"Social Justice, What?" Why Two Equity-Oriented Teachers Critiqued Social Justice and Their Alternative Pedagogical Perspectives

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Social Justice for What? Race, (In)Equity, Teaching, and Just (Teacher) Education

Abstract

Teaching for social justice is a complex and increasingly contested concept. This qualitative case study explores the critiques of social justice made by two equity-oriented Black educators and their alternative pedagogical approach. Through analysis of data generated during teacher inquiry group meetings and interviews, it explores two themes: first, how the teachers viewed social justice discourses as dehumanizing and rooted in white saviorism; and second, their shared pedagogical orientation, centering the situated use of sociocultural knowledge to guide their teaching. This analysis draws attention to the potential harms when framing social justice discourses in the abstract, which can position children through a deficit gaze as a “project” to be fixed, while proposing implications for justice- and equity-oriented teacher education.

Author

• Laura A Taylor, Rhodes College