07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Anti-racism Education as Emotional Work: Moving Beyond White Discomfort in the Primary Classroom?
Niamh McGuirk
Dublin City University, Ireland
Presenting Author: McGuirk, Niamh
In line with international trends, the overwhelming majority of primary teachers in Ireland are white and from the dominant ethnic group (Bryan, 2010; Devine, 2011; Keane & Heinz, 2015). In contrast, Irish primary schools and classrooms are becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse (Ní Dhuinn & Keane, 2021). Research has detailed that racisms are prevalent in Irish schools and that racisms are part of children’s realities (Devine, 2013; McGuirk, 2023). Teachers have a role to play in responding to racism, in educating children about racisms and anti-racism, and in enabling children to challenge and resist racisms in society. White teachers, through their life experiences, gain a particular understanding of ‘race’ and difference and this can impact how they engage with anti-racism education (Picower, 2009; McGuirk, 2023). White teachers have the potential to replicate and sustain dominant patterns of white supremacy (Yoon, 2012; Forrest, Lean & Dunn, 2015; Vass, 2018). Zembylas (2018) argues that due to an internalisation of whiteness ideology, white teachers find it emotionally difficult to engage in anti-racism education. This can manifest as white discomfort and can have an impact on how teachers who are racialized as white conceptualise and practice anti-racism education. On the other hand, white teachers also have the potential to disrupt the racialized status quo that reinforces dominant ideologies (McGuirk, 2023). Acknowledging and moving beyond white discomfort can create opportunities for critical reflection and transformative anti-racism education practices.
This presentation stems from a recently-completed doctoral research study on anti-racism education that employed critical multiculturalism, critical race theory and critical whiteness studies within its conceptual framework.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe qualitative research comprised multiple methods (interviews, observation, and post-observation interviews) with a sample of eighteen practicing teachers working in primary schools that are guided by an equality-based ethos under the patronage of Educate Together. The participants ranged in age from 22 to 53 and their teaching experience ranged from two years to 30 years. The participants worked in a broad range of school contexts across Ireland. The study employed a reflexive thematic analysis approach.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe presentation discusses findings that indicate that white discomfort is a feature of and has an impact on the conceptualisations and practices of anti-racism education for some teachers in Educate Together primary schools in Ireland. The presentation also discusses findings that show that when white teachers engage in critical reflection on their racialized identity, they develop more nuanced understandings of the impact of whiteness on the children in their classrooms. For some teachers, this understanding emerges as a form of anti-racism education praxis that creates transformative opportunities to unsettle the invisibility of whiteness in educational contexts.
ReferencesBryan, A. (2010). Corporate multiculturalism, diversity management, and positive interculturalism in Irish schools and society. Irish Educational Studies, 29(3), 253–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2010.498566
Devine, D. (2013). Practising leadership in newly multi-ethnic schools: Tensions in the field? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(3), 392–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2012.722273
Forrest, J., Lean, G., & Dunn, K. (2015). Challenging racism through schools: Teacher attitudes to cultural diversity and multicultural education in Sydney, Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170
Gillborn, D. (2015). Intersectionality, critical race theory, and the primacy of racism: Race, class, gender, and disability in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 277–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800414557827
Keane, E., & Heinz, M. (2015). Diversity in initial teacher education in Ireland: The socio-demographic backgrounds of postgraduate post-primary entrants in 2013 and 2014. Irish Educational Studies, 34(3), 281–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2015.1067637
Matias, C. E. (2016). Feeling white: Whiteness, emotionality and education. Sense Publishers
May, S., & Sleeter, C. (2010). Critical multiculturalism: Theory and praxis. Routledge.
McGuirk, N. (2023). Anti-racism education in Educate Together primary schools: an exploration of teachers’ conceptualisations and practices / Niamh McGuirk. Dublin City University. School of Human Development.
Ní Dhuinn, M., & Keane, E. (2021). ‘But you don’t look Irish’: Identity constructions of minority ethnic students as ‘non-Irish’ and deficient learners at school in Ireland. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2021.1927144
Picower, B. (2009). The unexamined Whiteness of teaching: How White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies. Race Ethnicity and Education, 12(2), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320902995475
Vass, G. (2016). Everyday race-making pedagogies in the classroom. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(3), 371–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.928585
Yoon, I. H. (2012). The paradoxical nature of whiteness-at-work in the daily life of schools and teacher communities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(5), 587–613. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2011.624506
Zembylas, M. (2018). Affect, race, and white discomfort in schooling: Decolonial strategies for ‘pedagogies of discomfort’. Ethics and Education, 13(1), 86–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2018.1428714
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
"I Just Really Didn't Know How to Respond": Teacher Experiences of Racism in the Classroom
Margaret Lovell
University of South Australia, Australia
Presenting Author: Lovell, Margaret
The increasing visibility of different forms of diversity has given voice to racism as a global phenomenon affecting many of the world’s peoples across all continents including Europe and the country now known as Australia, with experiences such as prejudice and discrimination well-documented (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2018; World Health Organisation (WHO), 2023). Immigrants to Australia and Europe experience racisms through the systems of the dominant, neo-liberal, white, patriarchal, capitalist culture. These systems of Whiteness are invisible and ubiquitous, normative and performative (Ball et al., 2022; Moreton-Robinson, 2015) and result in similar experiences of racisms for many individuals identified as not belonging to the white social group. Although the targeted groups may differ, “race…as a technology of power” (Lentin, 2020, p. 82) and the “hierarchy of different races with White people (men) at the top” (Ball et al., 2022, p. 3) sanctions racisms in both the European Union and Australia.
The 2021 report from the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) provides an example of the similarity between experiences of racisms on the European and Australian continents. The experiences of racism in interactions with policing in Europe harms many non-white people, including Roma and people of African descent (Ball et al., 2022), with “discriminatory profiling by the police…a common reality” (FRA, 2018, p. 1). Racial profiling and targeted incarceration (in both adult and juvenile systems) are common experiences for Aboriginal Australian Peoples also. Changes to policy and systems at government levels have failed to demolish institutional/systemic racisms, address white privilege, or deliver substantive improvement to disparities in the wellbeing, life expectancy, and social opportunities for non-white peoples globally (WHO, 2023).
Experiences of racisms in pedagogies, curricula and policy continue to impact educational outcomes for many non-white students around the world, including Aboriginal Australian students, Roma students and students of African descent (Ball et al., 2022; Moodie et al., 2019). The research presented here aims to contribute to understanding racisms as perpetuated through the unacknowledged Whiteness of Australian education. This institutionalised racism (Vass, 2016) re/creates white supremacy through the control of knowledge and the passing on of values, based on what Mills (2007) and others refer to as white ignorance. The right to a culturally relevant education is rarely fulfilled, and the consequent “critical education gap” between Aboriginal Peoples and other Australians is mirrored globally.
This study explored attitudes and actions of white Australian in-service teachers regarding racisms in education. Using the conceptual lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Crenshaw et al., 1995), the critical gaze was shifted from non-white social groups toward the dominant, white social group (racialising whiteness). This move was taken upon Watson’s (2007, p. 31) urging to stop “blaming the ‘other’” and “instead… [to interrogate] the role of the white privileged self” to better understand racisms, power and racialised practice, and the structural, systemic racisms of institutions and knowledge production.
The objective of this research was to explore the current attitudes and actions of teachers regarding experiences of racism in education. Building on previous international research, this study questioned how teachers feel about the knowledge and experiences of students, how effective they judge their own learning, and how comfortable they are with their pedagogical approaches.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe design and methodology of the study pursued a mixed methods approach to create space for Indigenous research methodologies (IRM) to be active in the collection of qualitative data. Privileging IRM sought to demonstrate engagement with and respect for the knowledge systems, experiences, and values of Aboriginal Peoples. This aligns with the tenet of CRT to centre counter-narratives (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) and further strengthen the methodological framework
The mixed methods approach allows that a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection mechanisms is perhaps more effective when research endeavours to “explore complex phenomena” (Hickman, 2015, p. 41) such as racism. Quantitative data were collected from eighteen respondents to an online survey. Three open-ended questions also contributed to the qualitative data collection. The bulk of the qualitative data however were gathered from seven participants via in-depth dialogues known as Storywork, “a respectful set of processes for sharing experiences, meaning making and learning” (Archibald, as cited in Martin, 2008, p. 95). Storywork is an Indigenist research method of teaching and learning that acknowledges all as equal participants in the learning processes. Storywork allows for an exchange of information through sharing observations and reflecting deeply upon what was shared. Importantly, it meant that CRT could be realised in action. The researcher and the researched could trouble taken-for-granted assumptions within education.
Grounded theory (Urquhart, 2013) analysis supported interaction with data in relatedness, allowing theory to be generated by the data. As such, it allowed free exploration of the data, to discover what the data was illuminating unencumbered by pre-conceived notions of what might be found. Importantly, this allowed for relationships between data and concepts to be honoured, making grounded theory an outstanding analytical approach for data collected through the Indigenous research method outlined above. Grounded theory supported analysis and coding of narrative and allowed space to release the insights that came from being “so close to the data” (Urquhart, 2013, p. 4).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis research employed Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw et al., 1995) as a framework to examine the Australian education landscape, and the influence it has upon teachers’ professional roles. The findings illustrate a limited understanding of racisms among teachers and the effect of this on their teaching praxes. The research data spoke of a narrow anti-racism praxis, and many teachers discussed difficulties in responding to racisms within education sites. Additionally, over half the teachers in the study identified a shortfall in knowledge of both colonisation and reconciliation among students, suggesting that teachers are not consistently teaching these topics.
The key findings outline that only one of the respondents found their pre-service education very effective in preparing them to respond to racisms and the delivery of anti-racism education. Overwhelmingly, seven teachers found pre-service education was not at all effective. Given the long-term impacts of racisms on health, wellbeing, and identity, these findings highlight a very significant issue. This study argues that these findings are a result of limited “racial literacy” (Guinier, 2004; Twine, 2004) due to silences and absences in teacher training and professional learning. These silences have contributed to teachers who, in this study, define racism as being limited to individual beliefs and actions. Consequently, their responses to racism were limited to behaviour management strategies and placed an emphasis on interpersonal relations in contrast with the significant issue of institutional and structural racisms that fundamentally contribute to educational outcomes.
The findings offer a contribution to the global literature regarding the role of racial literacy for teachers to unpack challenges that are brought about by the increasing diversity of education sites. Strengthening white teachers’ knowledges of ‘race’ and racisms may support teachers to enact Education’s inclusive policies through active anti-racism praxes.
ReferencesBall, E., Steffens, M.C., & Niedlich, N. (2022). Racism in Europe: characteristics and intersections with other social categories. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.789661.
Crenshaw, K., Gotanda, N., Peller, G., & Thomas, K. (Eds.). (1995). Critical race theory: the key writings that formed the movement, The New Press.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York University Press.
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). (2018). Being Black in the EU: second European Union minorities and discrimination survey summary. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/being-black-eu
Guinier, L. (2004). From racial liberalism to racial literacy: Brown v. Board of Education and the interest-divergence dilemma. Journal of American History, 91(1), 92–118.
Hickman, H.E. (2015). Mixed methods research. Nursing Standard, 29(32), 41–47.
Lentin, A. (2020). Why race still matters. Polity Press.
Martin, K.L. (2008). Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of Outsiders and the implications for researchers. Post Pressed.
Mills, C.W. (2007). White ignorance. In S. Sullivan and N. Tuana (Eds.), Race and epistemologies of ignorance (pp. 11–38). State University of New York.
Moodie, N., Maxwell, J., & Rudolph, S. (2019). The impact of racism on the schooling experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: a systematic review. Australian Educational Researcher, 46, 273–295.
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2015). The white possessive: property, power and Indigenous sovereignty. University of Minnesota Press.
Twine, F.W. (2004). A white side of black Britain: the concept of racial literacy. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(6), 878–907.
Urquhart, C. (2013). Grounded theory for qualitative research: a practical guide. SAGE Publications.
Vass, G. (2016). Everyday race-making pedagogies in the classroom. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(3), 371–388.
Watson, I. (2007). Settled and unsettled spaces: are we free to roam?. In A. Moreton-Robinson (Ed.), Sovereign subjects: Indigenous sovereignty matters (pp. 15–32). Allen & Unwin.
World Health Organisation (WHO). (2023). Tackling structural racism and ethnicity-based discrimination in health. https://www.who.int/activities/tackling-structural-racism-and-ethnicity-based-discrimination-in-health
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Is it Enough with Diversity in Higher Education?
Getahun Yacob Abraham
University of Borås, Sweden
Presenting Author: Abraham, Getahun Yacob
This study aims at understanding what does diversity in higher education mean and why it is needed. It will further investigate if there are relations between diversity, interculturality and social justice in relation to higher education. Do we need to look at diversity without relating to this other concepts?
Some people were forced to immigrate to Europe due to armed conflicts, poverty and different forms of human rights abuses experienced in their countries of origin. These new groups as well as the existence of national minorities contributed to a large population with different backgrounds within the same nations. Due to their social and educational backgrounds (Lardy, Bressoux & Clercq, 2021) students from these minorities are not securing results that allows them to join higher education.
Encouraging the engagement of immigrant students in school work and to increase their results can positively influence their ambitions and motivations for further studies which can result in diversity in higher education (Umans, Collin & Tagesson, 2008). The need for diversity of students in higher education was expressed in Bologna process as “to reflect the diversity of population” and “increasing participation of underrepresented groups” (Tolstrup Holmegaard, 2017).
Students and staff with diverse backgrounds can share with their peers´ knowledge and experiences of cultural, religious and other life experiences which could contribute to diversity and inclusion in a positive way (Ogunyemi, Clare, Astudillo, Marseill, Manu & Kim, 2020). This can even contribute to intercultural communication and enrich diversity in higher education (Otten, 2009; Schweisfurth & Gu, 2009; Borghetti, Beaven & Pugliese, 2015). In this process, “international mobility and domestic multiculturalism” (Otten, 2009) can help not only interaction but also co-construction of interculturality (Borghetti, Beaven & Pugliese, 2015). Interculturality that aims at equality, common goals, cooperation and support from responsible authorities (Schweisfurth & Gu, 2009).
This diversity can encourage intercultural communication among persons in higher education with different gender, race, ethnicity, functional variation, sexual orientation, culture, religious faiths etc. Beyond the observable diversities, higher education also needs to give room for and embrace diversity of perspectives (Gonzales & LaPointe Terosky, 2020) . Diversity of perspectives could widen students view so that they need not take for granted research results and academic reasonings as absolute truths. Instead help them to understand that knowledge develops and changes through time with new research and findings.
Diversity and interculturality are relevant but higher education should even aim beyond. Marginalized groups have limited access to resources and opportunities within higher education and in the society (Behtou, & Høyer Leivestad, 2019). There are hindrances for them to get acceptable education to fulfil the criteria to join higher education. If higher education should worth its salt, it needs to involve in societal debates and actions to improve the life situation for younger people from marginalized groups (Chile & Black, 2015). It needs to work for social justice, that considers as its goals distribution of resources, acknowledgment of differences and allows participation for marginalized groups to be heard (Avis, 2019).
Meaningful diversity leads to intercultural exchange and working for social justice for marginalized groups within higher education. Working for social justice in the long run will help equity and equality in accessing all forms of resources that give opportunity for marginalized groups in the society to get their fair opportunity to join higher education (Bagga-Gupta, Messina Dahlberg & Vigmo, 2020; Danvers & Hinton-Smith, 2022). It is important to allow students to be a part of the dialogue by taking their account of what it means to be marginalized and how inclusion and social justice could be realized for the diverse groups (Messiou, 2019).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study is a desktop study based on literature from scientific databases. For identifying relevant texts, a search is done in one general databased, Primo used by University of Borås. Texts used for this abstract are produced between 2000-2023. For further understanding of the concepts used in the abstract a search was undertaken based on the concepts of diversity, interculturality and social justice in relation to higher education. While this is a preliminary search and finding of valuable results, it is not exhaustive enough for producing scientific texts for publishing. This means the work of a search for more text in various databases and further analysis of these themes one by one and their interrelations will continue.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsConcluding remarks
The articles review shows, the important of diversity and its relation to other areas of relevance for higher education. The focus on diversity should be ethical in interaction of groups with each other. The knowledge of the diverse group should not only focus on the benefit of one group for marketization of services to the “other” (Haapakoski & Pashby, 2017).
Diversity needs to help in the process of achieving social justice, intercultural communication and in extension even internationalisation that many higher education institutions are striving for. Diversity should also show respect, acceptance and inclusion of persons with gender, function variation, race, sexual orientation and other variations in all societal activities. It also should strive for the right of marginalized groups to get access to all resources that will allow them inclusion, equality and equity in the higher education.
ReferencesAvis, J. (2019). Vocational education, transitions, marginalisation and social justice
in the Nordic countries: Reflections on the special issue. European Educational Research Journal, 18 (3), 376-384.
Bagga-Gupta, S., Messina Dahlberg, G. & Vigmo, S. (2020). Equity and social justice for whom and by whom in contemporary Swedish higher and adult education. Learning and Teaching, 13 (3), 82-110.
Behtou, A. & Høyer Leivestad, H. (2019). The “stranger” among Swedish “homo academicus”. High Educ, 77:213-228.
Borghetti, C., Beaven, A. & Pugliese, R. (2015). Interactions among future study abroad students: exploring potential intercultural learning sequences. Intercultural Education, 26(1), 31-48.
Chile, L M. & Black, X M (2015). University–community engagement: Case study of university social responsibility. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 10 (3), 234-253.
Danvers, E. & Hinton-Smith, T. (2022). Marginalisation and mixed feelings: supporting students of Gypsy, Roma and traveller heritage imagining higher education in the UK.
Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2022, 1-18.
Gonzales, L. & LaPointe Terosky, A. (2020). L D. & On Their Own Terms: Women’s Pathways Into and Through Academe. Jounal of Diversity in Higher Education, 13 (3), 274-287.
Haapakoski, J. & Pashby, K. (2017).Implications for equity and diversity of increasing international student numbers in European universities: Policies and practice in four national contexts. Policy Futures in Education, 15 (3), 360-379.
Lardy, L. Bressoux, P. & De Clercq, M. (2021). Achievement of first-year students at the university: a multilevel analysis of the role of background diversity and student engagement. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 37: 949-969.
Messiou, K. (2019). Understanding marginalisation through dialogue:
a strategy for promoting the inclusion of all students in schools. Educational Review, 71 (3), 306-317.
Ogunyemi, M., Clare, C., Astudillo, Y. M., Marseille, M., Manu, E. Kim, S. (2020). Microaggressions in the Learning Environment: A Systematic Review. Jounal of Diversity in Higher Education, 13(2), 97-119.
Otten, M. (2009). Academicus interculturalis? Negotiating interculturality in academic communities of practice. Intercultural Education, 20(5), 407-417.
Schweisfurth, M. & Gu, Q. (2009). Exploring the experiences of international
students in UK higher education: possibilities and limits of interculturality in university life. Intercultural Education, 20(5), 463-473.
Tolstrup Holmegaard, H., Møller Madsen, L. & Ulriksen, L. (2017). Why should European higher education care about the retention of non-traditional students? European Educational Research Journal, 16(1), 3-11.
Umans, T., Collin, S-O. & Tagesson, T. (2008). Ethnic and gender diversity, process and
performance in groups of business students in Sweden. 19(3), 243-254).
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Equity-Centered Leaders: Twenty years of Advocacy and Preparation for Social Justice
Juan Manuel Niño1, Encarnacion Garza1, Angelica Romero2, Patti Salzmann2, Betty Merchant1, Jaime Aquino2
1The University of Texas at San Antonio, United States of America; 2San Antonio Independent School District, United States of America
Presenting Author: Garza, Encarnacion;
Romero, Angelica
The USLC at the University of Texas-San Antonio is a unique principal preparation program that focuses on preparing aspiring school principals to become transformational leaders who can work in diverse, ambiguous and challenging school contexts (Garza & Merchant, 2009; Merchant & Garza, 2015). Originating in a partnership with San Antonio Independent School District, now in its 11th cohort, the USLC model established new partnerships. This new program, USLC-South Bexar (USLC-SB), is in its fourth cohort, working to prepare school leaders for small districts in urban settings. A vital feature of the USLC is the leadership from its core faculty, former school principals, and district administrators who bring heuristic knowledge in preparing and developing school leaders for social justice. The Urban School Leaders Collaborative (USLC) is an award-winning 36-semester credit hour program that leads to the Master of Education Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and Texas Principal as Instructional Leader Certification. The transformative program prepares leaders for social justice leadership in diverse communities.
This collaborative and collective partnership was significantly enhanced with the recent award of a multi-million-dollar grant from the Wallace Foundation, the Equity-Centered Principal Initiative. The collaborative has been nurtured, sustained, and studied for the past twenty years with unconditional support from the former and present district superintendents as well as the dean of the college of education and human development (Murakami-Ramalho, Garza, & Merchant, 2009).
A constructivist theoretical approach drives teaching and learning in this program. In a constructivist classroom, students and faculty engage in critical reflection, individually and collectively (Merchant & Garza, 2015). Coupled with constructivist learning theory, the Pedagogy of Collective Critical Consciousness (Garza, 2015) engages masters students deeply in collective learning activities, including shared critical reflection, written autoethnographies, digital life stories, community engagement projects, equity audits, and ultimately, the implementation of praxis (Freire, 2000). As co-constructors of knowledge, students, and faculty are both teachers and learners.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedEmbracing a bricolage approach, we grounded this study following Anzaldúa’s (1990) words, “by bringing in our own approaches and methodologies, we transform that theorizing space (p. xxv) to better understand how the program has influenced the students and professors in this innovative program. As such, in order to seek the insights from the experiences of our alumni and current students of this innovative program, several theoretical approaches were considered to highlight the collaborative lived experiences to include, social justice (Marshall & Oliva, 2006), and critical theory (Freire, 1993; Santamaria, 2013).
Using testimonios (Anzaldúa, 2002) as a methodological approach, will help create salient depictions of experiences, identities, and new ways of knowing that center of culture and identity. A testimonio is viewed as a verbal journey (authentic narrative) of one’s life with a focus on the effect of injustice (Reyes & Rodriguez, 2012). As such, the testimonios of 26 students will offer a language of hope and insights into the ability of schools to promote equity, consciousness, and agency. During this session, we will engage in a presentation of testimonios about their lived experiences in the program.
A theory in the flesh means one where the physical realities of our lives; our skin color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual longings all fuse to create a politic born out of necessity. Here, we attempt to bridge the contradictions of our experience. (Moraga & Anzaldúa, 1981, p. 23)
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis study is important because we offer an alternative model to leadership preparation that aligns with the conference theme of, Value of Diversity in Education and Educational Research. If preparation programs are going to adopt a mission of equity, diversity and social justice leadership, they need to be deliberate about helping aspiring principals understand the challenges they must be willing to confront if they are to maintain their commitment to social justice.
In the last twenty years, a number of scholars have advocated for preparation programs designed to prepare aspiring leaders to lead socially just schools (McKenzie & Scheurich, 2004; Cambron- McCabe & McCarthy, 2005; Rusch, 2004). However, most principal preparation programs are traditional and continue to prepare future principals as managers mostly supervising and evaluating employees, encouraging collegiality, maintaining facilities, overlooking a set budget, discipline and many other non-instructional tasks (Toth & Siemaszko, 1996). Although these skills are important, social justice leaders are much more than good managers. In a study conducted by Theoharis (2009) his participants (practicing principals) expressed that preparation programs were uninspiring and did not address the need to advocate for equity and justice for marginalized students. They believed that their preparation programs were strongly focused on developing management skills that could be measured through a standardized “principal assessment” instrument designed and standardized for the “general” population of students. Furthermore, they were concerned about the absence of readings and critical discussion about race and equity (Theoharis, 2009, p.107). As such, this study on twenty years of leadership development will highlight how the experiences of aspiring school leaders lived experiences shape their understanding and identity as leaders in diverse communities.
ReferencesAnzaldúa, G. (2002). Now let us shift…the path of conocimiento…inner work, public acts. In G. E. Anzaldúa & A. Keating (Eds.), This bridge we call home: Radical visions for transformation (pp. 540-578). New York, NY: Routledge.
Cambron-McCabe, N., & McCarthy, M. M. (2005). Educating school leaders for social justice. Educational Policy, 19(1), 201-222.
Garza, E. (2015, in progress). The Pedagogy of Collective Critical Consciousness: The Praxis of Preparing Leaders for Social Justice. Paper presented at UCEA Conference, 2015. Denver, CO.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: NY. Continuum International Publishing Group.
Freire, P. (1974). Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: Continuum.
McKenzie, K. B., & Scheurich, J. (2004). Equity traps: A useful construct for preparing principals to lead schools that are successful with racially diverse students. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(5), 601-632.
Merchant, B., & Garza, E. (2015). The Urban School Leaders Collaborative: Twelve Years of Promoting Leadership for Social Justice. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 10(1), 39-62.
Moraga, C., & Anzaldúa, G. (1981). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. New York, NY: Kitchen Table Women of Press.
Ng, E. S. W. (2014). Relative deprivation, self-interest and social justice: why I do research on in- equality. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(5), 429-441. doi: 10.1108/edi-07-2013-0055
Rusch, E. A. (2004). Gender and race in leadership preparation: A constrained discourse. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 14-46.
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