"Us Versus Them": Whose Work Is Equity Work?

• In Event: 31.043 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Professors' Struggle for Equity in the Academy

Abstract

Presentation B will examine one of the key tensions we have identified as central to the Equity Studies program’s challenges (and potentially opportunities) to enact substantive change towards greater equity in the academy. Some of these tensions occur as faculty in the equity program face “blocks” or resistance to progressive agendas. This presentation however will examine, in particular, how the us vs them tension lies in the context of teacher education. This tension has taken shape between a) instructors (equity faculty) and resistant student teachers; b) equity focused instructors and those who believe it’s not “their” work; and c) equity faculty and program administrators who set the tone and priorities for teacher education programs.

Researchers know that teacher educators, or those who prepare teachers, have been called upon to interrupt oppressive schooling practices. As Goodwin (2010) asserts:

Teacher preparation will need to become uncomfortable, a space for interrupting low expectations, deficit thinking, racism, classism, xenophobia, and all other kids of isms, if our intention is to develop teachers who can uphold the rights of children and are equipped to interrupt schooling practices that are discriminatory and harmful (p.26).

The challenging nature of this work has been acknowledged as “issues like race, class, and inequity are sensitive and loaded with emotion, and connect to our core beliefs (Goodwin, 2010, p.26). While there has been a push towards addressing critical issues of diversity and equity in teacher education courses, many scholars have documented and critiqued this effort to be artificially implemented (Dixson & Dingus, 2007; Evans-Winters & Hoff, 2011; Williams & Evans-Winters, 2005), contributing to “equity lite.”

An example of the us/them tension that can occur when equity faculty work with “resistant” student teachers. Student teachers can be resistant to engaging in the work of uncovering one’s own biases and assumptions. This is particularly true when this work is led by faculty of Colour. In their study on faculty of colour preparing teachers (who were predominantly White, middle-class), Dixson & Dingus (2007) found student teachers are resistant because they believe faculty of colour are not qualified, and so “are devoid of pedagogical, epistemological, and content-area knowledge that may inform their future classroom practices” (p. 644).
In this presentation, the author will share their own examples of these forms of resistance, that included:
Omission of ideas presented in critical readings/texts from assignments/papers, in-class activities
“Shutting down” when issues around race and Indigeneity are brought up as exhibited by indicative body language (head on the table, scrolling through phone, looking out of the window)

Ultimately, this part of the symposium presentation will examine whose work equity work is within the institution; and the costs and opportunities for faculty of Colour in particular to pushing the agendas of the institution towards meeting its mission and vision statements towards greater equity.

Author

• Pooja Dharamshi, Simon Fraser University