Intersectional Tensions in Culturally Responsive Teaching Within the Varied Discourse of Diversity in Teacher Education

• In Event: 25.040 - Teaching and Teacher Education Intersectionalities With Race, Class, and Gender: Movement Toward Equity in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper presentation is to highlight how indeterminate discourse of diversity in teacher education can undermine the educational equity goal embedded within the teacher education approach for the development of culturally responsive teaching. Data was analyzed for inservice teachers in a large southern school district that specifically looked at differing interpretations and implications of “diversity” education and “culturally responsive teaching.” Research found that the particular discourse of diversity used in this district’s inservice teacher education and how this discourse was interpreted by district teachers tended to reinforce racial inequities in the schooling process. Because the district’s diversity education left unexamined teacher dispositions toward race, teachers tended to reinforce racial inequities in their schools. This was the case of teachers who claimed that their respective pedagogies were multicultural, intercultural, anti-racist, and/or cross-cultural. The author offers teacher education approaches that can be purposeful in helping teachers identify their own racial attitudes and potential biases that can undermine a commitment to educational equity. The importance of this research is illustrative of how the discourse of diversity and multiculturalism when left undefined by teacher educators can lead to a misapplication of culturally responsive teaching and the perpetuation of racial inequities for students of color.

Authors

• China Jenkins, Houston Community College

• Gwendolyn C. Webb-Hasan, Texas A&M University - College Station