Editors: Dr. Cheryl Thomas, The Educator’s Room
Across local, national, and global contexts, teaching is increasingly under political, ideological, and institutional pressure. From book bans and curriculum restrictions to surveillance of classroom discourse, attacks on tenure, and the defunding of public education, educators are navigating an era in which professional autonomy, academic freedom, and pedagogical integrity are being challenged in unprecedented ways.
This special issue, When Teaching Is Under Threat, invites scholarly and practitioner-based contributions that examine the forces reshaping the educational landscape and the implications for teachers, students, and democratic society. We are particularly interested in work that interrogates how teaching functions not merely as labor, but as civic practice, cultural production, and moral engagement.
In recent years, escalating debates around race, gender, sexuality, national identity, and historical memory have repositioned classrooms as contested political sites. Legislative mandates, parental challenges, administrative constraints, and social media scrutiny increasingly shape what educators can say, assign, and explore. At the same time, teachers continue to serve as frontline responders to broader societal crises—mental health instability, technological disruption, economic inequality, and polarization.
This issue seeks to explore how educators navigate, resist, and reimagine their work under these pressures.
We welcome submissions that address questions such as:
- How do contemporary policy regimes restrict or redefine curricular freedom?
- What are the material and psychological effects of public attacks on teachers?
- How do educators practice ethical, culturally responsive, or justice-oriented teaching in restrictive environments?
- What forms of professional solidarity, union organizing, or collective advocacy are emerging in response?
- How do book bans, censorship efforts, or anti-DEI legislation reshape classroom practice?
- In what ways does educational technology both mitigate and intensify threats to pedagogical autonomy?
- How are early-career teachers, teachers of color, LGBTQ+ educators, and special education teachers uniquely affected?
- What historical parallels illuminate today’s climate?
- How can teacher preparation programs equip educators for contested spaces?
We are especially interested in interdisciplinary perspectives drawing from education studies, sociology, political theory, history, curriculum studies, critical race theory, disability studies, feminist theory, and related fields. Practitioner reflections grounded in classroom experience are strongly encouraged alongside empirical research and theoretical analysis.
Submission Guidelines
- Abstracts (500 words maximum) and a short bio (100 words maximum) are due May 31, 2026.
- Selected contributors will be invited to submit full manuscripts of 6,000–9,000 words (including references), due October 31, 2026.
- Please send submissions and inquiries to: editor@theeducatorsroom.com with the headline Journal Submission- Winter 2027.
As public trust in education is tested and teaching itself becomes a politicized terrain, this special issue aims to document, analyze, and amplify the voices of educators confronting these realities. At stake is not only the profession of teaching, but the future of democratic learning spaces.
We look forward to your contributions.