Constructing Meanings of Equity and Social Justice: Critical Discourse Analysis in Comparative International Teacher Education Research

• In Event: Teacher Education and Comparative and International Education: Exploring the Symbiotic Relationship between Two Scholarly Fields

Proposal

This paper explores the possibilities and limitations for developing comparative international education (CIE) research on teacher education using methodologies and analytical frameworks which foreground dialogue and discursive practice using socio-cultural and constructivist interpretations of social interaction. Traditionally, teacher education research in comparative and international education has focused on teacher education policies, curricula, and practice (Afdal, 2019). Following these lines, much of the current comparative international education research on teacher education can be distinguished in one of two strands: the first dealing with sociological perspectives on teacher education as a function of the organization of education systems and policies within nation-states, the second with psychological, behavioral or psycho-linguistic perspectives research on teaching and learning as a phenomenon of human beings across cultures. These sociological and psychological approaches to the study of teacher education in comparative and international education typically follow realist and interpretivist ontological frameworks to describe, explore, explain and evaluate processes and outcomes in teacher education across contexts.
Recently, scholars using the constructivist paradigm and discursive methods have made in-roads in comparative research in teacher education. Perhaps the most successful of these entrances has been made in CIE policy studies, where critical discourse analysis has been used to make textual analysis related to, for example, disability discourses in education policy documents. This paper explores the possibilities and limitations for developing comparative international education research on teacher education using methodologies and analytical frameworks which foreground dialogue and discursive practice using socio-cultural and constructivist interpretations of human social interaction. Using data from a comparative study of the dialogues between teacher educators and pre-service teachers in social justice-oriented teacher education programs in Finland in California, the paper identifies localized discourses about equality and social justice. The paper maps these discourses onto local discussions about what education means in society and the role of teachers in promoting social justice.

Author

• Crystal Green, HundrED.org