Social justice through effective antiracism education: a survey of preservice teachers

Abstract

The concern of this paper is the role of education in realising social justice through effective anti-racism education. This paper argues that there are two goals of anti-racism education: the curricular justice goal, which aims to deliver curricular justice to Aboriginal students, and the wider responsibility goal, which aims to redress the social disadvantage of Aboriginal people (defined in this paper as social injustice). I argue that if the two goals of antiracism education were achieved, namely curricular justice and wider responsibility, education would play a significant role in the construction of a just society. On the basis of both philosophical argument and appeal to current educational policy, I argue that a necessary condition for the achievement of these goals is that teachers adopt a social justice aim of education and operate with a needs-based notion of social justice. This article describes a study examining pre-service teachers’ aims of education and notions of social justice in relation to anti-racism education. The findings of the study indicate that only a small minority of the sample population of preservice teachers satisfy the conditions necessary for the effective implementation of anti-racism education and that courses undertaken have a significant effect on students’ aim of education and notion of social justice.