Impact of a Faith-Based Social Justice Course on Pre-Service Teachers

Rapid demographic shifts are occurring around the country. United States’ public schools are more diverse than any time in history. To help prepare pre-service teachers for these shifts, this small-scale qualitative case study explored the impact of a required social justice course for pre-service educators at a large private Christian university in the Southwest United States. Findings suggest that social justice courses for pre-service teachers can have an impact on students’ conceptualizations of social justice and teaching as advocacy, a relationship between students’ Christian perspectives and social justice, and an enhanced role of social justice in students’ personal lives.