Transforming Our Mission: Animating Teacher Education through Intersectional Justice

Teacher education programs often focus on developing teaching professionals and leaders committed to advocating for students, yet pervasive deficit mindsets reinforce and (re)produce societal inequities. In this paper, we outline why and how a turn towards justice in teacher education is an appropriate strategy to reduce harm and marginalization in contexts of K-12 schooling. We argue that a justice-grounded teacher education mission must be aligned with the individual oath teachers take, and introduce four pedagogical stances through which intersectional justice can be integrated as a critical lens for – and key component of – teacher education. Finally, we share examples of how an intersectional justice mission for teacher education looks in practice.