Social justice teacher education and culturally democratic Pedagogy: el camino se hace caminando

As a commentary text to Antonia Darder’s “Reflections on Cultural Democracy and Schooling”, this text is a reflection on how the author, as a teacher educator working in language teacher education, has been influenced by Darder’s thinking, namely on her work on bicultural education and on culturally democratic pedagogy. It seeks to evidence how Portuguese (im)migrant students and students from ethnolinguistic minorities are perceived as subaltern students in Portuguese public schools and the role (language) teacher preparation plays in counteracting power imbalances and transforming pedagogy for these students. Some examples from student teacher narratives are presented, to illustrate how social justice teacher education is developed in the author’s practice, in order to decolonize a neoliberal hegemonic perspective in pedagogy and in teacher education in Portuguese schools.