Revolutionizing Bilingual Teacher Preparation and Professional Development: A Case for Ideological and Political Clarity

• In Event: Beyond Dreams and Possibilities—Revolucionarias en Acción as Movement Intellectuals Preparing Critical Pedagogues

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes: This conceptual paper presentation will engage colleagues in dialogue around the concept of ideological clarity, how to assist Dual Language Education (DLE) teachers in developing political and ideological clarity in their thinking, and to provide examples of how exemplary DLE teachers actually put their clarity into their practices.

Theoretical framework: We utilize a critical pedagogy theoretical framework to examine the significance of teacher ideological clarity within bilingual teacher preparation. A large majority of DLEs enter the classroom without ever having had the opportunity to deconstruct and to challenge their unconscious ideologies (Authors; Ek, Sánchez, & Cerecer, 2013). Although no research definitively links teachers’ ideological stances with particular instructional practices, many scholars have suggested that their ideological orientations are often reflected in their beliefs and in the way they engage with students in the classroom (Author; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Marx, 2006; Marx & Pennington, 2003; Sleeter, 1994).

Currently, bilingual teacher educators’ conversations revolve around the challenges to identify, name, and confront the pressing issues related to the exponential growth of DLE programs across the nation. Whereas the focus on best teaching practices to meet rigorous standards (Spanish and English) is important, it is equally imperative to interrogate the role ideology plays in how teachers work with historically subordinated student groups.

Unless teachers engage in the process of consciously questioning the status quo, their worn beliefs, and their classroom practices, they will, at best, become technicians that continue to perpetuate the existing dominant ideology and social order. If teachers are to experience a breakthrough to epistemological solidarity and courage, they must strive to become ideologically clear, particularly on issues of persistent hegemonic classroom practices, so as to announce and denounce (Macedo, 2000) ideological or structural obstacles to teaching for equity and social justice. We contend that teacher educators as well as classroom teachers must resist and interrupt persistent hegemonic ideologies and practices being transferred from monolingual classrooms into dual language settings as part of a powerfully transformative and deeply political and imperative pedagogical process (Author; Delpit, 2008; Freire, 1993).

Based on our previous work, we suggest that teachers working on improving their ideological clarity recognize that teaching is not a politically neutral undertaking. They understand that they can either maintain the status quo, or they can work to transform the sociocultural reality at the classroom and school level. We posit that teachers who engage in the process of developing ideological clarity come to realize that they are their own bilingual, bicognitive, and bicultural voices of activism as well as advocates for their students, families, and communities.

Scientific/Scholarly Significance:
There is a critical need to help bilingual teachers develop ideological and political clarity that will enable them to interrogate their own deficit views. As well, teachers need to critically examine if and how their views are manifested in their teaching practices. By purposely studying the construct of ideology in DLE teacher preparation coursework and professional development, teachers can be more comprehensively prepared to effectively work with bilingual student populations and their families.

Authors

• Cristina Alfaro, San Diego State University

• Lilia I. Bartolome, University of Massachusetts - Boston