What has Pedagogy Got to do with Social Justice? Imagining and Sustaining A Socially Just and Inclusive Education: The Centrality of Teacher Beliefs and Pedagogies

• In Event: Imagination and Innovation for Sustainable Futures: Education in Challenging Times

Abstract

This paper explores the challenges to realizing a socially just education in Ireland in the context of teacher practices and beliefs about their pedagogies. Drawing on an in-depth study of pedagogies in a sample of primary and secondary schools, as well as more wide scale studies of practices with immigrant children, the paper identifies the contradictions between teachers’ beliefs and their practice, and how these vary across class, gender and immigrant status. This has implications for both quality of learning and equalities in learning in the school system Sustaining socially just pedagogies in challenging times must foreground critical engagement with issues of identity, power and practice – stepping out of the ‘comfort zone’, especially with respect to active learning, student voice, recognition and inclusion.

Authors

• Dympna Devine, University College Dublin

• Declan Fahie, University College Dublin

• Deirdre Mc Gillicuddy, University College Dublin