Student-Teachers' Experiences of Being and Becoming: Social Justice Disposition Formation and Struggle

Abstract

This critical qualitative study examines the experiences of undergraduate education students using narrative inquiry and biographical narrative analysis to understand more about being and becoming a social justice educator. Research questions include: how do prospective educators form a social justice disposition and how do they experience cognitive and affective disequilibrium along the way? Attempting to answer these questions builds upon the sprawling literature of social justice education (SJE) by providing some experiential insight into the complexity of its transformational intent. This study is conducted in light of what has been called a ‘demographic imperative’ for SJE practices and programming as well as a concern with institutional reproduction of domination. The author provides a conceptual and theoretical model of SJE which forwards the argument that knowledge relative to critical social theory (CST) can constitute an ethico-onto-epistemology necessary for social justice praxis in education, and that the pursuit of such a disposition inherently involves the experience of disequilibrium. In substantiating such an understanding, it is hoped that the investigative findings provide teacher educators with a deeper view of the dynamics of dispositional change and identity formation and offer some opportunity for reflection and pedagogical refinement. Additionally, it is hoped that this study contributes to ideologically driven debates over teacher preparation and the purpose of schooling. Finally, this study hopes to help facilitate the development of teacher education programs with explicit social justice outcomes. Keywords: social justice education, critical pedagogy, teacher education, teaching dispositions, teacher identity, social justice disposition, dispositional formation, disequilibrium, struggle