Towards Social Justice Through Arts and Language-Based Learning

Abstract

The Teacher Education Collaborative in Language Diversity and Arts Integration (TECLA) initiative prepares elementary teachers at a Southwest majority-minority university. TECLA emerged from a social justice commitment to prepare teachers to work in linguistically and culturally diverse schools. The program integrates interdisciplinary arts-based approaches and culturally sustaining language acquisition strategies throughout the teacher education experience. TECLA conceptualizes social justice through a sociohistorical lens. Social justice is experienced when all people have equitable access to meaningful opportunities to participate in and (re)shape the social structures in which they live and work. TECLA relies on an expanded definition of social justice that includes building on students' home cultures, languages, and experiences to design rigorous educational experiences.