Critical Service-Learning: Vehicle to Social Justice Education

Theoretical Framework

The theory of social justice education was employed in the study. Social justice education entails the ability to reveal and transform structural and systemic injustices in educational policies and practices (Mthethwa-Sommers, 2014). Social justice education has an overarching goal of attainment of democracy wherein historically marginalized group are centered, valued and fully included in the curriculum, and school policies and practices. This form of education requires the unveiling of various ways that schools devalue, erase, distort and dismiss contributions and existence of people of color, women of all races, LGBTQI people and people with disabilities (Bell, Adams & Griffin, 2007). Service-learning was employed as a social justice education vehicle to crystallize the devaluing, erasure, distortion and dismissal of people who have-non-normative identities in the US for pre-service teachers. Considering that social justice education has two tenets, namely, unveiling and transforming oppressive policies and practices, critical service-learning as a teaching methodology perfectly aligned with its goals.