóttir, 2020) and social justice in teacher education (Taylor & Diamond, 2020), teacher identity and teacher-educator identity (Martin, 2018).

Data and Data Analysis

My data for the study will include student emails, student work, student drawings, a pre- and post-survey of common beliefs (teachingtolorance.org), end of course feedback, field notes, meeting notes with my critical friend and memos.

I will analyze my data using grounded theory (Charmaz, 2015; Glaser & Strauss, 2017) and conduct thematic analysis using Saldana’s coding methods (Saldana, 2021).

Curriculum decolonization is a significant social justice imperative in post-colonial contexts like South Africa. Recent social movements, such as #RhodesMustFall, have highlighted the need for educational transformation, (in this case decolonisation of the curriculum), particularly in universities, (Luckett, K. (2016)). In South Africa, the need to decolonise the curriculum as a social justice imperative is reflected in the constitution, legislations, and education policies. In this paper, we argue that social justice imperatives such as decolonisation must be embedded not only in governance but also in pedagogy.

We explore whether pedagogy designed within the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) framework inherently promotes social justice. Decolonizing knowledge within this framework is an enactment of social justice, requiring that knowledge content be structured for accessible and inclusive learning (Nyamupangedengu, E. and Nyamupangedengu, C. (2023)).

We critically analysed a teaching practice to determine how decolonizing imperatives were enacted in the classroom. We used the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) (Philpot et al (2021)) as a research method to analyse critical incidents that either fostered or hindered social justice in learning. The data included recorded lectures of a genetics class taught by one of the authors at a South African university. Each of the three authors analysed the videos independently, identifying and classifying critical incidents. Triangulation was used, involving interviews with the lecturer and comparative analysis of the identified incidents. The detailed findings will be discussed in the main paper

References

Luckett, K. (2016), Teaching in Higher Education, 21(4), 415–428.

Nyamupangedengu, E. and Nyamupangedengu, C. (2023), Studying Teaching and Teacher Education (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 44), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 37-52.

Philpot, R., Smith, W., Gerdin, G., Larsson, L., Schenker, K., Linnér, S., ... & Westlie, K. (2021). European Physical Education Review, 27(1), 57-75.

Research aim

Historically, Latin-American contexts have demanded socio-educational justice, equity and inclusion (CLADE, 2021). Hence, practitioners have proposed that Social Justice Teacher (SJTE) can prepare quality teachers to address inequities and support their students’ holistic development (Fernández et al., 2020; Peña-Sandoval & Montecinos, 2016). This paper aims to analyse the conceptions of social justice, objectives and findings of Latin-American research on SJTE.

Theoretical framework

SJTE emphasises that hegemonic structures and socio-cultural undervaluation hinder the learning of students from marginalised communities, therefore, teachers must develop theoretical and pedagogical knowledge to address them in their practice (Cochran-Smith & Keefe, 2022; McDonald & Zeichner, 2009). This approach equips teachers with skills to manage inequitable educational environments and to design teaching practices that promote democratic, reciprocal relationships with students and their communities (Sleeter et al., 2016).

Methods

Systematic review of SJTE Latin-American research published until 2022 in indexed databases WoS, Scopus, and SciELO, using the PRISMA protocol (Page et al., 2021), metadata and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022).

Findings

The review identified 52 Latin-American articles published since 2012, which emphasise and intersect four major conceptualization of social justice, associated to different disciplines. Their main objectives relate to the development of SJ conceptions and initiatives that promote social change, methodological proposals and challenges of enacting a SJTE and Latin-America TE policies. Different works call for boosting teachers’ emotional development and ability to stablish empathetic relationships, claiming these will later allow them to promote civic participation among their students.

Relevance

Findings advocate for a comprehensive approach to SJTE that addresses the personal and professional aspects of teaching. They invite TE programmes to be attentive to the emotional dimension of teachers’ work, highlighting that their wellbeing and ability to empathise with their students are crucial to navigate difficult situations and advocate for social change and equity.