Public schools should be places where students from diverse backgrounds come together to strengthen their knowledge and skills to maximize their human potential and become active citizens in a vibrant democracy. However, U.S. educators are living in increasingly polarizing times where, as of January 2023, 18 states have passed legislation that bans or restricts how concepts, such as race and equity, are taught in schools, prohibiting complex discussions of systemic injustice (Schwartz, 2023). Book banning and rejecting courses that educate students about African American history (Kim, 2023; Limbong, 2022) reflect the pugnacious state of the current American public classroom. While restrictive legislation of this nature and to this degree may not be prominent across the globe, discussions of “woke education” are occurring in parts of Europe (Cammaerts, 2022). When laws prohibit important social, historical, and political discussions in classrooms in any country, democracy is threatened.  

In the context of a heightened politically polarizing time in the US, it is imperative to understand how teachers committed to social justice education (SJE) navigate the complexity of their work. The purpose of our study is to examine the experiences of 17 justice-oriented educators within one school district in the state of New Hampshire, where a law banning the teaching of “divisive concepts” was passed in 2021, as they teach and lead in contentious times. The following research questions guide the study: 1) What supports teachers' commitment to socially just teaching when they encounter opposition to their work? 2) In what ways do these supports operate as protective factors for the teachers' personal and professional wellbeing? We deliberately use the term protective factors because there are forces (e.g., the law, hostility from the community) that threaten the integrity of their practice, and their students’ learning and wellbeing. This study addresses ECER’s conference theme in that it helps us to understand how educators enact SJE in a time of uncertainty, igniting hope and empowering other educators to take part in educating for greater justice. 

We draw on the literature related to social justice education and social justice leadership (SJL) to inform the study. Chubbock and Zembylas (2008) define SJE as, “a teacher’s effort to transform policies and enact pedagogies that improve the learning and life opportunities of typically underserved students while equipping and empowering them to work for a more socially just society themselves” (p. 284). As Chubbock and Zembylas (2008) note the focus of SJE is to “improve the learning... of underserved students.” However, often overlooked is another vital part of SJE—the significance and necessity of SJE for privileged students to engender change (Swalwell, 2013). Challenging inequality in these communities must also be part of the larger SJE project (Author, 2021; Swalwell 2013). This is especially important to consider in the current study which takes place in a predominantly white and wealthy district.  

An extension of SJE is SJL, which is carried out by leaders who “make issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other historically and currently marginalizing conditions in the United States central to their advocacy, leadership, practice, and vision” (Theoharis, 2007, p. 223). SJL is a pivotal piece in the educational equity project and goes beyond simply recognizing injustice to interrogating conditions that perpetuate marginalization and supporting justice-oriented change efforts in schools through policy and practice (Flores & Bagwell, 2021; Theoharis & Haddix, 2011). 

The findings from this study indicate the kinds of support that bolstered educators’ determination and ability to persist in justice-oriented teaching. The findings offer guidance for educational leaders and educators who face similar challenges to their social justice commitments in communities across the globe.

South Adams School District (SASD) is located in a progressive leaning town in New Hampshire, a small, politically divided state in the U.S. Two thousand students attend its four schools—two elementary, one middle, and one high school. The district serves mostly white students and a small percentage of students of color. Only 5% of students come from low-income households. We selected this district because Author had been working with them to facilitate professional learning opportunities as one part of their larger anti-racist and justice-oriented goals.  Critical ethnographic principles informed the methodological decisions of this study. In this tradition, emancipation and transformation of inequality is a core goal (Carspecken, 1996; Grbich, 2012). An underlying assumption in our research is the current political and cultural state of the U.S. silences the voices and practices of educators, especially those with goals to expose privilege and unequal power relations. Fourteen teachers and three administrators with various years of teaching experience agreed to participate. Of the 17 participants, two were educators of color and the other 15 identified as white. We wanted to gain a broad understanding of the organization and therefore, deliberately selected participants from various backgrounds to gain an emic perspective, exploring this district culture from the inside (Carspecken, 1996; Spradley, 1980; Wolcott, 1990).   Interviews, field notes, and documents were data collected over a 10-month period. All participants were interviewed twice with semi-structured protocols that asked open-ended questions focused on understanding a birds-eye view of justice-oriented and anti-racist work in the SASD and larger community, as well as their own commitments related to practice and leadership. We observed over 15 justice-oriented events (e.g., school-based professional learning communities). Three researchers engaged in a thematic analysis using a block and file approach (Grbich, 2012) initially to keep large excerpts intact. First, we read the 34 total interviews, highlighting instances where participants talked about feeling supported in the district. Second, we met as a research team to group and discuss similar kinds of support and wrote descriptive comments about our initial groupings. Analyzing field notes and documents helped us to gain a holistic view of the setting and corroborate our interview data. We refined our themes in an iterative manner until we reached consensus on key findings. Throughout the analysis process, we kept a research log to record ideas, wonderings, and possible themes. 

Despite the teachers’ personal lives feeling threatened and experiencing fear of professional repercussions (Authors, under review), they spoke at length about the means and opportunities that support them through justice-oriented teaching in contentious times. We report on five interconnected kinds of support: Community-oriented supports are efforts to protect educators’ social justice work by engaging community members in learning and solidarity-building events. Connecting with the local community helps educators feel that they are not alone or unsupported in their efforts and strengthens their ability to persist. Declarative supports are bold, outward-facing statements and actions that assert the significance of SJE. These declarations may place the individual or institution at risk, yet they continue to persist bravely despite being criticized. While our data points to mostly the superintendent engaging in declarative support for the SASD, school board members and teachers outwardly reaffirmed their efforts to work toward greater justice.  Structural support refers to school or district-wide policies and procedures put in place to provide the organization with a framework for decision-making related to teaching and interactions with families. Educators explained that they use their district’s anti-racism, transgender, and controversial topics policies as they teach and lead in contentious times.  Legal support refers to counsel provided by an attorney that gives insight into the possibilities and limitations of teachers' instructional practice within the new constraints of divisive concepts legislation (DCL). This legal counsel aims to empower and protect teachers by providing a level of clarity surrounding the law and how it directly impacts their practice. Instructional support includes professional learning opportunities and experiences within the district and individual schools that strengthens teachers' development and enactment of SJE. These continual opportunities to learn allowed educators to deepen their knowledge and their instructional strategies to sustain their justice-oriented commitments. 

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