One of the crucial aims of self-study is to create more democratic schools and universities, as well as society. Author-A is a social studies teacher educator in Japan. His mission is to foster preservice teachers' awareness toward social justice. He has been discussing his teaching practices with his critical friend, Author-B, for years. In this self-study, we discuss (1) the insights and learnings we gained from Author A’s self-studies (2) professional knowledge we gained as educators through self-studies.

The significance of self-study in equity and inclusion has also been discussed in Japan. For example, at the roundtable 2022, authors and other participants pointed out that self-study research could collaboratively reveal the contradiction between the weakness and the strength of individual professionals. It would also highlight social issues and injustices through the exploration of individual and practical issues.

Main data were Author-A's six published self-study papers and nine self-study presentations since 2018. Data also included reflective journals, text messages, meeting notes, various artifacts such as pictures and senryu poems. All online meetings between Author-A and B were recorded. We employed pictures and senryu as analytic tools to stimulate our collaborative dialogue from multiple perspectives.

Collaborative analysis through pictures and senryu created space to enhance our reflection. Our discussion over artifacts revealed a barrier deeply rooted in the Japanese social structure. In school's hidden curriculums, students are not taught about their rights, but how to survive competitive examinations. Such school education reproduces teachers who are indifferent to social injustice. Through his self-studies, we recognize it is crucially important that we should keep our beliefs in human rights and democracy in education. This research suggests that we should continue challenging such a hidden curriculum. The accumulation of reflective practices and collaborative dialogues leads to more democratic and inclusive school and higher education.

Research Aim: This study aims to explore the practical applications and pedagogies necessary for preparing pre-service teachers (PSTs) to become advocates for social justice, addressing the gap in research that primarily focuses on values and belief systems rather than actionable teaching practices.

Theoretical Framework: Grounded in Freire’s transformative praxis theory, this study is underpinned by the concept of fostering critical consciousness, essential for addressing and transgressing social injustices in education. The umbrella methodology of Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) and Collaborative Autoethnography (CAE) is employed to reflect on and analyse our teaching practices.

Methods: Using CAE, we engaged in reflective practice by documenting and sharing personal and professional experiences related to social justice pedagogy. Reflections on practice were written, shared, and discussed in a series of CAE meetings. The data, supported by student-generated pedagogical reflections, were collaboratively analysed to identify key themes connected to transformative praxis.

Findings: The study reveals the significant role of CAE in professional learning, particularly in fostering critical reflexivity. Through collective analysis of pedagogical data and reflective practice, we identified areas of success and shortcomings in our efforts to teach social justice. This process strengthened our pedagogical approaches, especially in engaging students who may initially struggle to grasp the importance of teaching for social justice.

Relevance to the Conference Theme and Specific Strand: This research directly addresses the conference theme of social justice in education by providing a detailed examination of transformative pedagogies in teacher education. The findings contribute to the strand on equity and inclusion by offering insights into effective strategies for fostering critical consciousness among PSTs, thereby equipping them to contribute to a more socially just future.

Critical thinking offers opportunities to counter rising hate speech and xenophobic populism evident in societies across the world. If we are to harness the potentially transformative impact of critical thinking by embedding it in our education systems, we must begin with initial teacher education (ITE) and ensuring student teachers are critical thinkers themselves. This study focused on examining my practices as a teacher educator in supporting student teachers to develop their critical thinking skills within the context of learning about global social justice issues.

This self-study project took place across three academic years, focusing on a core module in which students engaged in global citizenship education. My inquiry into my own practices was undertaken alongside support and engagement from critical friends, my students, and colleagues. The data set included both written and recorded reflections; recordings of conversations with critical friends; emails and written reflections from critical friends; recordings and notes from focus group interviews with students; surveys; Most Significant Change Stories; exit slips from classes; photographs of in class work; post-it notes or worksheets from in class work; and assessments. The wide variety of data types helped to capture the complex and messy nature of classroom practice and provided multiple sources to aid in triangulation of findings.

Drawing on Freire’s (1974) Critical Consciousness, Boler’s (1999) Pedagogy of Discomfort, Andreotti and deSouza’s (2018) conceptual frameworks for ‘Through Other Eyes’ and Bourn’s (2015) Pedagogy of Development Education to support the interpretation and application of my research findings, I developed an adaptable, flexible conceptual framework for critical global learning. This framework forms the most substantial findings from the study and includes both a model for understanding critical thinking in the context of global citizenship education and a planning tool to support critical thinking development with my students.