Educational Sociology Commons^™

School Social Workers In The Milieu: Ubuntu As A Social Justice Imperative, Lynn Lim, Johanna C. Baez, Meghan Gabriel Pataky, Ellen Wilder, Hester Wilhelmina Van Sittert

International Journal of School Social Work

Supporting community resilience throughout the milieu, or school community, is a social justice imperative in providing trauma-informed approaches in education. More school social workers need to view their work as a community-level intervention with a trauma-informed approach that includes collaborating with students and staff throughout the building and within the neighboring community. This conceptual article will explore the humanistic concepts of the milieu as a focus of intervention and the South African value of ubuntu, our interconnectedness, through the lens of school social work. The milieu is a humanistic principle in which the community works together to support each …

Special Issue 2: Trauma Informed Care From A Social Justice Lens

International Journal of School Social Work

This editorial provides the rationale for the special issue as well as a summary of the articles in these two special issues.

Just Trauma-Informed Schools: Theoretical Gaps, Practice Considerations And New Directions, Stacy A. Gherardi, Myra Garcia, Allison Stoner

International Journal of School Social Work

Trauma-informed practices in schools have proliferated over the last decade and are often framed as social justice-oriented practices. This article assesses the theoretical and empirically supported basis for the proposed relationship between trauma-informed practices and social justice. It concludes the current theory of impact linking trauma-informed practices and social justice work is not supported by evidence. In response, we document theoretical gaps which limit the potential reach of trauma-informed practices in responding to social justice issues in schools and identify potential ways in which research and practice can respond to these gaps. We also highlight critical considerations for developing and …

Trauma-Informed Education Viewed Through A Social Justice Lens: Introduction To The Special Issue, Gary Walsh, Michael S. Kelly

International Journal of School Social Work

The purpose of this special issue is to apply a social justice lens to the question of how education practitioners operating within primary and secondary school contexts around the world are thinking about trauma-informed education and care. Papers explore what school social workers and other educators are doing to address these issues in schools and consider the broader implications of a global shift towards trauma-informed approaches in education. This special issue, the first one for IJSSW, features 10 papers from diverse fields (social work, psychology, education) that all reflect on how trauma-informed practices in schools can be enhanced and understood …

Trauma Informed Practices In Education And Social Justice: Towards A Critical Orientation, Mark Boylan

International Journal of School Social Work

Increasingly, educational practitioners committed to social justice embrace trauma-informed practices and those who advocate for and enact trauma-informed practices are committed to social justice. However, connecting social justice to trauma-informed practice requires greater conceptual clarity than is currently found, given the malleable meanings of both 'trauma informed' and 'social justice'. Further, the complex relationship between these educational aims is under-examined. To address these issues, an analytical framework is developed that brings together a model of forms of trauma-informed practice in education with orientations to social justice. This draws on models of social justice developed in social work and teaching, and …

Prioritizing School Social Workers' Roles And Responsibilities To Combat Oppression In K-12 Schools: Perspectives From Educators With Anti-Oppressive Orientations, Ashley-Marie Hanna Daftary

International Journal of School Social Work

This study used a subset of data from a larger qualitative research study that investigated anti-oppressive practices in K-12 education. Eleven educators with anti-oppressive orientations provided insight into various ways school social workers can combat oppression in K-12 schools. A flexible coding approach was used to analyze the data. Findings suggest that school social workers should consider prioritizing the following activities to combat oppression in schools: 1) Provide leadership in social justice work and anti-oppressive practice; 2) Increase visibility and integration on campus and in the classroom; and 3) Complement student interventions with psycho-education and social-emotional support for teachers. The …

“You’Re Almost In This Place That Doesn’T Exist”: The Impact Of College In Prison As Understood By Formerly Incarcerated Students From The Northeastern United States, Hilary Binda, Jill D. Weinberg, Nora Maetzener, Carolyn Rubin

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This qualitative study examines the immediate and lasting impact of liberal arts higher education in prison from the perspective of former college-in-prison students from the Northeastern United States. Findings obtained through semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated people are presented in the following three areas: self-confidence and agency, interpersonal relationships, and capacity for civic leadership. This study further examines former students’ reflections on the relationship between education and human transformation and begins to benchmark college programming with attention to the potential for such transformation. The authors identify four characteristics critical to a program’s success: academic rigor, the professor's respect for students, …

School Social Work: Now More Than Ever, Michael S. Kelly

International Journal of School Social Work

We are excited to publish our 5th volume of the International Journal of School Social Work, marking five continuous years of the journal's publication. This issue is arriving at a crucial time for our schools and communities around the world, and in this brief essay, I argue that it's never been a more exciting and consequential time to be a school social worker.

It’S Not All About Climbing Rocks: Reorienting Outdoor Educators Toward Social Justice, Sarah J. Clement

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

The field of outdoor adventure education was born in the Western world in the twentieth century because of several specific factors. These factors include, but are not limited to: changing Euro-American attitudes toward wilderness, Kurt Hahn’s character education schools and the pervasiveness of white supremacy. Today, outdoor adventure education is widely popular among the white middle class. According to current instructors in the field, outdoor education is for the purpose of individual development, learning in a wilderness setting and teaching students how to be environmental stewards for wild places. These purposes result from underlying, sometimes false, assumptions about the nature …

On "Icky" Data, The Political Classroom, And Towards Equity And Social Justice In Mathematics Education: A Conversation With Tonya Bartell, Samuel L. Tunstall, Oyemolade Osibodu, Tonya Gau Bartell

Numeracy

Tonya G. Bartell, ed. 2018. Towards Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing) 341 pp. ISBN 978-3319929064.

This brief interview with Tonya Bartell introduces Towards Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education to the Numeracy audience. The interviewers also discuss with Tonya connections between quantitative literacy and mathematics for social justice, particularly in the context of US K-12 schooling. Tonya shares her perspective on topics ranging from the placement of quantitative literacy in K-12 mathematics education and how one might get started in incorporating a social justice lens into their teaching to paradigms for research …

Pushing The Boundaries: What Youth Organizers At Boston's Hyde Square Task Force Have To Teach Us About Civic Engagement, Meredith L. Mira

Democracy and Education

Across the United States, researchers and youth workers alike have identified an increasing number of civically engaged youth who are organizing to improve their communities and schools. By taking an action-oriented approach, these youth are speaking back to the notion that they are uninvolved in society. This interview-based study explores the meaning-making experiences of youth organizers at Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) to better understand how they engage. Findings suggest that HSTF is engaging two broad groups of youth by focusing on both their personal development and their sense of community awareness. The study introduces an organizing model of …