“We need to teach school differently”: Learning to teach social studies for justice

Abstract

Using interpretative case study methods, the researchers examined the beliefs and practices of 10 preservice social studies teachers with self-described preferences to teach for justice. While all of the participants in this study identified as committed to justice, there was a division between teachers whose beliefs were tolerance-oriented (focused primarily on individual prejudice) and teachers whose beliefs were equity-oriented (focused primarily on systemic oppression). Across the cases, we generally found that the teachers were grouped into three types: teachers not making progress toward critical social studies, teachers implementing critical social studies irregularly, and teachers implementing critical social studies regularly. Teachers who had strong equity-oriented beliefs were more likely to implement critical social studies regularly in their classrooms during student teaching.