Justice in Education and Social Justice - Perspectives on Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of different conceptions of what initial teacher education should look like in order to prepare teachers to contribute to equitable education. Due to the diversity of conceptions of equitable education, the basic ideas about appropriate teacher education often diverge. In this paper, the criterion for classifying approaches to equitable education is the role of education in relation to social (in)justice. Two approaches can be identified: 1) reducing educational inequalities by remedying the consequences of social injustice (Edgar, 2022; Levinson et al., 2022); 2) contributing to equitable education by transforming unjust social relations (Cochran Smith, 2009; Soo Hoo, 2004). Since different conceptions of education imply different views of the role of the teacher, these two approaches to equitable education yield two approaches to teacher education: Teacher Education for Justice in Education and Teacher Education for Social Justice.