The Role of Self-Study in Teaching and Teacher Education for Social Justice

Some concerns for inequity and injustice have always been present in self-study, but the blatant violations of power and privilege abound today globally. There is a constant threat to those who are not part of the dominant culture. We continue to grow more and more concerned for the rights of all who are othered: children, those of color, women, non-binary people, the LGBTQ community, poor, second language learners, immigrants, non-Christians, and people with disabilities. We recognize that examining oppression through an intersectional lens can magnify the impact of these injustices. We worry about all those who are marginalized, invisible, and voiceless: children and young people in our schools, the teachers who work with them, our school families and communities, our preservice teachers, and ourselves as teacher educators in schools, community colleges, and university settings. In this overview chapter, we begin by reflecting on how the S-STEP community has examined issues of equity and social justice in teacher education. We describe the ways in which this focus has emerged from the early Castle Conferences, several edited collections, to an extensive volume of articles published in the Studying Teacher Education journal. We then discuss the themes that have arisen around issues of social justice within S-STEP with illustrating examples from over 30 years of research. Finally we conclude with a preview of the chapters in the social justice section and the possibilities of self-study research for the future. Our intention for this chapter is to encourage the S-STEP community to increase their explicit commitment to social justice, embrace a more political stance, and ultimately engage in self-studies that result in social action and change.