Navigating social justice literacies: the dynamics of teacher beliefs in teaching for social justice

Abstract

Social justice and equity have become indispensable to the critical lexicon of education scholars around the globe. By combining a theory of teaching for social justice with complexity theory perspectives, this study explores South Korean elementary teachers’ beliefs about social justice teaching in relation to practices and contexts. By analyzing the data collected from interviews and observations, the findings illuminate the dynamics of teachers’ beliefs in social justice teaching, with focus on dilemmas caused by (1) tensions within the individual teachers’ beliefs about what one should know and be able to do to promote social justice and (2) tensions between the teachers’ beliefs in social justice teaching and the given contexts. The findings also suggest that a democratic school context and teacher reflections collectively contribute to building a more integrative view on social justice teaching. By connecting the teachers’ unique experiences of being involved in social justice teaching with existing scholarship across nations, recommendations for teacher education, national curriculum, and education policies are provided.