Promoting socially just schools through professional learning: lessons from four US principals in rural contexts (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Study of Rural High School Principals’ Perceptions as a Social Justice Leader
Administrative Issues Journalst, 2017
This multisite case study explores how rural principals in high poverty schools in a Southern state that had identified themselves as social justice leaders perceived student diversity, specifically LGBTQ students, and how they sustained a socially-just school climate for all students. Using a qualitative approach lent itself to understanding the principals' descriptions of themselves as social justice leaders in their respective school and community contexts through their conversations (Creswell, 2007; Marshall & Rossman, 2016). The investigators drew from Theoharis' (2007, 2009) and Bishop's (2012) studies to serve as the theoretical framework guiding this study. The results indicated that the principals in this case study struggled with recognizing LGBTQ students' needs and well-being. The findings in this study contain implications for preservice preparation and in-service professional development programs to draw upon social justice leadership theory and research to inform leadership practices when addressing external and internal resistance. Moreover, this study recognizes the need for leadership preparation programs to integrate critical self-consciousness (Freire, 2000) with purposeful reflection (Webster-Smith, 2011) as essential to the development of the social justice leader.
Teachers College Record, 2010
Background/Context: A group of educators have demonstrated success not only with White middle-class and affluent students but also with students from varied racial, socioeconomic, linguistic, ability, and cultural backgrounds. A reoccurring theme from these schools and from the literature on school change is that exemplary leadership helps create the necessity for change and helps make the realities of change happen. More specifically, leaders at these schools where students traditionally marginalized are thriving come to administration with a commitment, or larger "call," to focus their leadership on issues of equity and justice. Purpose: Scholars and administrators alike have called for "constructive models" of this kind of leadership. This article provides examples of these accomplishments in practice. It also provides insight into the realities of leading for social justice by revealing what principals sought to accomplish and how they approached that work. Participants: This article focuses on 6 principals-2 elementary, 2 middle, and 2 high school-who (1) led a public school, (2) possessed a belief that promoting social justice is a driving force behind what brought them to their leadership position, (3) advocated, led, and kept at the center of their practice/vision issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and/or other historically marginalizing conditions, and (4) had evidence to show that their work has produced a more just school. Research Design: The qualitative study in which these analyses are grounded used a positioned subject approach. The method of data collection took place over one school year and included in-depth interviews with the principals, a review of documents and materials, site visits, discussions/interviews with school staff, a detailed field log, and a group meeting of the principal participants. This article is a focused discussion of aspects of a larger study, using the principals' voices to illustrate key themes.
Teacher professionalism and social justice
Tikly, L & Barrett, AM (Eds) Education Quality and Social Justice in the Global South: Policy, Practice and Research, London: Routledge., 2013
Teachers work in the context of new and continuing global challenges that affect their own living and working conditions as well as the lives of their students. In order to offer learners a quality education that promotes social justice, teachers need to be enabled to think and act as professionals. They also need to be critically aware of social justice issues affecting themselves and their learners. We apply a conceptual framework for professional self-identity to examine the extent to which teachers are able to act professionally in contexts where many learners are disadvantaged. Amongst other conditions, inclusive teacher training and effective legal and political representation for teachers are identified as essential for enabling teachers to teach for social justice.
2021
This case study explores an urban elementary school principal’s efforts to advance reflective and anti-oppressive practices to counter teachers’ beliefs and behaviors toward their Black male students. Data collected and analyzed include five in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations of the school, classroom and professional learning meetings, and document analysis of policies, improvement plans, and weekly faculty agenda. The findings revealed that data-informed leadership was the impetus to the principal enacting social justice leadership, which involved anchoring systemic professional learning opportunities to teachers’ core values and beliefs and developing the collective consciousness of teachers individually and collectively. Lastly, the principal utilized strategies and instituted structures in and outside of the school to propel a cultural paradigm shift in how students in general, and Black males in particular, were served and cared for. Implications for principal professional learning and educational leadership preparation programs are shared. This article offers recommendations on how social justice leaders can coach teachers and advance practices that engender respect and dignity for Black male students.
Equity & Excellence in Education, 2007
The purpose of this ethnographic study is to examine how a commitment to socially just pedagogies influences the core practices and policies of a school. This article presents a comprehensive description and analysis of two public middle schools committed to teaching for social justice: Urban Promise Academy and San Francisco Community School. From this exploratory research, I construct a school-wide model of teaching for social justice consisting of three central components: the integration of issues of social justice across the curriculum, the use of socially just teaching practices, and the creation of a socially just school community. This research further discusses the requirements and challenges of teaching for social justice in U.S. public schools. I argue for progressive educators to adopt practical, practitioner-oriented models of schooling, such as the one presented in this article in order to more effectively advocate for school reform.
Rethinking teachers’ production of social justice in rural schools
2018
In this article I examine how teachers in a rural school in Australia produce social justice through their everyday teaching practices. Drawing on data from a qualitative study using focus groups and semi-structured interviews, I focus on teachers’ enactments of social justice pedagogies amidst social class divisions in the community. I draw on Iris Marion Young’s theory of justice to illustrate how a plural social justice education that includes teaching practices that create a relational process between teachers and students should be based on a politics of distribution, recognition and participation. In particular, I am concerned with Young’s formulation of plural social justice and democratic communication, and with her theorisation that issues of self-respect, self-determination and participation are not reducible to liberal theories of distributive justice that focus solely on the proper allocation of material goods. By rethinking the production of social justice in rural schools, I ultimately contribute to redressing the paucity of research on rural schooling in the field of education and to providing a better understanding of the relationship between a contested concept like justice and the everyday challenges faced by teachers endeavouring to deliver a quality education for all students in their school.
The Urban Review, 2013
Teaching for social justice means understanding students and advocating for them. These dispositions are especially critical for those who teach in urban communities where low-resourced schools and deficit perspectives toward students prevail. While many teacher education programs claim to prepare teachers for social justice (Zeichner in Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. Routledge, New York, 2009), it remains unclear how program graduates actually think and act according to social justice principles. This study focuses on the dispositions of three, early-career teachers in relation to Cochran-Smith's (The international handbook of educational change. Springer, New York, 2010) theory of social justice in education, and some of the background and contextual factors that shaped their ability to enact social justice teaching practices. Case studies, largely based on teachers' written narratives, reveal differences in their orientations toward: (1) caregivers, (2) students' knowledge traditions, and (3) their ability to raise students' critical consciousness. The two teachers who were most evolved in their demonstrations of social justice teaching grew up in families where service to others was highly valued. The study also demonstrates how two of the teachers managed in school contexts where scripted teaching and high stakes testing were enforced, and how these conditions factored into one teacher's departure from her position. Findings from this study indicate how teacher education and professional development programs can be strengthened to develop and support teachers' social justice orientations.
In this article, Picower and Doyle move the discussion about social justice education from the theoretical to the practical by examining how critical social issues can be integrated into the design and sequencing of lessons. Aspiring and new teachers often have a desire to engage students in issues of social justice but find themselves overwhelmed when presented with scripted curriculum, high stakes test prep, and mentors without the drive or experience of doing it themselves. This paper provides support by showing concrete points of integration between traditional curriculum design and critical social justice content. Picower, a teacher educator, illustrates how she prepares new teachers with this skill set, and Doyle, a new teacher and former student of Picower’s, showcases a unit that she implemented about poisoned water in her urban school district.