"I'm not worried if I'm getting in trouble": How Middle Grades Teacher Candidates Imagine Social Justice Teaching

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Tension and Transformation: Preparing Teachers for Justice in a Divided World

Abstract

Drawing on a framework of socially just teaching (Cochran-Smith, 2004), this qualitative case study examines the experiences of teacher candidates' understanding and enactment of socially just teaching practices in ELAR/SS clinical teaching placements. Findings indicate that teacher candidates rooted their teaching philosophies in social justice, but felt hindered within systems that standardized curricula in response to legislation. In states where the autonomy of educators is being challenged directly by legislative interference, teacher preparation programs must prepare educators to navigate complex policies in order to enact socially just practices within the classroom, particularly as it relates to liberatory curricular development.

Author

• Samantha Leihsing, University of Texas - San Antonio