Justice, practice and the ‘Real World’: pre-service teachers’ critically conscious visions for teaching amid the complexities and challenges of learning to teach

Abstract

Stemming from a problem of practice in the author’s justice-oriented social foundations course, this article investigates the relationship between pre-service teachers learning critical conceptual tools about justice and equity, and the ‘problem of enactment’ of leveraging that learning in their practice. Drawing on a theoretical framework linking Social Justice Teacher Education (SJTE) and Practice-based teacher education (PBTE), this study employed practitioner research methodologies and critical qualitative research methods to explore how pre-service teachers themselves negotiated the intersection of justice and practice. Three inductive findings emerged: they conceptualized professional visions oriented toward the ‘bigger picture’; the complexities of teaching complicated living these visions in practice; and their status as novice practitioners mediated their readiness to integrate justice and practice. The article concludes with a discussion of lessons learned for connecting justice and practice in social foundations specifically, and possibilities for convergence between SJTE and PBTE more broadly.

Keywords:

• Core practices
• practitioner research
• pre-service teacher education
• social foundations of education
• social justice

Notes

Acknowledgments

The author is deeply indebted to Karen Clark, for her many years mentoring me as a justice-oriented social studies teacher and teacher educator; Sharon Ravitch, Frances Rust and Abby Reisman, for their expertise and care across the entirety of the broader research study; and Janine Remillard, Ed Brockenbrough and the members of BRR RAC, the critical friends group whose feedback vastly improved the quality and clarity of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 All names of participants in this study are pseudonyms.

2 The term ‘urban’ is ubiquitous in education, and often used in ways, which are fraught with coded racial undertones (Watson, 2011) which can merge into a dangerous ‘single story’ of ‘urban students’ and ‘urban schools.’ To this end, I have traditionally structured a portion of the very first School, Society and Self-course to interrogate conceptualizations of ‘urban’ in our ‘urban’-focused teacher program, leveraging multiple perspectives on what it means (Watson, 2011; Milner, 2012; Gordon, 2003; Wisniewski & Larson, 1973).

3 Because the teaching contexts are not at the forefront of this study, they are discussed in less depth. In the larger study (Schiera et al., 2017), they are discussed in more depth, especially as they relate to classroom teaching. Details about each school’s academic profile and demographics of students can be found in the larger study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew J. Schiera

Andrew J. Schiera, EdD, is a Social Studies Educator and Roster Chair, William L. Sayre High School, School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, USA, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Social Foundations, Urban Teaching Apprenticeship Program, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia, USA.