scholarly journals Student Engagement for Equity and Social Justice: Creating Space for Student Voice

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda McMahon ◽  
Geoff Munns ◽  
John Smyth ◽  
David Zyngier
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Visible Minority ◽  
Marginalized Students ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Cognitive Levels ◽  
Teaching Learning

This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented in Australia and Canada, where social justice educators are struggling with issues resulting from reforms that marginalize visible minority and low-income students. The projects envision student engagement in critical democratic ways. Using different strategies, they are informed by approaches that: respect students, educators and teaching/learning processes; connect on emotional as well as cognitive levels; and shift away from narrow notions of schooling to broader visions of education for marginalized students. Transferable to other locations, these programmes provide insights into what is possible when student engagement is enacted in equitable, socially just, and transformative environments.

scholarly journals “College for All? These Kids Can’t Dig Ditches”: Confronting the Leadership Challenges for Justice-Based Reform in Underperforming Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Randall F. Clemens
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Change Agent ◽  
Public High School ◽  
Underperforming Schools ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Leadership Challenges ◽  
Urban Public High School

The case explores the challenges of school leaders to facilitate social justice–based reforms for low-income students of color who attend underperforming schools. In particular, it examines the 1st-year experiences of Principal Yolanda Lopez at Kennedy High School, an underperforming and underresourced urban public high school. Lopez is tasked with improving college access and readiness among all students. As the year progresses—and pressures mount from various stakeholders—she questions the viability of sustained reform and her own role as a change agent within a complex and often unjust system.

Social Justice Teaching Through the Sympathetic Touch of Caring and High Expectations for Students of Color

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia Rojas ◽  
Daniel D. Liou
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Segregated Schools ◽  
Perceptions Of Fairness ◽  
Education School ◽  
Social Justice Teaching

This 1-year qualitative study examined the ways in which nine social justice–oriented teachers in racially segregated schools defined and fostered sympathy with low-income students of color. These teachers reportedly defined sympathy on the basis of caring and high expectations, which challenged traditional notions of sympathy as a teacher cue for low ability and lowered expectations for learning. Building upon W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of sympathetic touch, the findings of this study revealed that the teachers fostered sympathy through perceptions of fairness in educational opportunities, education as a method to challenge class oppression, the use of curriculum to communicate caring, and high expectations to promote students’ histories, self-respect, and preparation for a more just future. The results of these findings have implications for how society currently views teacher effectiveness, and future discussions regarding teacher education, school accountability, and teacher evaluation.

Enabling Social Justice from Within: Reflections on the Student Voice, Pedagogy of Consciousness and the Idea of the University in Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 234763112110477
Author(s):  
Monika Maini
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Paulo Freire ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Idea Of The University

The incidences of suicides by students from marginalized communities at Indian public universities indicate that the structural reforms have been insufficient in bringing social justice at universities and the situation demands a change in cognitive structures and processes that can mobilize shift towards just relations at the universities. This article aims to reflect upon pedagogy of consciousness developed by Paulo Freire and argue for its adoption by teachers to develop student voice that has the potential to bring social justice from within the universities. Following the interpretivist paradigm, the idea of the university given by Kant is explored to locate student voice and social justice within the framework of universities. The idea though places voice at core of university teaching learning process, limits its democratic potential by assuming apolitical role of the universities. Therefore, the author elaborates upon pedagogy of consciousness by Paulo Freire, to bring out its relevance in developing voice for social justice and rethinking the idea of the university. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with teachers and students at University of Delhi, the voices of students citing incidences of structural as well as epistemic injustice in the University are highlighted to develop the link between theory and practice. These voices point towards lack of spaces for expression of dissenting voices and understanding of these voices by teachers and students from privileged backgrounds. The article concludes with illustrating, how pedagogy of consciousness can develop this consciousness enabling praxis of transformation that brings political dissenting voices to the core of the idea of the university in democracy.

scholarly journals Social justice leadership in rural Pakistan : a constructivist grounded theory study of private school leaders

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Palwasha Khan Marwat
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Social Justice Leadership ◽  
Marginalized Students

This qualitative constructivist-grounded theory (C-GT) study aimed to explore how Pakistani school leaders (PSL) conceptualize and enact social-justice-oriented leadership (if they do) to combat educational and sociocultural inequities to support marginalized students. This study collected data from 11 rural school leaders, over 11 primary and secondary private schools that educate marginalized students, including low-income families, girls, and minority groups in rural areas surrounding Islamabad. Utilizing social justice leadership (SJL) and mental models (MM) as a conceptual framework, I undertook an in-depth, semi-structured interview protocol with each school leader in addition to artifact collection, analytical memos, and diagrams. The emerging grounded theory is a five-step model identifying participants' MM of SJL and exploring their views and actions to address the educational inequities for marginalized students. The findings suggest that school leaders conceptualized and emarginalized students' access to high-quality education that was context-appropriate and encouraged critical awareness. However, most PSL had not received formal training in school leadership and shared some conflicting and problematic MM of leadership as adult-centered, hierarchical, and savior-like. This finding diverges from existing literature on SJL, which is democratic, inclusive, and empowering all stakeholders. Based on the results of this study, MM was a useful lens to explore PSLs' views of justice and equity and how they subsequently enacted social justice to address inequities prevalent in their schools and communities to support marginalized students. Keywords: social justice leadership, mental models, rural schools, marginzalized students

Social Justice Training Through Student Engagement in Community-Based Research

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Israel ◽  
Alise Cogger ◽  
Kristin Conover ◽  
Audrey R. Harkness ◽  
Jay N. Ledbetter
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research
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