Teachers Fighting for the Good in Public Education: The Importance of Context and Collaboration in Transformational Resistance

• In Event: Transformative Resistance: Learning to Teach for Social Justice and Equity

Abstract

Little is known about new teachers who graduate from social justice-oriented teacher education programs (SJOTEPs) and go into urban classrooms. This study examined the activity of six graduates of the same SJOTEP meeting on a regular basis and how it mediated their collaboration. The group’s continual consideration of context in discussions of acts of transformational resistance and the use of the collaborative work of problem solving and planning them brought to light a more complex picture of resistance. Whereas previous charting of acts of resistance involved an individual’s overall approach to resistance, it seems to be more helpful to consider the specific context of the instance, and whether the instance was the result of individual or collaborative planning and/or action.

Author

• Nicholas Simon Henning, California State University - Fullerton