Social Justice Curriculum Research Articles

Research: Viral Loads and Downward Spirals: English, Citizenship, and a Context of Crises

This study examines five novice teachers’ perceptions of their preparation, interests, and abilities to integrate citizenship education into their secondary English language arts classrooms. The English teachers in this study highlight the difficulty in promoting progressive, social justice curricula without first grounding that pursuit in personal and participatory citizenship. Thus, as the United States awaits its return to normalcy after COVID-19, this study considers how English teacher educators may anchor courses in ideas of personal, participatory, and justice-oriented citizenship.

Tiffani Kocsis: Critical Analysis of Sexuality Education in the United States: Toward an Inclusive Curriculum for Social Justice

Tiffani Kocsis: Critical Analysis of Sexuality Education in the United States: Toward an Inclusive Curriculum for Social Justice

The Importance of Social Justice Courses in Teacher Preparation Programs

The social justice perspective is become more popular in teacher preparation programs as a response to growing diversity in schools and to the perceived inadequacies of multicultural education. This alternative to multicultural education argues that teachers should be advocates for students and their communities, helping to address inequities in schools. This project sought to explore social justice education in more depth by examining two classes of pre-service teachers at a private Christian university in the Southwest United States. Students were asked to describe their expectations and experiences with social justice curriculum in a required social justice teacher education course. The analysis of the project’s results indicates that pre-service teachers at faith institutions must be given hands-on, practical opportunities to grapple with social justice and their faith in order to begin to understand how social justice might inform their future work as teachers.

The Importance of Social Justice Courses in Teacher Preparation Programs

The social justice perspective is become more popular in teacher preparation programs as a response to growing diversity in schools and to the perceived inadequacies of multicultural education. This alternative to multicultural education argues that teachers should be advocates for students and their communities, helping to address inequities in schools. This project sought to explore social justice education in more depth by examining two classes of pre-service teachers at a private Christian university in the Southwest United States. Students were asked to describe their expectations and experiences with social justice curriculum in a required social justice teacher education course. The analysis of the project’s results indicates that pre-service teachers at faith institutions must be given hands-on, practical opportunities to grapple with social justice and their faith in order to begin to understand how social justice might inform their future work as teachers.

Moving toward: using a social justice curriculum to impact teacher candidates

PurposePublic schools are spaces where capital-T transformation in teachers is needed (Guillory, 2012). To shift schools to places where all communities are valued, teacher education programs must create spaces where shifts in beliefs and practice can occur. This study aims to describe how the use of a social justice curriculum framework impacted teacher candidates by creating such a space.Design/methodology/approachThis is an ethnographic study. Qualitative ethnography is appropriate when “the study of a group provides an understanding of a larger issue” (Creswell, 2015, p. 466). In this case, studying the impact of a social justice framework on the children and teacher candidates in the program allows the researchers to capture the relationships developed during the course of the program and study.FindingsThe framework created valuable experiences for both teacher candidates and elementary age participants. Data were collected to determine the impact of the program on all participants. The authors discuss implications for practitioners planning a social justice curriculum and for teacher educators planning field experiences for teacher candidates.Research limitations/implicationsThe need for shifting beyond culturally relevant pedagogy has been well documented in the field (Cho, 2017; Guillory, 2012; Paris, 2012). Moving toward – culturally sustaining pedagogy, multicultural social justice curriculum, critically conscious teachers – must be a priority in teacher education (Banks, 2013; Convertino, 2016). This has been explored in other studies, particularly in studies of merging – or emphasizing – multicultural and social justice education and curricula (Cho, 2017; Lawyer, 2018; Sleeter, 2018). What sets this study apart, and what needs further exploration diverse, is how to set up multicultural social justice education projects involving culturally and economically teacher education candidates and students working together (Cammarota, 2016; Lawyer, 2018; Valenzuela, 2016).Originality/valueThe questions that arise from this study make it new in the field. These include how to set up these diverse field experiences, including how to increase recruitment and retention of culturally and economically marginalized students in teacher education programs (Cammarota, 2016; Castaneda, Kambutu and Rios, 2006). These are important questions to consider in designing research and recruitment projects in colleges of teacher education. Exploring how to push multicultural education into multicultural social justice education deserves additional attention and exploration (Cammarota, 2016; Lawyer, 2018; Sleeter, 2018; Valenzuela, 2016).

Narrative Reconsiderations of Teaching as Negotiated Curriculum for Social Justice and Equity

Curriculum is negotiated in intricate ways through various forms of interactions between teachers and students, among students, or via acts of mentoring. Attending to the details of the experiences and interactions of such negotiations within the construct of narrative deliberation may prove to be illuminating in terms of understanding top-down and bottom-up influences on teaching and learning. In this article, we discuss the findings of a narrative inquiry into Education professors’ experiences of these forms of curricular interaction in higher education. We underscore socially just and equitable curriculum development through engagement with teacher education students. We further reflect on mentoring as an outgrowth of teaching that might serve to sustain curriculum negotiation from an equity and social justice vantage.

Understanding Social Justice Engagement in Social Work Curriculum

Understanding how undergraduate social work students learn knowledge and skills related to social justice is paramount to meeting the professional imperative of social justice in social work practice. However, there is no singular definition of social justice, nor is there consistency in how social justice is taught across social work curricula. Typically, social work programs either infuse social justice across the social work curriculum or require an in-depth, social justice content-driven course. These dual inconsistencies create challenges in understanding how students learn social justice. This study seeks to understand if undergraduate students have better outcomes related to knowledge and skill in a course structured with an in-depth social justice-–specific curriculum versus a course that has social justice infused across the content. Simply knowing how social justice curriculum is taught is not sufficient; rather, we must understand how social justice engagement is learned.

Social work students’ perceptions of obesity

ABSTRACTResearch indicates that mental health and medical professionals often hold negative views of overweight or obese people. Little is known about weight prejudice among social work students. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study examines the attitudes of Bachelor of social work and Master of social work students (n = 250) toward persons who are overweight and/or obese. Consistent with the literature, findings indicate generally those with higher body mass index scores are more likely to believe that obesity is beyond their control. Further, although age was correlated with Beliefs About Obese People scores, it was not a significant predictor. Implications for social work social justice and cultural competency curriculum are discussed.

A pedagogy of social justice for resilient/vulnerable populations: Structural competency and bio-power.

Nursing schools frequently assert the importance of social justice curriculum, but little information is available about specifics for such a class. The purpose of this article is to describe a class that builds a foundation for the understanding of social justice and the pedagogical frameworks on which it rests. The authors develop a class grounded in bio-power and structural competency. Described are topics presented to students, the rationale for their selection along with class activities and implementation challenges. Highlighted is the use of praxis as students incorporate the components of structural competency and bio-power. The focus is on the potential for public health and advanced practice registered nurses to recognize and evaluate structural factors in patient and population-based care. Faculty meet substantive challenges in teaching social justice, including lack of recognition of societal forces which affect student's ability to provide care. Focused effort incorporating newer structural and philosophical frameworks in a social justice class may improve the provision of health services. The frameworks of structural competency and bio-power provide a critical paradigm salient in social justice pedagogy.

For the Many: a curriculum for social justice

In recent years educational preoccupations have largely focused on 'teaching and learning', often drawing on deficit models of teaching and encouraging myths about 'poor teachers' and 'bad teaching'. Debate about the curriculum has been discouraged – but this has not stopped it being 'reformed', often in profoundly reactionary ways. This article analyses developments in the English school curriculum and argues that Labour's proposed National Education Service offers an opportunity to consider what a genuinely socially just curriculum might look like.

‘Knowledge’, curriculum and social justice

ABSTRACTThis article considers the place of knowledge in developing a socially just curriculum. It pursues the unusual route of a critique of Social Realism, a small but influential tendency in curriculum studies which claims that knowledge has been squeezed out by recent curriculum reforms and that there has been a descent into relativism. This paper shares the Social Realist view that ‘powerful knowledge’ is needed, and particularly by disadvantaged or marginalised young people. However, it critiques Social Realism's limited definition of ‘powerful knowledge’, arguing that for knowledge to be truly powerful, it must open up issues of power and inequality. It contests the Social Realist argument that critical pedagogy which begins from a subaltern stance is intrinsically relativist, arguing instead that alternative perspectives can help uncover concealed truths and break through hegemonic paradigms and ideologies. It argues that this is entirely compatible with a Critical Realist epistemology. Furthermore, the paper presents reasons why a socially just curriculum needs to draw upon the vernacular knowledge of marginalised groups as well as the canonical knowledge of academic disciplines to produce truly powerful knowledge and a social justice curriculum.

Decolonizing the school curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa

The starting point of decolonizing the curriculum is in the schools and classrooms that I regard as the formal education laboratories for equity and social justice in a just society. Unfortunately, many South African public schools’ curricula are not yet decolonized and thus continue to perpetuate the preparation of learners for leading western lives in a continent that is not western by nature. The South African school curriculum does little to address decolonization for equity and social justice in the South African public schools. This article argues for the decolonization of public school curricula for equity and social justice in South Africa. Background information is provided. Key terms will be decoded, followed by an outline of the frame of reference, method of research and a discussion of the process of decolonising the curriculum. The importance of decolonizing the school curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa will be discussed. Threats emanating from not decolonizing the curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa will also be discussed. Conclusions will be drawn.

Bodies Are Not Commodities: Examining A21 Curriculum’s Impact on Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Advocacy About Anti-Human Trafficking Rights and Issues

ABSTRACTResearch supports the notion that there are more people trapped by institutions of slavery than ever before. Human trafficking can include those who fall victim to forced labor conditions, sexual exploitation, human smuggling, and in certain instances, children are sexually exploited through commercialism. However, recently, law enforcement organizations and social justice networks have sought to eradicate human trafficking by increasing awareness to particularly vulnerable populations, through prevention and protection methods, and overall advocacy through international support forums. This mixed methods study explored how a social justice curriculum increased students' awareness about human trafficking. More specifically, the study highlights the impact of the Bodies are not Commodities curriculum on participants (from a targeted population demographic) who shared that they feel “better equipped” to combat human trafficking. Findings also revealed that participants were highly engaged in the content and as a result, the lessons had an influence on students‘ attitudes and positions of advocacy with regard to human trafficking. Recommendations and key considerations for teaching using social justice curricula are provided.

Curriculum Deliberations over Time: A Nexus of Teacher Dilemmas, Questions, Experimentation, and Agency

This article examines 24 teachers’ perceptions of their curriculum and curricular choices over their first 11 years of teaching. Adaptive expertise and teacher visioning were used as a conceptual frameworks. A theme of diversity runs through the alternate route elementary teachers. Some of these teachers from diverse backgrounds promoted a social justice curriculum, but their teaching skills often lagged behind their goals for societal change. Eventually, on both the alternate route elementary and secondary levels, some of these teachers valued and implemented an integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum. The college-prepared teachers focused more on the creation of integrated learning environments on the elementary level and the adaptation of content to learning on the secondary level. Some of the college-prepared secondary teachers used more learning-centered approaches in all their classes from the start of their careers. Others were more influenced by the classroom context (the level of the class or the subject matter) and initially were more innovative in their beginning or “basic skills” classes than in their advanced classes. Most of the teachers in both preparation groups who remained in the classroom began to develop a sense of adaptive expertise.

Innovating the Teach-In to Transform the Faculty: Findings from a #BlackLivesMatter Teach-In

College students across the U.S. have been mobilizing their campuses in exposing institutional racism, biases, and curriculum structures that have historically marginalized students of color. As a response to ongoing racial justice movements such as #BlackLivesMatter, we developed a new teach-in model with the aim of creating a transformative experience for faculty and students. Our teach-in challenged faculty to incorporate topics related to #BlackLivesMatter to the discipline-specific content of their course during the same one-week period; this was followed by a campus-wide town hall event. Framed by critical race theory with the goal of creating transformative learning for faculty, we sought to assess the impact of the teach-in from the perspective of teachers. Our findings indicated that our teach-in successfully created an opportunity for faculty to interrogate their curriculum, engage students in race discussions, and develop the knowledge and professional skills needed to tackle a more inclusive social justice curriculum.

Modified Immersive Situated Service Learning

Distinctions between traditional service learning and critical service learning with a social justice focus are important when structuring professional writing courses and defining course outcomes. This article presents a hybrid pedagogical approach for designing a critical service-learning course that integrates a social justice curriculum while focusing specifically on reflection, context, and positionality. Detailing the course design and sharing reflections from students and the instructor, the author argues that the modified immersive situated service-learning approach provides professional communication students the opportunity to become agents of change.

Children as agents of social and community change: Enhancing youth empowerment through participation in a school-based social activism project

School-based social activism projects have much potential to foster civic engagement, self-efficacy, and positive youth development. Social activism projects may also be a means by which children, a group that is disempowered due to their age and dependence on adults, might seek to positively impact social and community problems. The current study evaluated elementary school age children’s (K-7th grade) participation in grassroots campaigns, which are year-long school-based activism projects that are a component of their school’s comprehensive social justice curriculum. Results found that even young children could successfully and meaningfully participate in these school-based activism projects. Additionally, students’ participation in these projects was characterized by a high level of enthusiasm and also facilitated a sense of community and empowerment in these children.

Forgotten memories of a social justice education: Difficult knowledge and the impossibilities of school and research

ABSTRACTThis paper is about memory, the elusive process of remembering and of an encounter between a researcher and a participant who after five years reunited to remember. The object under study is a high school social justice curriculum with a central focus on the development of social action projects. Grounded in Pitt and Britzman's work on difficult knowledge, this paper asks: What do 10th grade students who spent four years attending a school committed to the Freirian principles of political engagement remember about their high school experience? Past and recent interviews are woven together to surface three emergent lines of thinking: the failure to secure knowledge as unitary and in agreement; education as deferred in time; and research as relational dilemmas and unconscious desire. The aim is to complicate teaching and learning by illuminating its difficulties and unseating our reliance on evidentiary accountability, production and outcome. Throughout, the positionality of the researcher is discussed, particularly as unconscious desire for social justice, as lovely knowledge, becomes transferred through one participant, Sadie.

Listening to many voices: Enacting social justice literacy curriculum

This study seeks to understand what struggles an equity-minded English teacher encountered while enacting social justice curriculum and pedagogy. Data indicated the primary factors that influenced the teacher's understandings were her students and grade-level colleagues, not administrative mandates or the state standardized test. An additional finding was that the conflicts that Octavia anticipated as a pre-service teacher (competing reform agendas) were less relevant than concerns about reading materials and text selection. The study indicates a need to shift attention to less-commonly studied factors in teacher decision-making: quality instructional resources, interpersonal relationships, and ideologies about curriculum.

Environmental Justice Is a Social Justice Issue: Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Social Work Practice Curricula

ABSTRACT Social justice education for social work practice is concerned with addressing issues of power and oppression as they impact intersections of identity, experience, and the social environment. However, little focus is directed toward the physical and natural environment despite overwhelming evidence that traditionally marginalized groups bear the burden of environmental problems. In this article, we discuss environmental disaster impacts on marginalized communities, presence of environmental justice in social work literature, and opportunities for integrating environmental justice into social work’s mandated disciplinary competencies. We conclude with an example of a module implemented in a foundation Social Justice for Social Work Practice course using place-based education principles as an illustration of concrete strategies for incorporating environmental justice into social justice curricula.