Allies in the classroom: Understanding the commitment to and essence of social justice among Preparing Future Faculty scholars

A dissertation by Sandra L. Neumann

The creation of a learning environment for today's college students that embraces social justice is essential if psychologists are to take part in preparing students to exist and function effectively in our increasingly diverse society. A social justice classroom incorportes awareness of our social identities and acting as allies to students from marginalized groups.

Using racial identity awareness as a primary example, this project combines a variety of methods to understand the relationship between identity and commitment to social change among participants in the national professional development program, Preparing Future Faculty. While Study 1 utilizes a quantitative paradigm and focuses on the relationships between racial awareness, being an ally, and teaching practices, Study 2 relies on a phenomenological approach and allows for a broader examination of how participants understand their social identities and the implications of these identities in the classroom and in terms of acting for social change.

Commitment to teaching from a social justice perspective, racial awareness, and commitment to being an ally were all significantly interrelated. The essence of social justice included working for equality through ending oppression, being allies and role models for students, and incorporating the self into classrooms. Participants were motivated to engage in a social justice philosophy because of a sense of duty, personal experiences and social identies (not the least of which was racial identity). While problems were encountered, a variety of classroom strategies were utilized in order to share this philosophy with their students.

Limitations and future directions were provided, as was a call for improved training of future teachers of psychology.

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