Social Justice Education: Inviting Faculty to Transform Their Institutions - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1579223613 ISBN 13: 9781579223618

Publisher: Routledge, 2010

Synopsis

This book grew out of a project - involving deans and directors of teaching centers and diversity offices from six institutions - to instigate discussions among teachers and administrators about implementing socially just practices in their classrooms, departments, and offices. The purpose was to explore how best to foster such conversations across departments and functions within an institution, as well as between institutions. This book presents the theoretical framework used, and many of the successful projects to which it gave rise. Recognizing that many faculty have little preparation for teaching students whose backgrounds, culture, and educational socialization differ from theirs, the opening foundational section asks teachers to attend closely to their and their students' relative power and positionality in the classroom, and to the impact of the materials, resources and pedagogical approaches employed. Further chapters offer analytical tools to promote inquiry and change. The concluding sections of the book demonstrate how intra- and inter-institutional collaborations inspired teachers to rise to the challenge of their campuses' commitments to diversity. Among the examples presented is an initiative involving the faculty development coordinator, and faculty from a wide range of domains at DePauw University, who built upon an existing ethics initiative to embed social justice across the curriculum. In another, professors of mathematics from three institutions describe how they collaborated to create socially just classrooms that both serve mathematical learning, and support service learning or community-based learning activities. The final essay by a student from the Maldives, describing how she navigated the chasm between life in an American college and her family circumstances, will reinforce the reader's commitment to establishing social justice in the academy. This book provides individual faculty, faculty developers and diversity officers, with the concepts, reflective tools, and collaborative models, as well as a wealth of examples, to confidently embark on the path to transforming educational practice.

About this title

Review

"This book represents a useful resource for anyone planning a workship or faculty development seminar on social justice education. The volume is highly coherent, without being monological."-- (01/01/2012)

"This collection of essays on social justice in higher education is at once practical and inspiring. Editors Skubikowski, Wright, and Graf have selected essays that explore how faculty can work to infuse social justice goals at multiple levels in higher education, including the theoretical, intra- and interinstitutional, and pedagogical. The result is an excellent tool for faculty development around questions of social justice teaching--what are its purposes, and how can faculty accomplish it? Readers looking for ways to approach these questions across disciplines and sectors will appreciate this collection and its ambitious yet concrete approach."-- (02/01/2011)

About the Author

Kathleen Skubikowski is Director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Research and Associate Professor of English at Middlebury College. Catharine Wright is a lecturer and tutor in writing at Middlebury College. Roman Graf is Associate Professor, German Department, and Dean for Insitutional Diversity at Middlebury College.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1579223613
• ISBN 13: 9781579223618
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 268
• Editor: Skubikowski Kathleen, Wright Catharine, Graf Roman