Social Justice Education: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers

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1 Social Justice Education: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers Patricia Isaac, Ph.D., Jelia Domingo, Ph.D. & Tina Wagle, Ph.D. NYSATE & NYACTE 2013 Fall Conference October 18, 2013

2 Preparing Teachers For a Changing World On a daily basis, teachers confront complex decisions that rely on many different kinds of knowledge and judgment and that can involve high stakes outcomes for students future. To make good decisions, teachers must be aware of the many ways in which student learning can unfold in the context of development, learning differences, language and cultural influences, and individual temperaments, interests, and approaches to learning (Bransford, Darling-Hammond, & LePage, 2005, p.1) Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 2

3 The Changing Classroom Concentration of Students Eligible for Free- or Reduced-Price Lunch Among public school students in , higher percentages of Hispanic (37 percent), Black (37 percent), and American Indian/Alaska Native students (29 percent) attended high-poverty schools than did Asian/Pacific Islander (12 percent) and White students (6 percent). The Condition of Education: - NCES English Language Learners in Public Schools The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English language learners (ELLs) was higher in at 10 percent (or an estimated 4.7 million students) than in at 8 percent (or an estimated 3.7 million students.) Children and Youth with Disabilities The number of children and youth ages 3 21 receiving special education services was 6.5 million in , or about 13 percent of all public school students. Some 38 percent of the students receiving special education services had specific learning disabilities. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 3

4 Social Justice Education As Hackman (2005) stated, social justice education encourages students to take an active role in their own education and supports teachers in creating empowering, democratic, and critical educational environments. Social justice education does not merely examine difference or diversity but pays careful attention to the systems of power and privilege that give rise to social inequality, and encourages students to critically examine oppression on institutional, cultural, and individual levels in search of opportunities for social action in the service of social change. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 4

5 Why Social Justice Education? Why Promote Social Justice? Engage NY Promoting Social Justice is an ISLLC (Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium) Standards for School Leaders Standard 5: An education leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner -E. Promote social justice and ensure that individual student needs inform all aspects of schooling. Dignity for All Students initiative and the Educating All Students require social justice be addressed in the curriculum and school culture. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 5

6 Master of Arts in Teaching Program & Social Justice Education is a Natural Fit into ESC Given the previous definition of social justice education (SJE), the keywords support the academic practice at SUNY Empire State College and its work with adult learners. This type of education allows students a democratic space in which to actively participate in their education while learning strategies that empower them and those within their fields of influence. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 6

7 The Relevance of Social Justice in Teacher Preparation The current driving forces in teacher education today are content knowledge and effective pedagogy. In order to prepare teachers for social justice education, 5 criteria should be met (Hackman, 2005): Content mastery Tools for critical analysis Tools for social change Tools for personal reflection An awareness of multicultural group dynamics Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 7

8 Hackman s Five SJE Criteria Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 8

9 Lipman s Imperatives as a Vision for Teaching Social Justice Education Equity- all children should have equal opportunities and rights Agency- education should empower students to be change agents Cultural Relevance- teachers should use students culture to support academic success Critical Literacy- schools should be a place in which students can examine knowledge and their own life experiences critically (2004) Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 9

10 Covering the Bases In Sleeter s (2001) review of research studies focused on preparing pre-service teachers to serve diverse student populations in historically underserviced communities. She found the following three teaching methods to be most commonly used with varying degrees of success: Community-Based Cross Cultural Immersion Experiences Multicultural Education Coursework Multicultural Education coursework with a Field Experience. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 10

11 Educating All Students Our Social Justice Education aligns with conceptual framework of the new Educating All Students test (EAS). 5 main areas addressed by the EAS Diverse student populations (EUS, EXC, TDL, MCAD) English language learners (EUS, TDL) Students with disabilities and other special learning needs (EXC) Teachers Rights and Responsibilities (Teacher Responsibility Website, Orientation, Professional Expectation Policy) School-home relationships (EUS) Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 11

12 Dignity for All Students Act Signed into law Sept 13, 2010 went into effect July 1, 2012 Addresses issues related to harassment and discrimination in schools including amendments to codes of conduct Amended State Education Law by creating a new Article 2 Dignity for All Students Act As a result of the Dignity Act, the Board of Regents amended Commissioner's Regulation 100.2(c) to include classroom instruction that supports the development of a school environment free of discrimination and harassment, including but not limited to, instruction that raises awareness and sensitivity to discrimination and harassment based on a person s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender, and sex. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 12

13 How our SJE Curriculum Aligns with the DASA Effective Urban Schools and Teaching Diverse Learners courses highlight the problem of bullying, provides strategies that support a bias free classroom community for GLBTQ students and diverse student populations. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 13

14 NEA Social Justice Strategies Focus on diversity awareness of the diversity in communities is critical to fostering social justice Address real consequences of oppression when discussing social justice in lessons or staff meetings, it is important to acknowledge the real social and economic disadvantages that oppressed people face in society, not simply the psychic harm of oppression Understand the mechanisms that perpetuate oppression i.e., those attitudes and behaviors (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism) from a position of privilege Resist hierarchies of oppression form strategies to foster justice with an inclusive mindset: who is being left out? Seek to address social justice on three levels personal (self), institutional (school) and societal (community). Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 14

15 Best Practices for Preparing Pre-service Teachers for Cultural Diversity Centralize multicultural education throughout program (Cochran-Smith, Davis, and Fries, 2004) Incorporate multiple theories to explain school failure (Ladson-Billings, 1999) Provide transformative learning experiences to counter ingrained ideologies (Sleeter, 1996) Expanded knowledge base to challenge traditional knowledge (Irvine, 1997) Inquiry based approaches to facilitate transferring multicultural theory to practice (Gay, 2002) (Summarized in Trent, Kea, Oh, 2008) Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 15

16 Research on Pre-service & In-Service Teachers Perceptions of CTS and MEAB Upon reviewing our claims and documentation for our TEAC Brief, the Caring committee concluded that students needed to be active participants in the discussion on caring teaching skills. It was decided to assess pre-service teachers perceptions of caring teaching skills via the 2011 & 2012 summer course Teaching Diverse Learners. Students were introduced to Nel Noddings, and reviewed her articles titled, A Morally Defensible Mission for Schools in the 21 st Century, (1995) and Caring in Education, (2005). In the online discussion students were given questions. In this module discuss caring in relation between the teacher and student, the teacher and parent and the teacher and the community. Define what you believe to be caring teaching skills. 1. Should the moral imperative of schools focus on developing caring, competent and loving individuals? Will a curriculum that includes caring improve student achievement? Will this detract from the academic curricula? 2. Is there a difference between being a caring teacher and having caring teaching skills? Define caring teaching skills. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 16

17 Of 51 students recruited 19 responded with a % rate of return. Emergent themes based on the 2011 Teaching Diverse Learners summer discussion posts about caring and caring teaching skills were: Caring is: Modeling modeling caring for students, so they can model caring Developing caring and confident students Take action when students are in need or mistreated Being compassionate Empowering students to achieve their best Fostering a safe and positive classroom environment Caring Teaching Skills: Guidelines for teaching Is acquired through training Not mutually exclusive from each other- splitting hairs between caring and caring teaching skills Teacher demonstrates caring to students on a daily basis Meeting needs of students Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 17

18 EBMAS The 2012 EBMAS is a 38 item, 6 point Likert scale instrument designed to capture pre-service teachers and teachers perceptions and multicultural beliefs about diverse learners. The survey was revised and comprised of 10 demographic questions and 40 items. Students who enrolled in the 2012 Teaching Diverse Learners summer course were recruited online and in the summer course. Of the 50 students recruited, 12 students completed the survey with a 24% rate of return. 22 items of the EBMAS where students rated Strongly Agree to Moderately Agree and Strongly Disagree to Moderately Disagree on specific items totaling 75% -100 % response rates were identified. The 2013 EBMAS was modified to only include only 20 of the highly rated items. 23/119 pre-service teachers and in-service teachers responded. Findings In-service teachers scores lower than pre-service teachers for CTS & MEAB Caring Teaching Skills requires further defining and exploration as a specific pedagogy. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 18

19 Summary of Findings CTP For CTP- high agreement between groups on Q, 6,8,11 & 20 (respect, meet standards, role of teacher & empower students. Low agreement on Q 1,2,3,4,15, &18 (teacher s influence, student motivation, teacher training/ preparation, teaching critical thinking, teacher s role in building community) In-service teachers are not feeling in control in their classroom teaching, which may have an impact on self-efficacy. Pre-service teachers feel a stronger sense of self-efficacy.

20 Summary of Findings- MEAB For MEAB- high agreement on Q, 9 & 10 (teachers can learn for their culturally diverse students, & stereotypes still exits). Low agreement Q 5,7,12,13,14,16,17,&19 (problems of low SES too complex, teacher s responsibility to be culturally aware, methods for teaching diverse students, being multiculturally aware is not relevant for the subject I teach) For some In-service teachers being multiculturally aware is not central to teaching. Pre-services teachers overall express a stronger sense about multicultural awareness and beliefs in teaching.

21 Conclusion In an analysis of our first year MAT foundation courses, we have found that we use a variety of best practices to ensure a strong social justice emphasis in our curriculum which is aligned with the Educating all Students framework and the Dignity for All Students Act. We are expanding our scope by exploring the idea of being a caring teacher and fostering ways to develop a caring teaching pedagogy. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 21

22 References- Ambe, E. B. (2006). Fostering multicultural appreciation in pre-service teachers through multicultural curricular transformation. Teacher and Teacher Educator, 22, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (2003). Culture, language, and student achievement: Recruiting and preparing teachers for diverse students. Chicago: Author. Barnes, C. J. (2006). Preparing preservice teachers to teach in a culturally responsive way. The Negro Educational Review, 57 (1-2), Bransford, J., Darling-Hammond, L., & LePage, P. (2005). Introduction. In L. Darling- Hammond, & J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass. Cochran-Smith, M., Davis, D., & Fries, K. (2004). Multicultural teacher education: Research, practice, and policy. In J. Banks & C. Banks (Eds.). The Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education 2nd ed.,pp San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 22

23 References Gay, G. (2002). Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students: Setting the stage. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 75, George, P., & Aronson, R. (2003). How do educators cultural belief systems affect underserved students pursuit of postsecondary education? Honolulu, HI: Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. Hackman, H. (2005). Five essential components for social justice education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 38(2), Irvine, J. (1997). Critical knowledge for diverse teachers and learners. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). Preparing teachers for diverse student populations: A critical race theory perspective. In A. Iran-Nejad & D. Pearson (Eds.), Review of research in education. Vol. 24 (pp ). Washington DC: American Educational Research Association. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 23

24 References Lipman, P. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York: Routledge Falmer. Noddings, N. (1995). A morally defensible mission for schools in the 21 st century. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(5), Noddings, N. (1995). Teaching themes of care. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), Noddings, N. (2003). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education, 2e. Berkeley: University of California Press. Noddings, N. (2005). Caring in education. The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, Peske, H. G. & Haycock, K. (2006). Teacher inequality: How poor and minority students are shortchanged on teacher quality. Washington DC: The Education Trust. Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 24

25 References Sleeter, C. E. (1996). Multicultural education as social activism. Albany: State University of New York Press. Sleeter, C. E. (2001). Preparing Teachers for Culturally Diverse Schools: Research and the Overwhelming Presence of Whiteness. Journal of Teacher Education 52(2), Trent, S. C., Kea, C. D., & Oh, K. (2008). Preparing Preservice Educators for Cultural Diversity: How Far Have We Come?. Exceptional Children, 74(3), Villalpando, O. (2002). The impact of diversity and multiculturalism on all students: Findings from a national study. NASPA Journal, 40(1), Isaac, Domingo & Wagle SUNY Empire State College 25

Multicultural Education: Perspectives and Theory. Multicultural Education by Dr. Chiu, Mei-Wen

Multicultural Education: Perspectives and Theory Multicultural Education by Dr. Chiu, Mei-Wen Definition-1 Multicultural education is a philosophical concept built on the ideals of freedom, justice, equality,