Dismantling the Panopticon of Education: Toward Preparing Social Justice Teachers of Subject Matter

• In Event: Centering the Psychological Experiences of Pre- and In-Service Teachers Across Contexts and Social Identities

Abstract

Objectives and Framework
With the growing population of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students, teacher educators must prepare teachers to meet the needs of all learners (Bissonnette, 2016). Therefore, preparing teachers to educate culturally diverse students has become a paramount focus in teacher education. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) need consistent opportunities to engage in critical reflection, view diverse populations of students from an asset-based perspective, and learn about how social justice issues pervade classrooms and also subject-matter (Dyches & Boyd, 2017). Therefore, the need to embed social justice in teacher preparation is an urgent and critical need. This qualitative design-based study utilized the Social Justice Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (SJPACK) (Dyches & Boyd, 2017) and Ambitious Teaching (AT) (Lampert & Graziani, 2009) frameworks to design a Masters-level education course at a U.S. Midwestern university that promotes critical reflection and culturally responsive subject-matter teaching as a means to develop PSTs’ cognitive beliefs on teaching subject matter from a critical lens.

RQ1: What do preservice teachers’ reflections reveal about how they are developing as a social justice educator?

RQ1a: What do their reflections reveal about how they are developing as a social justice educator within their subject-matter domain?

RQ2: How do preservice teachers demonstrate a critical perspective about practical education dilemmas?

RQ2a: How do they conceptualize this critical perspective when applying it to education dilemmas within their subject-matter domain?

Method
Throughout the course, PSTs (N = 8) representing five content areas (mathematics, English, science, social studies, and foreign language), participated in case study analyses, case writing and journal reflection writing. These assignments were analyzed inductively using critical content analysis (Short, 2016) and constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to determine their development as social justice educators of subject-matter and how they demonstrate a critical perspective when unpacking educational dilemmas (Gorski & Pothini, 2018). During the study, PSTs completed their field experience; a vital context in considering how their experiences in schools juxtaposed with the course content may have influenced their beliefs and ability to develop a critical perspective.

Results and Significance
Figure 1 provides a summary of the findings. Connected to the reflection box are four lines leading to the main categories that participants reflected on and themes that emerged across the participants because they were mentioned frequently or seemed influence their cognitive beliefs. The themes summarized at the bottom of Figure 1 emerged from analyzing the critical questions written by participants when unpacking dilemmas in case studies.

We expand on literature in novel and needed ways regarding the challenges teacher educators face preparing teachers to engage in critical reflection to develop the critical consciousness needed to teach diverse populations of students equitably, especially those that may not share the same culture as them (Kumar & Lauermann, 2017). Echoed in literature (Gorski & Dalton, 2020), we found that opportunities to engage in critical reflection and interrogate one’s cognitive beliefs, aid in the development of a critical consciousness that PSTs can apply to dilemmas and problematize the subject matter.

Author

• Amerah Archer, Toledo Public Schools