ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the social, cultural, and historical context of education in Jamaica and discusses the problems of race, color, class, and poverty as they are enacted in urban schools. It describes a unique course that addresses some of the legacies of this social–historical context. The chapter proposes ways in which initial teacher education can prepare teachers who are capable of combating the legacies of colonialism and the inequities that it brought about, and who are able to adopt progressive pedagogies and engage in respectful relationships with diverse students. The social and economic divide is part of the context in which Jamaican students live, a divide that can be explained in part by the structure of the economy that existed at emancipation, which relied heavily on agriculture. Many laborers migrated from the rural areas in search of work in Kingston, which has more than one half the population of Jamaica.
