Strand Descriptions for Teaching and Learning for Equity and Social Justice
The conference invites papers that address issues of equity and social justice in the practice of teaching, learning, and research. Presentations that address the following areas are welcome:
Teaching and Learning for Equity and Social Justice
This strand seeks to engage educators from a broad range of education practitioner contexts: K-12, urban education, higher education, adult education, and teacher education. Examples of ideas in this strand include: Does ‘politics’ have a place in the classroom? How are attempts to seek equity and social justice not only factoring into educational reform movements but being taken up in local classroom contexts as well? How are themes related to equity and social justice being grafted into curriculum, pedagogy, and hands-on instructional practices? How can collaboration between community-based projects / initiatives and formal education contexts embellish equity and social justice work? Finally, what is the ‘role’ of the learner in equity and social justice work?
Critical Race Studies
In a society marked by the tension between the illusory consolations afforded by post-racial discourses and movements of civil protest and resistance like Black Lives Matter, the question needs be posed: ‘What is the role of the educator/researcher/practitioner – as a racially constituted being – in the work of equity and social justice?’ In particular, this question hints at the potential importance of reflexive practices surrounding the race-entrenched themes of power, positioning, and privilege as these co-constitute the subjectivities of both teachers and learners. Papers would also do well to wrestle with the transposition of reflective practice into action.
Critical Youth Studies
This strand invites scholars from a wide variety of disciplines whose research explores contemporary discourses about childhood and youth, and especially as these intersect with popular culture and researcher reflexivity. In particular, it is asked: ‘What are contemporary forms of youth civic and political engagement that bypass conventional (some may say, sanitized) understandings of civic and political engagement, and what are the advantages of educators/researchers/practitioners becoming more literate in these?’ In addition, this session invites scholars whose focus of inquiry explores the cultural practices of young people across cultures or rigid identity boundaries.
Women’s Studies
The intersection of gender with race, ethnicity, colorism, sexual orientation, and disability is the focal core of this strand. How can conceptual and theoretical insights from within the field of Women’s Studies aid in the deconstruction of contemporary systems of social brutality and work to demystify the range of social practices that constitute cultures of exclusion? Furthermore, how can feminist theories speak to contemporary local and/or global trends in migration and the affective political reactions and responses these evoke? What is the role of emotion in the reflective work of educators/researchers/practitioners, and how can emotion be harnessed in the work of agitating for social change and transformation?
STEM
The question of what social justice looks like in STEM education has been an important one for practitioners and researchers alike. For this particular strand we invite contributors to consider the ways in which they have either incorporated social justice in their research or practice as educators, or to trouble the notion of what social justice education may look like for those in STEM fields. We believe that this particular strand should allow contributors to submit papers that help us to re-conceptualize what it really means to be committed to social justice in fields that often seem removed from this conversation. Additionally, presentations highlighting the relevance of quantitative research approaches and methodologies for equity and social justice work are encouraged.
Educational Reform in the 21st Century
Proposals in this strand might grapple with themes similar to the following examples: From which enabling personal and communal resources do teachers draw in the attempt to mitigate the effects of the blame often imputed to teachers once a mismatch between policy directive and classroom practice becomes apparent? What are the dominant ideologies that inform recent and contemporary instances of educational planning and policy, and how can educators/researchers/practitioners exercise an influence over educational planning and policy through collaboration? What are appropriate ethical responses to the commodification and standardization of education, and how can these ethical responses be translated into concrete action? Of course, these are merely three examples that demonstrate contemporary tensions inherent in the relationship between planning, policy, and practice. Presenters would do well to further explore this relationship.
Law & Education
This strand invites legal scholars who research and/or practice law as it pertains to inquiries surroundin the way the law and lawmakers operate to promote or suppress equity in schools, school districts, and communities. Specifically, this strand begs the question: What are the legal issues affecting K-12 public and private education, as well as post-secondary education? Furthermore, how does the law impact state actors such as teachers and school leaders, as well as students’ access to a quality and equitable education?
Beyond Education
This strand aims to provide an open platform for both interdisciplinary work and research conducted in fields not directly associated with education, but nevertheless within which themes of equity and social justice take on timely relevance. Alternatively, presenters whose research themes do not substantially intersect with any of the six focus areas strands are welcome to submit to this strand. Again, the relevance of the theme of reflexivity and its relationship to equity and social justice work needs to be engaged.