The People United: Unity as a Tenet of Critical Professional Development

• In Event: Critical Professional Development as Dialogical Action: Centering Teachers' Social Justice Needs

Abstract

Objectives
Freire (1970) delineated theories of antidialogic actions to explain how power and oppression are maintained through conquest, manipulation, cultural invasion, and divide and rule. While Freire referred to disenfranchised communities, in current K-12 educational contexts, teachers too are positioned as passive subjects in their development. LaGuardia et al., (2002) describes shifts in PD: “the essence of this change is from that of an active and creative participant in the change process, to one of passive recipient of externally designed and mandated training in how to improve test scores: from agents of change, to objects of change” (p.14). This paper focuses on a teacher-led PD series called Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGs) offered by a grassroots teacher activist group aimed to redirect this trend.

Theoretical Framework
Freire explained that “it is in the interest of the oppressor to weaken the oppressed still farther, to isolate them, to create and deepen rifts among them” (p. 141). This trend of divide and rule often manifests in K-12 schools when parents, teachers and students are pitted against each other to lay blame for educational failure. This fractured state of school personnel can result in professional isolation, which contradicts Freire’s notion of unity- a key component to liberation in which people facing oppressive forces and those struggling for change work in solidarity with each other.

Methods
ItAGs have been offered annually for the last seven years. For four of those years, participants filled out anonymous surveys that captured their reflection of the impact of the ItAG on their teaching practice and educational philosophy. This qualitative data from 70 surveys were analyzed using grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006; Foss & Waters, 2007).

Results
The ItAG structure worked to build unity among people filling diverse roles. Most antidialogical PD is attended exclusively by classroom teachers and typically by teachers at the same grade or subject area, which serves to maintain divisions within educational communities. In contrast, while the ItAG attendees were mainly classroom teachers, also in attendance were former teachers, pre-service teachers, administrators, among others. By overcoming rifts serving the status quo, participants developed unity and appreciated what they learned from like-minded people. By developing relationships across roles, the participants were able to develop the unity that Freire deems the starting place for liberatory action. The participants were able to receive critical feedback who shared their views and understood their professional settings. This sense of unity provided a safe space where participants discussed critical content, their classroom practice, and their school communities.

Significance
In a time in which market based reforms and PD is the norm, teachers committed to SJE need to take their development into their own hands. By creating spaces that united those concerned with educational justice, CPD allows people to engage in philosophical and taboo discussions, and to reflect on dialogic action for social change. These opportunities, often unaddressed in the banking methods and technical content of APD are necessary components in supporting educators to move toward justice inside and outside of their classrooms.

Authors

• Bree Picower, Montclair State University

• Natalia Ortiz, City University of New York