Education Commons^™

Taking Responsibility: The Multiple And Shifting Positions Of Social Justice Educators, Debbie Sonu, Rachel Oppenheim, Shira Epstein, Ruchi Agarwal

Publications and Research

In this article, we present a qualitative multi-case study of three beginning elementary teachers working in New York City and describe the distinct ways in which each articulates her responsibility to teach a social justice-oriented education. We employ positioning theory to examine how teachers narrate their relationship to the concept of social justice and how this relates to the ways in which they identify themselves and others as capable and qualified to engage in such work. We find that responsibility to teach for social justice is often delegated based on a perception of experiences with injustice and wonder how this …