Despite increased attention to topics of social justice, its meaning remains ambiguous and largely contested. In a 2011 special issue about social justice and education in The Journal of Education Foundations, the editors concluded that “there is no consensus about what social justice in education is” (Gordon & Generett, 2011, p. 4). (I know, not very helpful.)
I equate teaching for social justice with critical pedagogy. The goal of critical pedagogy is to help students “perceive social, political, and economic contradictions” and take action “against the oppressive elements of reality” (Freire, 2014, p. 35). It connects the school curriculum with the social, economic, cultural, historical, and political processes within which the teachers and their students exist (Beyer & Apple, 1998). However, the term "social justice" seems to have become more popular in the education literature in the last 20 years.
References:
Beyer, L. E., & Apple, M. W. (Eds.). (1998). The curriculum: Problems, politics, and possibilities (2nd ed.). New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
Freire, P. (2014). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Gordon, J., & Generett, G. (2011). Introduction to special issue: Social justice and education. The Journal of Educational Foundations, 25(1-2), 3-6.
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