Longitudinal Study: Mapping Diverse Teacher Candidates' Evolving Definitions and Practices of Social Justice

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eleven
  In Roundtable Session: The Evolution of Educating: Pedagogies and Practices in Teacher Education (Table 5)

Abstract

This two year longitudinal study focused on the evolving conceptions and self-reported practices regarding social justice of twelve diverse teacher candidates who were enrolled at one of University of California’s teacher education programs (TEPs). The distinctive attribute of this study was to reveal how social justice conceptions and practices of teacher candidates changed between the time they entered and completed an urban-centered, social justice oriented teacher education program. The theoretical backdrop for the analysis includes the works of critical pedagogue Paulo Freire and scholarship grounded in the critical tradition. The results indicate that teacher candidates came to define and practice social justice by validating their students’ voices in the classroom.

Author

• Tatevik Mamikonyan, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author