‘I can’t unsee what I’ve seen:’ Doing Social Justice Pedagogy in the research methods classroom

ABSTRACT

Discourse surrounding social justice pedagogy (SJP) as a means of addressing the historic inequities in education is increasing in education research. Qualitative research, however, examining experiences of educators doing SJP is still lacking, particularly in higher education. We trained three faculty instructors of undergraduate research courses in principles of SJP and several classroom activities grounded in these principles. Analysis of critically-reflexive reflections and interviews revealed four themes related to doing SJP: Intentionality; Vulnerability; Holding Tension; and Meaningful Teaching Experience. Findings provide an intrapersonal framework for doing SJP and implications for supportive learning circles and institutional support.

KEYWORDS:

• Underrepresented students
• college students
• qualitative
• research methods courses
• critical reflexivity

Acknowledgements:

Jocelyn Hermoso, Associate Professor of Social Work was an active participant in the early stages of the project; Dulce Gomez and Diana Zambrano were graduate research assistants on the project, helped develop the intervention, and served as the role model guest speakers in the classes, as Latinx women in the academy. Lisa Slattery, an undergraduate research assistant, helped with the collection of weekly reflections and literature reviews. Student research assistant, Fidel Hinojosa transcribed the faculty interviews. We wish to acknowledge our funder: SF BUILD, Enhancing the Diversity of the NIH Funded Workforce, Grant # 1UL1GM118985 and particularly the PI, Leticia Márquez-Magaña for her encouragement and support of our project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declarations of interest

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.