Reframing Social Justice: Tensions Experienced by Novice Teachers in an Era of High-Stakes Accountability

• In Event: Supporting a Persistent Pursuit of Social Justice in Novice Teachers

Abstract

This paper focuses on specific tensions in relation to social justice and education, addressing the research question: How do early career teachers within high poverty schools reconcile their beliefs about social justice in the light of recent pressures put upon them to produce test-based outcomes for their students? The paper is underpinned by research on teacher education targeting poverty (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005) as well as critical analyses of what is now counted as equity and social justice, and how these changes are measured and re-articulated (Lingard, Sellar and Savage 2014). The theoretical positioning of the paper situates equity/social justice as mediated by a range of social, cultural and organizational contexts within high poverty schools.

Authors

• Bruce Munro Burnett, Queensland University of Technology

• Jo Lampert, Queensland University of Technology