Meeting at the threshold? Understanding educators’ personal narratives for social justice teaching.

Social justice and equity continue to be a key focus for both policy and practice in Scottish Education. Despite this, within initial teacher education (ITE) relatively little attention has been devoted to understanding how ITE academics develop their knowledge of social justice. Informed by a Freirean theoretical framework, this study aims to explore how the lived experiences of teacher educators influence their knowledge, beliefs, philosophies and pedagogies for social justice teaching. The empirical study draws on the participation of academic staff currently working in ITE as well as primary classroom teachers, based in Scotland. As part of the study, and to stimulate working in a diverse classroom environment, the ITE staff spent a brief period in a primary school. Following this, alongside the classroom teachers, they participated in a focus group, to explore how their experiences influence the sources of knowledge that they draw from in their practice of teaching for social justice. Preliminary findings from the empirical data suggest that teacher educators are highly reflective, knowledgeable about the curriculum and have a fervent desire to meet the needs of all children and families. Whilst they may convey a strong consensus of effective teacher practice, in part due to professionalisation this may limit the importance of dissensus, that may be crucial when challenging the range of inequities in the education system. Perhaps more interventions are needed for teacher educators to further develop a political awareness and critical consciousness as an integral element of social justice teaching.