Challenging the Dystopia: Using Critical Speculative Fiction to Augment Novice Teacher Agency Under Neoliberal Policies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum as a Site of Struggle, Collaboration, and Transformation

Abstract

This paper session examines the theoretical and pedagogical power of utilizing critical speculative fiction with preservice and in-service educators in early childhood and elementary education. The paper highlights the value of narrative as a critical pathway for imaginings and futurity, and for confronting neoliberal educational policies that undermine freedom of thought and action for students, educators, and families. Project data consisted of 66 speculative fiction stories as composed by the preservice and in-service educators, and data analysis utilized critical narrative analysis and coding. Project findings specifically address how critical speculative fiction supports educators to articulate their working definitions of equity and social justice, identify critical challenges to student and teacher agency, and acquire narrative-based techniques for imagining liberatory futures.

Authors

• Bianca Licata, San Francisco State University

• Daniel Meier, San Francisco State University