The Importance of Social Justice Courses in Teacher Preparation Programs

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Critchfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Social Justice Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Christian University ◽  
The Social ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Future Work

The social justice perspective is become more popular in teacher preparation programs as a response to growing diversity in schools and to the perceived inadequacies of multicultural education. This alternative to multicultural education argues that teachers should be advocates for students and their communities, helping to address inequities in schools. This project sought to explore social justice education in more depth by examining two classes of pre-service teachers at a private Christian university in the Southwest United States. Students were asked to describe their expectations and experiences with social justice curriculum in a required social justice teacher education course. The analysis of the project’s results indicates that pre-service teachers at faith institutions must be given hands-on, practical opportunities to grapple with social justice and their faith in order to begin to understand how social justice might inform their future work as teachers.

Social Justice Education With and for Pre-Service Teachers in the Borderlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 225-243
Author(s):  
Efren O. Miranda Zepeda ◽  
Judith Flores Carmona
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Social Justice Education ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Practicing Teachers ◽  
Concrete Experience ◽  
Building Community

Diversity in contemporary classrooms (across class, race, gender, and other social identity groups) is here to stay. Social justice education is a viable alternative to reach out to all participants with equity towards construction of democracy. In this chapter, the authors share about their co-teaching experience in a required Multicultural Education course for pre-service teachers where a social justice framework guided their work. They expand on the course objectives and their social justice aims. They describe how their praxis was conducive to building community in the classroom and being with each other. They expose and explore, however, a misalignment between theory and praxis surrounding social justice education when preservice teachers transition from teacher preparation programs to their own classrooms as practicing teachers. They describe through the concrete experience of one of the authors how practicing teachers are faced with different particular variables that may hinder the full realization of a social justice approach to education.

Solidifying Cultural Prisms of Teacher Preparation Programs: A Foreign?born African American Voice to Honor Accountability

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean S. Warner
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Colleges Of Education ◽  
Responsive Teaching ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Preparation Programs

There are countless Schools and Colleges of Education around the country touting strong commitments to cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD), culturally responsive teaching, and multicultural education in their teacher?preparation programs; however, we are still seeing critical masses of graduates from these programs teach (and assess learning) in ways inconsistent with the aforementioned ideals. This article uses my life?experiences to inform and discuss what the core foci of teacher?preparation programs should be in rapidly changing P?12 environments.

Beyond Damage-Centered Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogy for Teacher Educators and Preservice Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Dorinda J. Carter Andrews ◽  
Tashal Brown ◽  
Bernadette M. Castillo ◽  
Davena Jackson ◽  
Vivek Vellanki
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Humanizing Pedagogy

Background/Context In our best efforts to increase preservice teachers’ critical consciousness regarding the historical and contemporary inequities in the P–12 educational system and equip them to embody pedagogies and practices that counter those inequities, teacher educators often provide curricular and field experiences that reinforce the deficit mindsets that students bring to the teacher education classroom. For many social justice-oriented teacher educators, our best intentions to create humanizing experiences for future teachers can have harmful results that negatively impact preservice teachers’ ability to successfully teach culturally diverse students in a multitude of learning contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this article, we propose a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that is informed by our experiences as K–12 teachers and teacher educators in a university-based teacher preparation program. We focus on the general questions, How can university-based teacher preparation programs embody and enact a humanizing pedagogy? and What role can curriculum play in advancing a humanizing pedagogy in university-based teacher preparation programs? Research Design In this conceptual article, we theorize a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education and propose a process of becoming asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented teachers. This humanizing pedagogy represents a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning in the teacher preparation classroom. Conclusions/Recommendations We propose core tenets of a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that represent an individual and collective effort toward critical consciousness for preservice teachers and also for teacher educators. If university-based teacher education programs are committed to cultivating the development of asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented preservice teachers, the commitments to critical self-reflection, resisting binaries, and enacting ontological and epistemological plurality need to be foundational to program structure, curricula alignment, and instructional practice.

Disability as a Social Justice Imperative

2020 ◽  
pp. 210-226
Author(s):  
Adam Moore
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Education Act

Educators in the United States have the legal obligation to ensure that students with disabilities are given equitable access to an education. Under the Individuals with Education Act (2004), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), individuals with disabilities cannot be discriminated against based on their disability and must be provided the same educational opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts. While most teacher preparation programs as well as educators in higher education are knowledgeable of these laws, there is a striking absence of learning about the historical implication of segregation, abuse, and maltreatment of individuals with disabilities that led to these laws being enacted. Most teacher preparation programs do not teach future educators about the history regarding disability rights and the social construct of disability. This chapter will present the major theoretical and historical movements in the disability rights movement, as well as the practical implications for educators today.

scholarly journals Beyond Ethnic Tidbits: Toward a Critical and Dialogical Model in Multicultural Social Justice Teacher Preparation

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Convertino
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Social Justice Education ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Practitioner Research ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Key Features

This praxis article outlines the value of using a critical and dialogical model (CDM) to teach multicultural social justice education to pre-service teachers. Based on practitioner research, the article draws on the author’s own teaching experiences to highlight how key features of CDM can be used to help pre-service teachers move beyond thinking about multicultural education as ethnic tidbits. Illustrative examples of CDM-in-use demonstrate that  learning about multicultural social justice education is a social and developmental process that requires teacher educators to scaffold complex ideas by using dialogical approaches to learning that incrementally build on emergent and shared knowledge.

scholarly journals Effectively Managing Bias in Teacher Preparation

2018 ◽  
pp. 146-160
Author(s):  
Natasha N. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Teacher Preparation Program ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
System A ◽  
Social Justice Teaching ◽  
K 12

This is the call for teacher preparation programs to actively incorporate an emphasis on social justice education and the development of teachers committed to creating equitable schools. Education in today's multicultural, pluralistic society must be actively concentrated on and successful at creating more just and unbiased schools for underserved students. Similar to Ladson-Billings' argument for a redefining of ‘good teaching,' there must be a redefinition of that which constitutes social justice teaching. It is the role of today's teacher preparation programs to equip teachers with the essential skills necessary to develop students, manage bias, and create a culture of equity for all. Particularly as it relates to the education, understanding, cultivation, and development of all students in the K-12 school system, a required component of every teacher preparation program must be an increased focus on teaching that is comprehensive, socially just, and impartial.

Disability as a Social Justice Imperative

2022 ◽  
pp. 13-29
Author(s):  
Adam Moore
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Education Act

Educators in the United States have the legal obligation to ensure that students with disabilities are given equitable access to an education. Under the Individuals with Education Act (2004), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), individuals with disabilities cannot be discriminated against based on their disability and must be provided the same educational opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts. While most teacher preparation programs as well as educators in higher education are knowledgeable of these laws, there is a striking absence of learning about the historical implication of segregation, abuse, and maltreatment of individuals with disabilities that led to these laws being enacted. Most teacher preparation programs do not teach future educators about the history regarding disability rights and the social construct of disability. This chapter will present the major theoretical and historical movements in the disability rights movement, as well as the practical implications for educators today.

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