The Social Justice Core Practices of Philadelphia Educators: A Modified Delphi Study

Abstract

To live justice-oriented commitments in teaching practice, approaches spanning Social Justice Teacher Education, the Core Practice Movement, and Context-specific Teacher Preparation might dovetail by identifying “social justice core practices” (SJCPs) novices learn to enact. At the intersection of the situated and critical perspectives underlying these three approaches, this study investigates the SJCPs of Philadelphia educators and how they characterize their contextuality. A modified Delphi study drawing on the expertise of 27 local social justice educators revealed group consensus on 13 SJCPs. Further qualitative analysis surfaced four patterns related to contextuality: SJCPs as responses to macrosociopolitical inequities, manifesting critical praxis; the role of school, district, and professional constraints; the need to situate and adapt SJCPs for the subject area and grade level; and the inseparability of identity and positionality from enactment. From this site-specific approach positioning local educators as experts, implications for teacher education’s role in shaping a more justice-oriented profession are discussed.