Teaching for social justice: voices from prospective south Korean elementary teachers

Throughout the world, issues of social justice and equity are becoming a significant part of everyday discourse in teacher education. This qualitative study extends North’s (2009a) theory of teaching for social justice by illuminating prospective South Korean teachers’ conceptions of teaching for social justice in relation to their prior learning experiences and the national context. A total of three prospective teachers participated in in-depth interviews regarding how they made sense of what elementary students should know and be able to do to promote social justice and equity. Four major themes emerged from the data: the coexistence of contradictory beliefs; discontinued views on teaching critical literacy; the distinction between prospective teachers’ own critical literacy and their commitment to teaching critical literacy; and obstacles to teaching critical literacy. By connecting these results to existing scholarship, we suggest practical implications for teacher education.