Social Justice Pedagogy

Once the foundations have been set and teachers, students, parents, and communities understand the features of oppression we strive to create social relationships, great positive communities, and a society that we all want to live in! Social justice education pedagogy is a set of principles and practices for teaching about oppression and social justice. According to teaching for diversity and social justice, “social justice pedagogy aims to generate active engagement with social justice content through learning process that are consistent with the goals of social justice” (27). The priority of social justice educators is to, model, and sustain socially just learning environments for all students in order to do that modeling equitable relations

Principle number two is to help participants acknowledge their own multiple positions within systems of inequality in order to understand how oppression operates on multiple levels. This principle helps students to acknowldge and reflect on their own personal identities and status and be able to then connect with others within the system. It is important that students understand the different identieies and norms that influence their views. Principle three states, anticipate, acknowledge, and balance the emotional with the cognitive components of social justice education learning. Socal justice learning is hard and emotional because studetns are exploring new ideas that might cause conflict, and brings about questions concerning real life issues. Principle four says to draw upon the knowledge and experiences of participants and the intergroup dynamics in the room to illustrate and discuss social justice content. This principle is stating that by sharing experineces within the classroom it helps students form a more open view of the world and gain important self –