Empowering Pre-service Teachers for Social Justice: A Case Study in Türkiye’s Post-Disaster Education Landscape

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the February 6, 2023 Earthquake in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye have posed significant challenges to pre-service teacher education. The swift transition from face-to-face to remote teaching has led to social injustices, while students and pre-service teachers affected by the earthquake have had to adapt to new environments, including practicum schools. This case study, therefore, explores pre-service teachers’ sense of injustices in the aftermath of these crises and the resolutions that they implement to address these challenges. Participants include six pre-service teachers attending their practicum in the aftermath of the earthquake. Data come from retrospective interviews, journals, and social justice-oriented lesson plans. The analysis, carried out through coding, identified themes such as pre-service teachers' perception of injustice, responsive teaching practices, and reflections on these practices in the post-disaster term. In findings, each theme underscores the relationship between social and educational injustices, and professional responsibility and agency, providing a comprehensive understanding of PSTs’ roles in addressing injustices. PSTs reported a transition from viewing teaching merely as content delivery to recognising it as a dynamic interaction that addresses students’ emotional and social needs. PSTs’ responsive practices illustrate that SJTEP can serve as a tool for fostering awareness and advocacy for both social and educational injustices. Implications are shared to empower teacher education policies for promoting SJTEP in practicum.