Practitioner research as a pedagogy for social justice

Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. University of Limerick, Republic of Ireland.

 

This blog post provides a short summary of the paper Embedding practitioner research as a pedagogy for social justice in physical education teacher education, highlighting how its key ideas can support teacher educators in using practitioner research to connect social justice theory with placement-based practice. The paper offers a powerful example of how practitioner research can be embedded in teacher education to support pre-service teachers in moving from awareness of social justice issues towards thoughtful, context-sensitive action. Situated within physical education teacher education, the study explores how pre-service teachers engaged with practitioner research during school placement as part of the SRASI project, a North–South collaboration across two teacher education programmes in Ireland.

At the heart of the paper is the idea that social justice cannot be treated only as theoretical content to be discussed in university sessions. Instead, it needs to be connected to the real, complex and sometimes uncomfortable experiences that pre-service teachers encounter in schools. Practitioner research becomes a pedagogical bridge between theory and practice. It allows pre-service teachers to identify an issue, examine it critically, gather evidence, reflect on their own assumptions, and consider possible actions within the realities of their placement context.

For teacher educators, this approach has significant potential. It can be used to structure placement-based inquiry, where students investigate questions related to inclusion, equity, gender, disability, participation, voice, belonging or access. Rather than asking students simply to “apply” social justice theory, teacher educators can support them to ask: What is happening here? Who is included or excluded? What assumptions shape this practice? What can I do, even in a small way, to respond?

The paper also reminds us that developing social justice awareness is not straightforward. Conscientização, or critical consciousness, is presented as a difficult and evolving process. Pre-service teachers may notice injustice but feel constrained by school cultures, assessment demands, mentor expectations or their own novice status. This is precisely why practitioner research is valuable: it does not assume simple solutions. Instead, it creates space for critical dialogue, collective sense-making and contextually realistic action planning.

 

 

Paper reference:

Calderón, A., Scanlon, D., Luguetti, C., Murtagh, E., Walton-Fisette, J., Macphail, A., … Moody, B. (2026). Embedding practitioner research as a pedagogy for social justice in physical education teacher education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2026.2665675