Teaching for Justice: Scaffolding Equity Education, Emotional Labour, and Teacher Preparation

Abstract

This chapter explores three racialized educators’ experiences teaching an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion course to pre-service teachers in Ontario. Drawing on self-study and counter-storytelling methodologies, we offer a collaborative reflection on the pedagogical, emotional, and structural challenges of teaching equity content in a sociopolitical climate marked by resistance. Our analysis is grounded in critical race theory and equity literacy, and focuses on scaffolding as a relational, justice-oriented pedagogical strategy, and on critical hope as an anchor for sustaining this work. Through thematic vignettes, we examine how student resistance, emotional labour, and institutional constraints are navigated, and at times, transformed, through intentional teaching practices that centre care, vulnerability, and professional responsibility. We argue that scaffolding is both a pedagogical tool and a political stance that enables educators to meet students where they are without leaving them there. Situating our practice in the broader context of preparing future teachers, we consider how these approaches can equip graduates to embed equity in curriculum, policy, and school-community engagement. Our work offers theoretical insight and practical strategies for teacher educators committed to equity and calls for systemic accountability from institutions that benefit from but fail to sustain this labour.