“Irish Classrooms Opening American Minds to New Aspects of Social Justice Education.” 

Dr. Jacquelynne Anne Boivin is an Assistant Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, MA, USA, where she supervises student teachers, mentors honors thesis projects, and teaches math methods to elementary teacher candidates and seminars on deconstructing racism by integrating schools and decolonizing social studies curricula. She is co-chair of her department’s Anti-Racism Matters committee and supports and facilitates student and faculty professional development focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is also co-chair of the College of Education and Health Sciences’ Diversity and Equity Council. She is a former elementary school teacher who uses her experience in the field to contextualize her instruction in teacher-preparation. She is the author of the book, Exploring the Role of the School Principal in Predominantly White Middle Schools: School Leadership to Promote Multicultural Understanding and co-editor of Education as the Driving Force of Equity for the Marginalized, The Role of Educators as Agents and Conveyors for Positive Change in Global Education, and STEM Education Approaches and Challenges in the MENA Region. Her largest passion is authentically connecting academic disciplines with social justice skills and understandings. In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor adventures with her husband, Craig, a warm cup of tea with a good book and her cat, and cooking and baking with food she grows.

Dr. Sheena Manuel Rancher is an Assistant Professor of Special Education with 18 years of experience working with students of all ages (P-adult) and abilities (with/without disabilities), from paraprofessional to professor. Before joining Bridgewater State University, she served as a Teacher of Blind Students and National Orientation and Mobility Certified (NOMC) instructor for seven years, serving families in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida. Currently, she educates teacher candidates on social justice in schools and society and curriculum development for students with moderate disabilities in grades P-12. As a co-chair of the College of Education and Health Sciences’ Diversity and Equity Council, she works to increase Brave spaces to discuss social justice topics and implications and offer professional development around equity.

In May 2024, Dr. Boivin and Dr. Rancher traveled to Ireland with a group of teacher candidates and visited Marino Institute of Education in Dublin and St. Mary’s University College in Belfast and visited primary schools in Dublin and in Belfast where they observed teachers across a range of classes. This episode has been inspired by their visit to Ireland and their learning from Irish classrooms. In this episode we discuss the integration of social justice and equity in education, emphasizing their collaborative work and experiences. Jacquelynne and Sheena highlight the importance of explicit teaching of social justice, the role of teacher candidates in diverse settings, and the impact of cultural immersion in Ireland on their teaching practices. They address the challenges of addressing race and equity in predominantly white teaching environments, the significance of critical race theory, and the potential of AI in education. They stress the need for teacher candidates to be critically reflective, to understand and address biases, and to promote equity and inclusion in their teaching.

They both discuss how as teacher educators and teachers that “we really need to promote critique" and “not to be reluctant to critique, not to accept everything at face value, and to interrogate..So, you know, because things are never, always as they seem, either..there's always something. There's a context, you know, that surrounds everything”.