A Survey Approach on the Effect of Critical Liberal Education on Undergraduate Teacher-Citizen Predisposition

• In Event: Roundtable Session 95
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Identity and Disposition in Diverse Learning Contexts

Abstract

Debate exists over effective teacher dispositions to function in socially diverse public school classrooms. Undergraduate teacher candidates have not been seriously considered in this area of research. This study used a pre- and post-survey approach (combination of discrete and open-ended items) to measure the effect of Critical Liberal Education (Chavez-Reyes, 2010) on candidates' civic-oriented disposition to understanding current public education issues. Results indicate that 55 undergraduate candidates at a California state university developed unexamined ideas of citizenship (voting and collective action) into an active and critical citizenship (equity and empowerment) that undergirded their intention to be teachers (teacher-citizen predisposition). Teacher education programs can nurture this predisposition further to create socially just educators.

Author

• Christina Chavez-Reyes, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona