Tippin the Tightrope: Forces That Push and Pull Social Studies Teachers’ Justice-Centered Praxes

Dichotomized approaches to social studies teaching and learning have taken center stage in national discourse, yet little is understood about how teachers make sense of these sociopolitical landscapes. In this study, we draw on conceptualizations of justice-centered praxes and case study methodologies to analyze open-ended questionnaire data from 192 K-12 social studies teachers in Illinois to understand the influential factors that supported their inquiry-based and justice-centered pedagogical praxes. We found that teachers experienced ecological and interpersonal forces that pushed them towards pursuing justice-centered praxes, though some of these forces also pulled them away from such aspirations. To visualize our analysis, we offer an illustrated metaphor that likens teaching social studies in the contemporary landscape to a tightrope walker’s (funambulist’s) journey between justice imagined and justice actualized. We conclude by asking readers to consider the material, political, and interpersonal ways that they might support teachers on this potentially perilous but ever-important journey.