Justice in Education: Experience of Teacher Candidates Enrolled in Primary School Education Program

Abstract

The aim of this study, in which a qualitative method-based phenomenological pattern was used, is to analyze the views and experience of teacher candidates of primary school education program about being fair. For this purpose, the relevant data were collected from the third and fourth-year students of a public university in Turkey in three steps. In the first stage, 93 teacher candidates were asked to draw a picture describing the concept of "justice"in education. The second stage of the data collection procedure was composed of writing down why they used the image(s) in their drawings, and in the third stage, randomly selected 12 students were interviewed for a more in-depth investigation in a focus-group interview. The data of the study were analyzed through content analysis method. According to the findings of the study, it was possible to discuss the teacher candidates' understanding the concept of justice, their personal experiences in terms of justice, their opinions about the characteristics of a fair teacher, and their understanding of how justice can be taught. In general, the results of the study show that the teacher candidates explain justice in three dimesions such as non-discrimination, equality and righteousness. Moreover, the teacher candidates explained their experience of justice in two dimensions such as experiences of justice in a fair environment and experiences of injustice in an unfair environment. In the light of the results obtained in the study, it can be advised to incorporate the subject of teaching the significance of justice in teacher education programs and to conduct applied researches on reflecting the significance of justice in the classroom environment.