From Theory to Practice: How Apprentice Teachers Learn to Become Social Justice Educators

• In Event: 66.030 - Multiple Meanings of "Education for Social Justice": From Knowledge to Practice in an Urban District

Abstract

Objectives. In this qualitative study, we examine how participation in a social justice-oriented urban teacher residency program shapes the evolution of apprentice (pre-service) teachers’ complex definitions and practices related to social justice over the course of a school year.
Framework. There is a movement within teacher education programs to “prepare a teaching force capable of producing equitable learning opportunities and outcomes for diverse students in the context of enduring inequalities” (Cochran-Smith et al, 2015, p. 114). While studies have looked at how programs prepare teachers to teach for social justice they tend to focus on teachers’ beliefs and few examine teacher education programs as a whole (Cochran-Smith, et al, 2015), Ladson-Billings (2001) being an exception. Furthermore, very few examine urban residency programs (Zeichner, 2010), which have emerged as hybrid spaces addressing the disconnect between campus courses and field experiences (Klein, Taylor, Onore, Strom, & Abrams, 2013). This study follows a cohort of pre-service teachers in an urban teacher residency program over the course of a school year to examine the evolution of their definitions of and practices related to social justice.
Methods. We followed six participants who were diverse in age, gender, race, ethnicity, and learning contexts (2 in elementary, 4 in secondary). We conducted classroom observations and interviews with each participant; observed university classes and PD workshops, and analyzed applications to the program, observations by advisors, and participants’ own written reflections. We identified how social justice was defined by apprentices before entering the program; presented in university coursework and orientations; represented in program documents (e.g., evaluation rubrics); and interpreted and used by the apprentices to inform practices within their classrooms.
Results. All six participants entered the program with a desire to become social justice educators. However, their definitions of what constituted social justice ranged widely, some focusing on 1) teaching as a means to transform systematic social inequality; and others on 2) the need to help all students succeed within the current educational system. Once in the program, participants quickly learned to add to their broad and sometimes transformational goals a set of values and skills for teaching the children in their own classrooms (e.g. by seeking to build relationships with students, differentiating instruction, and trying to design culturally relevant STEM lessons). All participants saw social justice education as a life-long process, yet several participants voiced a desire for a more transformational approach to social justice education within the program. These results suggest the need to provide differentiated social justice education within a teacher education program that helps address the multiple meanings of social justice in ways salient to all participants within a teacher education cohort. Significance. Findings from this study shed light onto the multiple meanings of “social justice” in education and can help inform future research about how programs can effectively prepare and support the diverse needs of aspiring social justice educators.

Authors

• Kathryn M. Anderson-Levitt, University of California - Los Angeles

• Claudia Diera, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lindsey Nenadal, University of California - Los Angeles

• Josephine Pham, University of California - Los Angeles

• Nadine Tanio, University of California - Los Angeles