Pre-service Teachers' Leading and Teaching for Social Justice

Scholars in education acknowledge the crucial role that pre-service teachers can play in addressing issues of equity and social justice in schools. Addressing the sources of injustice in schools and society requires pre-service teachers to become leaders who foster successful, equitable and socially responsible learning practices. In this paper, the researchers report on the responses of third-year pre-service teachers in a B.Ed. course at a South African university. Applying social justice principles, a discourse analysis was conducted in which pre-service teachers' perceptions about democracy, race and oppression were analyzed. Utilizing Critical Social Theory, their personal belief systems, commitment to democracy and taking responsibility for social thinking and transformation, were interrogated. The findings reveal that this critical social interaction affords pre-service teachers the possibilities of undergoing value-change in terms of their individual attitudes, preferences and intentions in order to teach and lead for social justice in schools.