Despite advances in policy and practices in many countries to protect underrepresented groups, the oppression of these groups is still a problem in most modern societies that needs to be tackled urgently, especially in and through education. As a result of globalisation, modern classrooms have much more cultural diversity than ever. Additionally, there are stark differences in the academic achievement of students from cultural minority backgrounds and students coming from lower social classes across the world. Racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia and all other forms of oppression are still prevalent in our societies and even perpetuated by education.  Consequently, many educators and educational researchers around the world have been trying to disrupt derogatory discourses targeted at various populations such as women, racial, ethnic and linguistic groups, LGBTQ+ individuals, people lower socio-economic backgrounds, and people with disabilities through their research and praxis. While researchers and educators use various terms - such as culturally responsive teaching, culturally relevant pedagogy, multicultural education, inclusive education, anti-racist pedagogy, and many more, it is apparent that all these theoretical frameworks aim to foster social justice and inclusion in and through education.

As previously stated by Fernandez and others (2022), exposing students to issues of cultural diversity, social justice, and inclusion is not easy, and educators often encounter a wide range of challenges while trying to advocate for and teach these notions. Some educators may experience formidable emotional responses from students or intercultural conflict among their students (Tatum, 1992). Moreover, establishing trust with their students and attempting to create a safe atmosphere for open dialog about race, gender, ability and so on can be a daunting and an equally important task for practitioners (Garcia & Van Soest, 2000). Educators  are expected to critically assess their position as authority figures, question their own belief systems, implicit biases toward other groups, their privilege, and be mindful of not othering underrepresented groups by only speaking about their differences (Bell et al., 2007; Fernandez et al., 2022, hooks, 1994). They are also expected to adopt and apply a wide range of pedagogies, such as pedagogies of discomfort and empathy, to dismantle deficit ideologies regarding underrepresented groups (Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017). Moreover, there can also be institutional barriers to effective diversity-related practice. One of the most important challenges is the fact that few teachers have access to formal pre- or in-service training related to these topics (European Commission, 2017; Güven et al., 2023). Moreover, educators who openly tackle contentious issues and question established norms could find themselves dissuaded (Fernandez et al., 2022; Mitchell, 2018; Mowatt, 2019). Large class sizes, time constraints and pressure to cover the curriculum within a specific time frame may also limit educators’ devotion to issues of diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion, and social justice (Fernandez et al., 2022; Güven et al., 2023).

Institutional barriers can also hinder research endeavours around cultural diversity and social justice. These barriers can range from difficulties around securing funding and a lack of other colleagues working on the same issues to culturally evasive colleagues, a hostile sociopolitical climate, and resistance (DeMatthews & Mawhinney, 2014; Villavicencio et al., 2022). As two researchers studying these topics, we have had a number of experiences where we felt being challenged by some of these institutional and/or systemic factors. Driven by our own experiences and drawing upon the relevant literature, we aim to identify the challenges and opportunities faced by researchers and teacher educators working in the field of ‘social justice and inclusion in and through education’. By examining the difficulties and opportunities encountered in the teaching praxis, the study will also explore whether similar patterns exist in research processes.

This study employs a phenomenological research design to reveal educators’ and researchers’ experiences related to teaching and researching social justice-related issues (Creswell, 2007). The phenomenological approach was deemed suitable as this study aims to identify the experiences and perspectives of participants regarding their research and teaching. Purposeful sampling techniques were used to select the participants, specifically snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is frequently used in phenomenological research to access shared experiences within a particular group (Creswell, 2007). In this study, researchers and teacher educators with experience in ‘multicultural education’ and ‘culturally responsive teaching’ from the Turkish context were contacted via email, and they were asked to refer others with relevant expertise. As the terms ‘multicultural education’ and ‘culturally responsive teaching’ are more frequently used and studied in Turkiye, they served as the main keywords for this study. A semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection tool. The form was developed by the researchers and finalized based on expert opinions. Additionally, a pilot interview was conducted with an expert in the field of multicultural education to assess the functionality of the questions. The research data is currently being collected through face-to-face and online interviews based on participants' availability. The collected data will be analyzed using the inductive analysis method, which aims to identify categories, themes, and patterns within the data (Patton, 2018).

Expected Outcomes The findings of this study are expected to provide insights into the primary challenges and opportunities experienced by researchers and practitioners who aim to foster social justice and inclusion in and through education. These challenges and opportunities will be interpreted from academic, pedagogical, and institutional angles. The negative experiences shared by the participating researchers and teacher educators will offer a comprehensive understanding of the current state and needs of the field. The interviews may provide strong evidence that social justice-oriented practice as a learning and development platform not only for students but also for researchers and educators. The research findings are anticipated to contribute to understanding the impact of social justice education on academic research, teacher education, and classroom practices, while also guiding the development of concrete recommendations for educational policies and practices.

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