Learning, National Ideology, and Grassroots Organizing: Teacher Organizing Through Inquiry in Philadelphia

• In Event: Neoliberalism in Education: Teacher Experiences and Responses

Abstract

Objectives:
This paper examines social learning among one small inquiry group made up of nine teachers who are active members of a rank-and-file teacher organization in Philadelphia. Specifically, the paper explores how these teachers come together to make sense of broader national ideologies, and how they connect this learning with their organizing practice. The paper asks: 1) How do these teachers make sense of neoliberalism and structural racism as national ideologies? 2) How do they see these ideologies (i.e. neoliberalism and structural racism) as shaping their education organizing practices?

Perspectives:
The study is grounded in literature from critical race theory (CRT), feminist epistemology and transformative learning. CRT emphasizes racism’s pervasiveness, socially constructed nature and advancement of dominant group interest (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). Feminist epistemology sheds light on the complex relational, emotive and collaborative elements of collective knowledge construction processes across intersecting identities (Belenky et al, 1997; Mohanty, 2003). Transformative learning highlights how learning, reflection and praxis support political transformation and organizing work (Foley, 1999; Freire, 2004). Taken together, these theories inform a critical perspective on how people come together to make sense of national ideologies and assert agency within broader systems of power.

Methods and Data Sources:
This study draws on qualitative participatory research methodologies (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; McIntyre, 2008). Data sources include audio recordings and transcriptions from eight inquiry group meetings, twenty-seven interviews (i.e. three interviews with each participant), field notes from inquiry group actions and written texts produced by participants in electronic and hand-written form. Modes of analysis include analytic memos, open coding, collaborative analysis and member-checking.

Findings:
This study is still underway, but initial findings suggest three emerging themes:
1. Relationship between neoliberalism and structural racism: Even as the inquiry group was specifically focused on the topic of structural racism, participants consistently put the concept of structural racism in direct conversation with neoliberalism. Inquiry group participants collectively came to articulate that neoliberalism and structural racism are ideological systems bound up together that reinforce systems of inequity and oppression in America.
2. Relationship between ideological context and organizing practice: Participants expressed an ongoing commitment to fleshing out interconnections and interrelations between neoliberalism and structural racism and indicated that they felt this learning guided, shaped and strengthened their organizing practice.
3. Ideological contexts seen as permeable and shifting: Participants consistently positioned themselves as agents when considering dominant power structures and systems. They consistently expressed hope that their organizing work could alter these broader systems of power.

Scholarly Significance:
In the past two years, American social movements have become increasingly concerned with and focused on matters of racial equity. This coincides with an upsurge in the number of teacher union caucuses seeking union transformation in the face of neoliberalism and austerity budgets. Little is known about how radical union caucuses, which tend to be predominantly composed of white teachers, understand and take up matters of racial justice in their organizing work.

Author

• Rhiannon M. Maton, University of Pennsylvania