Pedagogies of Social Justice: An Indian Case
International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part B)
ISBN: 978-1-78441-670-6, eISBN: 978-1-78441-669-0
Publication date: 22 August 2015
Abstract
Set in the Indian context, this chapter speaks of the wider concern expressed in teacher education more generally, that of increasing the efficacy of preservice teacher education for social justice. In India, equity in education has been a central concern within the striving for social justice since independence in 1947. Schools now include vast numbers of culturally diverse students, who were once excluded. However, notions of “standardization” and “homogenization” that tend to ignore their diverse voice, make transaction in the classroom an alienating experience for them. These normative ideas are challenged by emerging multicultural and critical perspectives in education which recognize linguistic and cognitive diversity and the need to create spaces for learners’ self-expression by nurturing their cultural identities in school. My chapter analyzes the effect of the collision of these two perspectives on an in-service ESL teacher and the culturally diverse learners she teaches. It then examines in what ways this pedagogy is promising for preservice teacher education that seeks to promote teaching for social justice.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
I thank Jacob Tharu for his careful reading of the draft and for the magnanimity of his response, and Cheryl Craig for her useful feedback.
Citation
Ratnam, T. (2015), "Pedagogies of Social Justice: An Indian Case", International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part B) (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 22B), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 253-282. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720150000025040
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited