Envisioning Social Justice Education as Part of Inclusive Education

Deconstructing Gender Biases with Pre-Service English Teachers

Abstract

In this article, we approach the challenge of inclusive teacher education from the perspective of English language teaching (ELT). We do so by arguing for a broad(er) conception of inclusion that embraces diversity (rather than focusing on methodological challenges of learners with special educational needs) and which resonates with the Social Justice Education discourse. As one way of working towards social justice, we suggest uncovering and raising awareness of the representation of social inequities in cultural artifacts, using gender as our focal point. We present one activity that challenged student teachers to engage in inquiry-based learning concerning gender representations in their semiotic landscapes and show how this activity can serve as a puzzle piece in educating teachers for working towards social justice in their future English language classrooms. We emphasize the fact that the activity is embedded in pedagogical practices of modeling not only in the sense of teaching methodology, but in particular regarding the creation of democratic and compassionate classroom interaction that is needed for Social Justice Education and that we aim our students to introduce in their future classrooms, too. Finally, we draw some conclusions regarding ELT teacher education.