Voices Unheard: Critical Perspectives of Preservice Teachers of Color and the Implications for Educational Reform

• In Event: 61.049 - From Preschool to High School: Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers to Meet Students' Needs

Abstract

While there remains an overemphasis on the urgent need to prepare the mostly White, English-monolingual preservice teacher population for working in diverse urban settings, this paper turns the attention to an explicit focus on the limited presence of preservice teachers of color in the field of teaching and teacher education given that they can help us productively complicate the importance of cultural, linguistic, and racial differences in P-12 education. Through the use of interview research methods and critical discourse analytic tools to center the multiple voices and experiences of preservice teachers of color, this paper aims to shift dominant conversations about urban teacher education toward an intentional inclusion of, and attention to, their unique needs and perspectives.

In this paper, the authors present findings from a qualitative research study that examined the reasons students of color major and stay in (or leave) teacher education and documented their experiences in teacher preparation programs. Employing interview methodology, the research study explored: 1) the impact being a student of color with a marginalized racial, cultural and linguistic background has on one’s construction of a teacher identity and perceptions of what a teacher should be and 2) how teacher education—a discursive space dominated by White, English-monolingual, middle class perspectives—shapes the experiences of preservice teachers of color. The authors conducted a series of 3 semi-structured interviews with eight preservice teachers (2 male; 6 female), all completing teacher education coursework and participating in field placements. Relying on critical discourse analysis as a methodological and theoretical framework, the authors analyzed interview transcripts to unpack how assumptions of Whiteness and monolingualism are operationalized in the development and implementation of teacher education practice, and how non-White, multilingual learners are positioned within (or outside of) this practice.

The authors found that the examination of preservice teachers of color’s development of teacher identities in this context offers valuable insights about learning to teach and culturally responsive teaching processes, insights that are oft times peripheral to mainstream efforts. Findings suggest that culturally responsive teaching practices are reconceptualized when situated and located within the diverse and myriad histories of preservice teachers of color. Interview data revealed that preservice teachers of color capitalize on their cultural and linguistic backgrounds and experiences both in dialogue and in practice. All participants also pointed to their cultural and linguistic histories as main reasons for wanting to become teachers, and they viewed teaching as an avenue to “give back” to their communities and improve the access and quality of education for all students. In this way, we found that culturally responsive teaching was not just a strategy or pedagogical approach but rather a radical vocation and shift toward becoming agents of change and transformation.

To ensure educational attainment and opportunity for underrepresented cultural and linguistic groups in P-12 education, the educational research community must consult preservice teachers of color as a major source of guidance in teaching and teacher education reform efforts. This paper presentation aims to illuminate the voices and perspectives of those preservice teachers.

Author

• Marcelle M. Haddix, Syracuse University