Parker, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4517-5544, Murtagh, L. and Sullivan, S. (2025) Life Grids and Collaborative Autoethnography: Exploring Social Justice Formation in Teacher Educators. In: BERA TEAN Annual Conference 2026, 20-21 May 2026, Sheffield Hallam University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Teacher education today operates within a policy environment dominated by standardisation and performativity, often side-lining the ethical and relational dimensions of teaching. Against this backdrop, embedding social justice principles in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is both urgent and challenging. This paper examines how social justice consciousness advanced among teacher educators when they engaged in a collaborative autoethnographic study (Murtagh & Dawes, 2022, and Chang et.al. 2016) using life grid methodology (Fuller, 2020). Three ITE leaders constructed chronological life grids to identify critical moments; personal and professional experiences that shaped their understanding of inequality, privilege and educational justice. These grids became catalysts for dialogic reflection, enabling the authors to interrogate how biography intersects with structural forces such as class, gender and policy.
Analysis revealed three overarching themes - Foundational Disruptions, where childhood encounters with unfairness created early awareness of systemic inequities; Recognition Moments, where adult experiences of privilege and difference prompted deeper reflection; and Professional Transformations, where personal histories informed pedagogical and leadership practices. These findings challenge linear models of identity development, illustrating that social justice orientations emerge through an iterative process of reinterpretation across time and context.
Methodologically, the study demonstrates the power of combining life grid analysis with collaborative autoethnography to foster ‘collective critical consciousness’; a shared, reflective awareness that supports transformative professional learning. This approach moves beyond individual introspection, creating spaces for vulnerability, ethical dialogue and supported challenge. Such practices are essential for teacher educators tasked with preparing beginning teachers to navigate diverse classrooms.
The implications for teacher education are significant. Programmes must embed structured opportunities for biographical reflection, cultivate psychologically safe environments for critical dialogue and adopt intersectional lenses. By doing so, teacher education can resist reductive, technocratic models and instead promote pedagogies that honour complexity, diversity and justice.
This study contributes to the field of teacher education by offering a research-informed model for integrating social justice into professional learning. Understanding one’s own story and valuing diverse narratives re-humanises teacher education equipping educators not only to teach for equity but to lead for justice.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Other)
Status:	Unpublished
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1705-2286 Education and training of teachers
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14231

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