Tippin' the Tightrope: Forces That Push and Pull Social Studies Teachers’ Justice-Centered Praxes

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Dismantling Harmful Systems and Structures in K-12 Settings (Table 3)

Abstract

In this study, we draw on conceptualizations of justice-centered praxes and Critical Discourse Analysis methodologies to analyze data from 195 K-12 social studies teachers in Illinois to understand the influential factors that supported their inquiry-based and justice-centered pedagogical praxes. We found that teachers experienced ecological and interpersonal forces that pushed them towards pursuing justice-centered praxes, though some of these forces also pulled them away from such aspirations. To visualize our analysis, we offer an illustrated metaphor that likens teaching social studies in the contemporary landscape to a tightrope walker’s journey between justice imagined and justice actualized. We conclude by asking readers to consider the material, political, and interpersonal ways that they might support teachers on this potentially perilous journey.

Authors

• Asif Wilson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Taylor Masamitsu