Why Don't Teachers Reflect the Racial and Class Diversity of the Students They Teach?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 44
  In Roundtable Session: Identity Work, Teacher Work: Reconstructing the Real Work of Teaching

Abstract

How do school organizational practices hinder the diversification of the teaching workforce? Drawing from observational and interview data from an ethnographic case study of two NYC schools, I point to three processes that help explain the persistence of a predominately White teaching staff. First, these schools relied on lower-tier staff to fulfill their diversity ideal, shifting responsibilities for culturally responsive pedagogy onto non-teaching staff members. Second, school leaders provided more resources and support to teachers who embraced a teaching philosophy where high content knowledge was more important than social or emotional learning, which tended to reward wealthy White teachers. Finally, teachers interacted with co-workers along segregated racial lines, resulting in weak networks for minority teachers.

Author

• Johanna S Quinn, University of Wisconsin - Madison