Advocacy as Identity Work: A Sociocultural Reframing of Teachers' Advocacy for Students

• In Event: The Consequences of Teacher-Student Relationships Across Academic Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores ways of broadening the definition of teacher advocacy for students, looking at advocacy as situated and sociocultural and interconnected with student identity development. When considering how to teachers advocate on behalf of students in public education, it is important, as educators, that a) we highlight the identities of the youth we serve and advocate for, b) we understand and recognize the histories upon which inequities and injustices exist, and c) we attune to and support the specific interactional nature in which advocacy exists. This paper highlights advocacy adjacent research that may help present a more expansive perspective on advocating for youth. The paper concludes with a summary of design principles for reframing advocacy.

Author

• Gavin Tierney, California State University - Fullerton