Social Justice
A Transformative Model –
Education for Democracy and Equality
Sheila Landers Macrine, Ph.D.
New Jersey City University
April 16, 2010
Social Justice is…
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The practice of promoting and
protecting human rights and
responsibilities, with a particular
emphasis on the economic and social
rights of society’s most vulnerable
groups - Human Rights Resource Center
What is at issue?
“Large numbers of new teachers
describe themselves as distinctly
underprepared for the challenges of
dealing with the ethnic and racial
diversity that they find in the classroom at
a time when many schools
have increasingly varied populations.”
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National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, and Public Agenda, 2008
So, Why does preparing teachers for
diversity matter?
• a civic responsibility
• a moral responsibility
• the future of public
education is at stake
• the sociopolitical
context demands it
It matters because, in spite of it all,
good teaching can help…
“what teachers
know and do is one
of the most
important
influences on what
students learn”
(National Commission on Teaching and
America’s Future, 1996)
Reality of our Schools
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37 million Americans in poverty
13% of America’s children are in poverty
60% of lunches served in school are free or reduced
price
Viewpoints in schools are Eurocentric and
monocultural
Produces racism and prejudice skin color, age,
religion, physical and mental disabilities, sexual
discrimination
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Some Questions we might
ask…
What does teaching for social justice really
mean?
Can American schools educate all students
in a social/ equitable educational
environment?
How can academically rigorous, antiracist,
critical, and pro-justice teaching be
grounded in the lives of students and?
Why is it necessary to explore in detail the
dynamics of the multiple forms of
oppression? [ableism, ageism, classism,
homophobia, racism, sexism]
When does Social Justice Begin?
It begins when the
Socially Dormant Conscience Awakens
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The path to social justice begins with gaining passion
for the plight of non-privileged, underperforming students.
We need to ask ourselves:
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Who tends to be privileged?
What does it mean to be privileged in this way?
Who tends to be marginalized?
What does it mean to be marginalized in this way?
Ways we tend to deny that privilege is occurring?
What happens in the classroom?
How can we take action in the classroom to
interrupt these cycles of oppression?
Richard A. McCormick, S.J. (1999). The Social Responsibility of the Christian. Blueprint for Social Justice LII(11), 1.]
It can also begin with
conversations among faculty
and students by…
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Creating a “safe” but not
“comfortable” space
Engaging in “dangerous
discourse”
Sharing experiences through
collaborative readings, research,
program planning
Social Justice
embodies essential
principles of equity
and access to all
opportunities in
society in
accordance with
democratic
principles and
respect for all
persons and points
of view.
Many of our National Teacher
Associations
Believe in and are committed to
teaching for social justice, defined
as
improving the learning of all pupils
and enhancing their life chances.
For Example……
The American Educational Research
Association (AERA) Social Justice Mission
Statement
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As an elaboration of its general research mission, AERA commits:
to promote diversity and inclusiveness in AERA;
to promote social justice principles and policies in the conduct of
education research; that is, in funding of research and training;
to promote activities that foster a diverse community of education
researchers; and
to disseminate and promote the use of research knowledge and
stimulate interest in research on social justice issues related to
education.
AERA-Adopted in June 2004, Reaffirmed January 2006
NCTM, 2000 Social
Justice Statement
The vision of equity in mathematics
education challenges a pervasive
societal belief in North America that
only some students are capable of
learning mathematics.
THE NCTM’s
first Standards document
(1989, p. 4) asserted that
:
“The social injustices of past schooling practices can no
longer be tolerated.”
Unfortunately, some inequities persist in varying degrees
and forms.
For example, public schools in heavilyminority neighborhoods are less likely to
be well-funded or have teachers who are
highly qualified or certified in the subject
they are assigned to teach math (Flores, 2008).
National Science Education
Standards
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The eight categories of national science
education standards reflect a new emphasis
on the themes of constructivist approaches,
diversity, and social justice common
throughout the education reform movement.
National Association for the
Education of Young Children’s
Depth of
Commitment to Inclusion and Diversity includes:
Equity and justice concerns
Antibias approaches to
early childhood
Cultural Competence
Extensive opportunities to
consider and apply
Ethical values of caring,
justice, and equity
NAECY’S Recommends
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Targeting the population of 4-8 years old
Increase tolerance and respect among cultures
Decrease achievement gap
Promote Multicultural Education and Social
Justice that emphasizes addressing social
questions and a quest to create a better society
and worldwide democracy.
It also focuses on a curriculum that
highlights social reform as the aim
of education.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Ideological Societal Goals
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Increase tolerance and respect for one
another’s cultures
Close the educational achievement gap
Recognize and promote recognition of
inequities to empower our students so
that they can empower those around
them
What is the role of higher
education?
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Promoting teaching as a career within the academy
Providing more enriching course work, both in the
arts and sciences and in education
Creating rigorous criteria for entering the profession but not just GPAs or passing scores on certification
tests
Vigorously recruiting underrepresented populations,
both faculty and students
Partnering with community colleges
Partnering with urban schools
 To recruit students
 For professional development
The Goal of a Social Justice
Agenda
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Ana-Maria Villegas (2007) states, the “overriding
goal of the social justice agenda in teacher
education is to prepare teachers who can teach all
students well, not just those traditionally well
served by schools, so that as adults, all are able
to participate in the economic and political life of
the country.”
AND that “teachers...have a moral and ethical
responsibility to teach all their pupils, fairly and
equitably.”
Teaching for Social Justice
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Challenging deficit perspectives and
promoting affirming views of diverse
students is a precursor to building
teacher candidates’ disposition to teach
all students equitably” (Villegas, 2007).
The use of culturally relevant pedagogy
can be used as a mechanism for
teaching for social justice.
Curriculum can
include:
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Lessons on oppression, unfairness,
power & inequity
Explore family history to create parent
involvement
Assessments that are appropriate for
diversity
Adopting a Culturally Responsive
Curriculum
Use funds of knowledge of students
We Know Teacher Dispositions
Affect Student Learning and
Classroom Teaching
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Taylor and Wasicsko (2000) claimed that “there is a
significant body of research indicating that
teachers’ attitudes, values and beliefs about
students…strongly influence the impact they will
have on student learning and development”
“Dispositions are in the long run, more important
than knowledge and skills” (Wilkerson, 2006).
‘Surface’ Thinking
(“Ostrich” Approach)
Value-free education
•Value-free
education (i.e., view that education is neutral; reinforces the
status-quo).
•Equality (i.e., color blindness & culture blindness; assumes all students are
treated in the same way; assumes assimilation to a dominant (“mainstream”)
culture.
•Labeling,
sorting, and tracking students (i.e., deficit model for lowest
tracks; remedial, watered-down curriculum prevails; low expectations).
•
Teacher-centered (i.e., Freire’s “banking model”; “sage on the stage”;
prescriptive teaching methodologies; focuses on knowledge of content).
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Learning about “Other cultures” (i.e., “we vs. they”; heroes and
holidays approach; characteristics and privileges of dominant groups are invisible
and unexamined).
•Rhetorical
intent and narrow outcomes (i.e., adequate yearly
progress; only English-language standardized tests scores “count”; a narrow
definition (autonomous models) of literacy).
Social Justice Thinking
Transformative Education
•Transformative
education (i.e., Education is part of the political-social
process; education reflects social ideologies).
•Equity (i.e., Conviction to and belief in equitable treatment; takes into account
students of diverse races, genders, social classes, languages and cultures; critical
of inequality and marginalizations)..
•Equal
educational opportunities for all children (i.e., Belief that all
children can achieve to full potential; provides access to challenging academic
curriculum; inclusive).
•
Student -centered (i.e., critical pedagogy, reflective practice, teachers as
students/ students as teachers; focuses content & process).
Critically examining Culture, including my own and how they
come to be. (i.e., Deep reflection regarding assumptions, values, beliefs;
•
critically examines “whiteness”.)
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Broad outcomes and multiple assessments (i.e., Follows students’
growth from where they started; solutions oriented after identifying a problem; builds
coalitions through valuing and integrating families).
We already believe in Teaching
for Social Justice
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New Jersey City University strives to ensure
that all teacher candidates are prepared to
teach a diverse student population from a
multicultural and global perspective. We also
strive to foster a culture of awareness and
acceptance among our faculty and students that
enables our students to understand the role of
diversity and equity in the teaching and learning
process.
So, how do we operationalize
a Social Justice Agenda in our
Teacher Education Programs
Learning to Teach for Social Justice--Beliefs Scale:
An Application of Rasch Measurement Principles.
Ludlow, Larry H.; Enterline, Sarah E.; Cochran-Smith, Marilyn (2009).
Entry and Exit Survey Items
Respond to the following statements regarding your beliefs about teaching:
1. An important part of learning to be a teacher is examining one's own attitudes and
beliefs about race class, gender, disabilities, and sexual orientation.
2.
Issues related to racism and inequity should be openly discussed in the classroom.
3R . For the most part, covering multicultural topics is only relevant to certain subject
areas, such as social studies and literature.
4. Good teaching incorporates diverse cultures and experiences into classroom lessons and
discussions.
5R. The most important goal in working with immigrant children and English
language learners is that they assimilate into American society.
6R. It's reasonable for teachers to have lower classroom expectations for students
who don't speak English as their first language,
7. Part of the responsibilities of the teacher Is to challenge school arrangements
that maintain societal inequities.
8. Teachers should teach students to think critically about government positions
and actions.
9R. Economically disadvantaged students have more to gain in schools because
they bring less to the classroom,
lOR. Although teachers have to appreciate diversity, it's not their job
to change society.
11R. Whether students succeed in school depends primarily on how hard they
work,
12R. Realistically, the job of a teacher is to prepare students for the lives they ar
likely to lead.
Note. Likert-type rating scale for responses: 1 = strongly disagree: 2 = disagree; 3 = uncertain: 4 =agree: S
strongly agree. R denotes reverse-scored items.
Measiirement
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"There is no such thing as a neutral education
process. Education either functions as an
instrument which is used to facilitate the
integration of generations into the logic of the
present system and bring about conformity to it,
or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom’, the
means by which men and women deal critically
with reality and discover how to participate in
the transformation of their world."
—Jane Thompson, drawing on Paulo Freire
PAULO FREIRE
It is impossible to talk of
respect for students, for the
dignity that is in the process of
coming to be, for the identities
that are in the process of
construction, without taking
into consideration the
conditions in which they are
living and the importance of the
knowledge derived from life
experience, which they bring
with them to school. I can in no
way underestimate such
knowledge. Or what is worse,
ridicule it.”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom,
1998
The need for social justice in public
education is so important at all levels
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Social justice is firmly embedded in multicultural
education, and teachers are encouraged to work
for social change in their classrooms, schools, and
communities. -Sonia Neito
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The act of learning to read and write has to start
from a very comprehensive understanding of the
act of reading the world, something which human
beings do before reading the words.
-Paulo Freire
Sonia Nieto
Professor of Education
at University of
Massachusetts,
Amherst, MA
QUESTIONS??