Socially Just Praxis in Graduates of an Urban Teacher Preparation Program: A Longitudinal Study

• In Event: 61.053 - Strengthening Urban Teachers: Social Justice, Activism, and Ideologically Aligned Professional Communities

Abstract

This interpretive study investigated how 12 graduates from a justice-oriented teacher preparation program conceptualize and practice socially just teaching after 4-5 years of teaching in high-poverty urban schools. Data sources included field notes and video recordings taken during 10-15 hours of classroom observations and interviews with the teachers, their students, and a supervisor. Data analysis revealed that while all of the teachers demonstrated high academic and behavioral expectations, emotional warmth, and culturally responsive teaching methods, only four were engaged in the advocacy and activism associated with structurally oriented socially just teaching. Factors in and out of teacher preparation that encourage a more structurally oriented teaching praxis are explored and implications for teacher education are discussed.

Authors

• Joan L. Whipp, Marquette University

• Dawn Rinehart, Marquette University

• Sheri Hanson, Marquette University