Teaching for social justice in a colony: Puerto Rican educators creating decolonising futures

This article explores how five elementary and middle school teachers from public and private schools in Puerto Rico (PR) understand the barriers and possibilities of practising their profession in alignment with their social justice values. Drawing on decolonial theories and the Human Rights framework adopted by the PR Department of Education, we first contextualise the colonial history of Puerto Rican schooling. We then analyse teachers’ perspectives, collected using collage-making and dialogue; to highlight the practices they cultivate to sustain hope and possibility as they navigate the tensions in protecting and advocating for children within a dehumanising educational system. Finally, we argue that, while a Human Rights framework can provide a useful entry point for critical discussions about schooling, achieving educational justice in colonial settings requires decolonising efforts grounded in relationality, connection to land and collective care for which individual-rights approaches are insufficient.