a.) Proposal information /Research /Questions and Theoretical Approach

At our institution of high education, we are actively engaged in following the mission of academic excellence, leadership development, and a commitment to social justice, to guide practicing teachers toward more active roles as advocates in their schools and communities. We are implementing and assessing newly revised courses that question who we are as teachers, why we continue to be complicit in systems of power which replicate injustice, and how we can work together to bring about real policy changes in our schools and in society. We are also working together with our teacher-students, to enact culturally relevant pedagogy in early childhood through secondary-level classrooms.

This session presents research on teacher preparation for teaching and learning with diverse, multicultural, and international populations, with a specific focus on incorporating social justice aims in a required teacher action research project. The research involves analyzing teachers’ proposals and final projects, analyzing the language used around social justice actions, and developing appropriate curricular supports and for fostering social justice skills.

This session asks participants to engage with the following questions, based on their own professional experience:

• How can a 3-credit teacher research course (delivered over 8-weeks or 16-weeks) be used to support social justice aims?
• Can the course require a teacher’s research topic to take a social justice perspective?
• What does a social justice perspective look like, and how can it be assessed?

Paul Gorski demonstrates how teacher action research (TAR) can be adapted to a specific focus on equity and multicultural education (Gorski, 2014):  rather than just identifying a problem or area of need in a teacher’s classroom, the teacher needs to specifically identify an inequity in their teaching environment. The teacher then evaluates “the breadth and depth of the inequity,” provides recommendations for change, and works “with the powers that be to take action and institutionalize the recommendations” (Gorski, 2014). In the conference session, data will be shared indicating that while teachers are able to identify inequities in their practice, they are often unwilling to take action and engage “with the powers that be” to make changes. Specific examples will be shared from teachers who changed their research topics in order to keep a lower profile in their practice.

Bishop Desmond Tutu (n.d.) writes, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” How do we ask teachers who may be untenured and still paying education loans, starting families and juggling multiple jobs, to be willing to risk upsetting the status quo to tackle inequities in their schools? While it is our moral imperative to address the social inequities that exist within our purviews, how do we find a balance between advocating for social justice and accepting the humanity of the teachers sitting in our own classrooms, struggling with their own needs, challenges, and agendas?

Both Mills (2013) and Hubbard and Power (2003) are currently used by our institution of higher education in demonstrating the action research cycle for teachers. Both texts advocate making improvements for students, and sharing research outcomes with fellow teachers and administrators. Neither text describes the Problem Identification stage as specifically focused on “acknowledging an inequity” (Gorski 2014). It is incumbent on faculty who prepare teachers to consider the wider ramifications of their craft – teachers affect not only their own students, but also the families and communities where they teach. Teachers also hold significant roles in institutions of social learning; our schools are vehicles for replicating or changing social thought and societal behavior.

References Gorski, P. C. (2014). Cyclical Stages of TAR for Equity and Multicultural Education. Critical Multicultural Pavilion: Teacher Action Research. Retrieved from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/tar/cycle.html. Hubbard, R.S. and Power B.M. (2003). The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher Researchers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publications Mills, Geoffrey E., (2013). Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5th Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Tutu, D. (n.d.). If there is only one message of wisdom… The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.tutufoundation-usa.org/exhibitions.html.