Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to explore the methodology being used in the research project, Socially just pedagogy: exploring the spaces, and to report on the findings of its pilot study. The purpose of the research project is to investigate the discourses that promote or inhibit socially just pedagogy. The theoretical framework on which the research is based acknowledges the importance of modernist-influenced critical pedagogy, while highlighting problematic aspects that are addressed, to some extent, by post-structural and feminist theorising. The fieldwork consists of two main phases: a series of two focus groups and a number of semi-structured interviews. At the time of writing this paper, the focus groups were completed. The second phase of the fieldwork is scheduled for completion during the latter half of 2002. The data collected will be re-presented in narrative form and then analysed in terms of the discourses that promote socially just pedagogy, as well as those that stymie such practice. The direction of the major study has been informed by the findings of the pilot study which suggest that some teachers view pedagogy in technical ways while others attach emancipatory meanings to the term.