Investigating Socio-Ecological Influences on Students’ Critical Consciousness
Introduction: Critical consciousness (CC) is a multidimensional concept involving an individual’s reflection on their own and others’ socio-political standing, commitment to rejecting injustices, and actions taken towards equity. Our qualitative study aims to understand how different aspects of students’ social ecologies, including ethnic studies and social studies curricula, shape students’ CC.
Methods: Ninth grade students (N = 112; 48 students of color) enrolled in either ethnic studies or U.S. government discussed issues and advocacy efforts in 24 focus groups, which we transcribed and analyzed. We engaged in first cycle deductive coding to identify theory-driven themes informed by CC theory using Nvivo software, and second cycle inductive coding to identify data-driven themes within responses.
Results: Our results showed that personal, local, and global events triggered adolescents to reflect on their positionality and potential actions against injustices. Their exploration factored in a range of socio-ecological influences (e.g., identity, curricula) and produced five distinct CC schema or patterns of analyzing events and planning actions (e.g., “Agent of Change” or “Educate Now, Act Later”). As adolescents’ schema motivated either critical action or disengagement, they iteratively updated their view on their positionality and inequities in society.
Discussion: Our findings show the complexity of adolescents’ interpretation of supports and barriers around critical action and point to ways that CC development could be supported, such as changing social norms and increasing institutional support in schools.