Keywords
Canada; Education; Secondary; Education; Urban; Social justice – Study and teaching (Secondary)
Abstract
The researcher undertook a critical examination of an innovative social justice education course being piloted at an urban high school in the prairie region of western Canada. The research involved observations, conversations, document analysis, and in-depth interviews with a small number of students and teachers, in order to analyze the daily experiences, challenges, and successes of a group of students and teachers who have undertaken to address issues of discrimination, social justice, and human rights in their school. This research links ongoing academic and school work by focusing attention on the experiences of a specific group of students and their teachers in a unique and promising social justice education program. Findings point to a number of strengths of the course, including the comprehensive nature of the information surveyed, the strong theme of student involvement, the passion and commitment of the teachers, their honoring the complexity of understanding current social justice issues, the appropriateness of the course to student interests and strengths, the inquiry approach taken by the teachers, and the daily use of technology and the Internet in their learning.
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