Developing a Social Justice Mind-Set in Preservice Teachers Within the Context of Study Abroad Programs

• In Event: Impactful Practices for Internationalizing Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
The study’s objectives were to examine: 1) how preservice teachers (PST) conceptualize social justice within the context of a college of education’s five study abroad (SA) programs; and 2) how traveling across cultural borders facilitates development of social justice mindsets in PSTs.

Theoretical Framework
To analyze and interpret data we used Cazden’s (2012) education-focused modification of Fraser’s (1997) framework for social justice founded on three dimensions: redistribution (economic: equitable distribution of resources); recognition (cultural: reclaiming knowledges/histories to overcome subordination), and representation (political: decision-making at national, community and school levels).

Data Sources
In year one, data were collected from six SA faculty and 69 PST participants; in year two, data were collected from 56 PSTs. Faculty data included questionnaires and interviews; PSTs’ data included pre-and-post questionnaires, focus group interviews and reflective journals focused on evolving understandings of social justice. We used interpretive cross-comparative analysis (Bernard, 2002) to allow for 1) differences across SA programs that were indicative of multiple approaches to social justice; and 2) deeper understandings of how various contexts, experiences and curriculum interacted in cultivating social justice-minded educators.

Results
Analyses demonstrate that PSTs perceive social justice as “equal treatment of all.” They reported that their understanding of social justice, while not fundamentally changed through SA, was deepened, and noted that requests to think about social justice framed their approach to readings and experiences. PSTs in a London SA referenced museum visits and readings related to British suffragette movements; students in Tanzania discussed the lack of material resources in the schools in which they worked; and Honduras participants noted economic disparities in housing and limited school resources. PSTs acknowledged that there was injustice everywhere and that while social, legal, and economic inequality was undeserved, it was an accident of where one was born. This provided PSTs with a counter-narrative to the meritocracy myth that if individuals work hard, they will succeed (McNamee & Miller, 2013). This understanding of causes of injustice coincided with beliefs that social justice would never be achieved because, as an accident of nature, injustice could not be prevented. By conceptualizing injustice as unavoidable, PSTs did not acknowledge how the institutions and systems, historically established, continue to preserve injustice. Lack of recognition, combined with PSTs’ feeling of helplessness in combating injustice was disempowering, which may influence PSTs’ ability to serve and advocate for their students. Cazden’s (2012) aspect of representation was missing in PSTs’ reported understanding of social justice.

Scholarly Significance
Within the SA literature, little work has been done articulating a coherent framework for the examination of social justice development in PSTs. This research demonstrates the applicability/potential of Cazden’s (2012) three-part framework for examining this issue within an international context. This research, exploring PSTs’ SA experiences developing teacher identities that reflect social justice aims, has implications for the improvement of communities eventually served by participating teachers as social justice-minded teachers are better equipped to work in multicultural classrooms/communities and achieve equal educational opportunity for all students (Villegas & Lucas, 2007).

Authors

• Kathryn M. Obenchain, Purdue University

• Jill Annette Newton, Purdue University

• JoAnn I. Phillion, Purdue University

• Jairo Isaac Fúnez-Flores, Purdue University