Stories of Leaving: Examining Bilingual Teacher Shortage Through a Latina Spanish Bilingual Teacher's Narratives

• In Event: 81.019 - A Luta Continua: Navigating the Profession as Latinx Educators

Abstract

Addressing persistent shortages of bilingual teachers is crucial to improving educational opportunities, access, and outcomes for English Language Learners. Employing a critical narrative approach, this inquiry reveals findings from a longitudinal study into Spanish bilingual teachers’ experiences during their preparation and early teaching. This proposal focuses specifically on one participant, sharing her experiences as a novice teacher and decision to resign after her first year. In doing so it examines how, after successfully navigating a pipeline that leaks many potential candidates, she chose not to remain. Findings hold implications for pk-20 educational practices and policies, responding to calls to increase numbers of Latino and Spanish bilingual teachers, as well as to share narratives of Latino teacher experiences in the field.

Authors

• Christine Beaudry, Nevada State University

• Leslie M Gauna, University of Houston - Clear Lake

• Jane Mcintosh Cooper, University of Houston