Enhancing social justice and socially just pedagogy in higher education through participatory action research

Race and Social Justice: Building an Inclusive College through Awareness, Advocacy, and Action

“…They define a case as a "storied narrative, with various points of view, perspectives, and conflicts, and an ending without a clear-cut resolution" and suggest that, when supported by discursive and reflective practices that intensify the learning process, case studies can help build students' capacity by providing realworld application (2020, p. 211). Similar to the benefit of small group work and collaboration highlighted by Harbin et al (2019) and Aktaş (2021), Martin and Beese (2020) support the use of small groups of students in classrooms to analyze and clarify issues that arise from large group discussions, which help students connect theory and cases. The iterative process of having students read, question, discuss, analyze, and reflect on cases to develop solutions or optimal courses of action provides them with an opportunity to tackle real issues in meaningful ways.…”

“…Across disciplines, race and social justice education can supply students with the ability to both understand and challenge systems of oppression and to advance race and social equity in society (Harbin et al, 2019). Research supports approaches to teaching that centralize race and social justice and utilize transformative pedagogies to develop critical thinking and awareness among students, as well as teachers, concerning historic and current social issues (Hooks, 1994(Hooks, , 2003Adams & Love, 2010;Agartan & Hartwiger, 2020;Aktaş, 2021;Pérez, 2022;Veri et al, 2022). The inclusion of race and social justice issues in pedagogy informs and strengthens the commitment of higher education institutions to graduate students with an understanding of the social and cultural context in which they live.…”

“…With a Participatory Action Research framework, Aktaş (2021) argues that students can change education through reflection and action and a socially just framework can help them understand the social injustice of their educational experience and enable them to incorporate their lived context into course development, building their capacity while positioning them not merely as recipients of the educational process but collaborators in and owners of their learning. This framework actively engages students in community with teachers, collaborating to develop course content that accurately reflects the lived experiences of students and presents the perspectives of voices that are often omitted, dismissed, or ignored (Aktaş, 2021).…”

“…Another recurrent theme is the importance of building shared community and developing collaborative education planning between teachers and students to enable active engagement in social justice at the grassroots level of classroom, which allows both faculty and students to acknowledge and challenge the injustices perpetuated in higher education (DiAngelo & Sensoy, 2018;Harbin et al, 2019;Chin & Morales, 2020;Williams et al, 2020;Valderama-Wallace & Apesoa-Varano, 2020;Pérez, 2022;Veri et al, 2022). Finally, faculty must be deliberate and intentional with course planning and development, and mindful of employing assignments and assessments that align with learning outcomes around social and racial injustice (Harbin et al, 2019;Rodriguez & Huemmer, 2019;Aktaş, 2021;McGowan et al, 2021).…”