Division G: Social Context of Education is one of the 12 divisions of the American Educational Research Association. It examines processes of teaching and learning within a social context. Such an examination takes under consideration social, cultural, political, discourse, and economic influences. Hence, cognition, language, learning processes, and social organization are considered as they are situated in local and global contexts and in relation to demographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. These complex views of teaching and learning provide a context in which to shed light on the ways in which significant social and technological change shapes our educational research, policy, and practices. We encourage submissions that examine the ways in which the new knowledge economies operate to include and exclude, embrace and marginalize, offer access and create barriers for learning in formal and informal contexts.
The five sections described below represent different ways of analyzing or focusing on educational issues in social contexts.
Section 1: Education and Place, Space, Time
Education and Space, Place, Time encompasses research related to geographical (space and place) settings as well time—the past, present, and futures of teaching and learning in formal and informal venues. Spatial units of analysis may be comprised of classroom, school, community, region, nation, and/or global scales. Temporal considerations may include historical and contemporary conditions and imagined and potential futures that are currently being conceptualized. The purpose is to build descriptions of and theoretical insights about teaching and learning across time and for present futures.
Section Chairs: Benjamin D. Parker, Coastal Carolina University, bdparker12@gmail.com;
Nelson Flores, University of Pennsylvania, nflores@ upenn.edu.
Section 2: Differences and Intersectionalities
Differences and Intersectionalities emphasizes scholarship focused on experiences and implications of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, language, nationality, social class, dis/ ability, region, religion, spirituality, and additional forms of diversity. This section considers work regarding the intersection of differences across and between education institutions and home/ community, theory and practice, social barriers and constraints, and sources of agency that may contribute to educational opportunity and change.
Section Chairs: Sheretta Butler-Barnes, Washington University in St. Louis, sbarnes@brownschool.wustl.edu;
Lasana Kazembe, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, lkazembe@iu.edu.
Section 3: Languages, Literacies, and Representations
Languages, Literacies, and Representations centers on the power, intricacies, and effects of languages, literacies, and representations. It documents and examines sign and representational systems that are textual, oral, visual, and affective; that engage embodied ways of knowing; and that draw from different literacies (Indigenous, global South, etc.). It addresses bilingualism, multilingualism, and bi-/multi-cultural literacies in formal or informal education (including foreign language, bilingual, and English as a Second Language settings). It examines representations in schools, popular cultures, music, media, and other informal educational sites.
Section Chairs: Ramón Martinez, Stanford University, ramonmtz@stanford.edu;
Ayanna F. Brown, Elmhurst University, abrown@elmhurst.edu.
Section 4: Policies, Mattering, and Praxis
Policies, Mattering, and Praxis highlights inquiry into micro and macro education policies, politics, and praxis. This section encourages analyses of sociocultural contexts of education policy through approaches that highlight processes, histories, lived experiences, and outcomes. How and where policies, politics, and praxis matter; to whom and for what purposes; and how across pasts, presents, and futures are foci of this section. Innovative ontological, epistemological, and methodological approaches are welcome.
Section Chairs: Kim Song, University of Missouri-St. Louis, songk@umsl.edu;
Sara Woodruff, College Transition Collaborative/Equity Accelerator, woodruff.sarae@gmail.com.
Section 5: Inquiry, Transformation, and Communities
Inquiry, Transformation, and Communities highlights the possibilities, insights, and challenges of education research. Analyses— including race/ethnic, feminist, queer, indigenous studies; decolonial, transnational; quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods; ethnography; participatory action research; sociocultural; historical; geographical; and new methodologies—that are situated within local and/or global contexts of education; are transdisciplinary, collaborative, culturally appropriate; activist/advocacy oriented; theoretically and methodologically innovative; and that have the potential for fostering transformative outcomes in education and communities are encouraged in this section.
Section Chairs: Fikile Nxumalo, University of Toronto, CA, f.nxumalo@utoronto.ca;
Korina Jocson, University of Massachusetts Amherst, kjocson@umass.edu.
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AERA Division G: The Social Context of Education 