Becoming Context-Strategic: Navigating the Tensions of Social Justice Curriculum Design within Teachers’ School Context

• In Event: Interpreting, Negotiating, Teaching: The Role of Teachers in Producing and Disrupting Curriculum

Abstract

This paper explores how teachers adapt their curriculum to align with social justice goals while making sense of the affordances and constraints of their shared school culture. Drawing on the concept of pedagogical design capacity, the study highlights how teachers become “context-strategic” designers as they make strategic compromises between perceived ideal and feasible curriculum adaptations to create sustainable change within their school context. It emphasizes the importance of supporting teachers in this ongoing, context-strategic process of curriculum design.

Authors

• Kierstin M. Giunco, University of Cincinnati

• Katherine L. McNeill, Boston College