Ethnic Studies, Teacher Education, and Filipino American Teachers

• In Event: 47.052 - The Power of Ethnic Studies: Impact on Teacher and Curriculum Development

Abstract

This paper advances a critical analysis of teacher education and Ethnic Studies. The study focused on the ways Ethnic Studies shaped teachers’ curricula, pedagogies, and teacher identities. I pay close attention to the experiences of Filipino American K-12 public school teachers working in communities across the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. This paper describes the ways Filipino American teachers utilized their knowledge of Ethnic Studies to augment the oftentimes deficit, narrow, and ahistorical narratives prevalent in their teacher education programs.

Research questions include:
1. How does Ethnic Studies inform Filipino American teachers’ pedagogies?
2. What strategies did Filipino American teachers employ in their teacher education to develop their racial analysis?
3. To what extent can mainstream teacher education learn from Ethnic Studies?

Ethnic Studies frameworks (Reyes-McGovern and Buenavista, 2016), anti-imperialist critiques (San Juan, 1998), and critical race theory (Kohli, 2009; Solórzano, 1997) guide the study design and analyses. A focus on Filipino Americans necessitates a closer examination of the knotted relationship between colonialism and education (Coloma, 2009; Halagao, 2010) and with vestiges of imperialism (Baldoz, 2001; Shaw & Francia, 2002). Moreover, critical race theory’s commitment to interdisciplinary perspectives and challenging ahistoricism (Buenavista, 2010; Solórzano, 1997) demonstrates how Filipino Americans can be understood against complex racialized histories.
Guided by portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) and network sampling, participants were recruited based on their knowledge of Ethnic Studies (learned in formal institutions or in activist/community organizing spaces). Eight K-12 public school teachers were selected ranging from elementary to high school and across content areas. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews (Merriam, 2014) and focus groups. Additional data included teachers’ written reflections and artifacts reflective of teachers’ relationship to Ethnic Studies. Data collection centered on the experiences of teachers with Ethnic Studies, their retrospective insights from their teacher education programs, and exploring the multiple ways teacher participants use Ethnic Studies for pedagogy and curricula, relationship building and responding to students’ needs.
This study identifies characteristics of what an effective teacher with a knowledge rooted in Ethnic Studies looks like and asserts the need to consider Ethnic Studies as a prime space for preparing and supporting critical teachers of color. Findings also contribute new insights toward: 1) how teacher educators can better support teachers of color with a particular critical consciousness and 2) approaches for bridging Ethnic Studies into teacher education. The curricular and pedagogical finesse found in these teachers’ praxis are both responsive and relevant to the needs of schools most vulnerable students.
The timeliness of this study for both Ethnic Studies and Filipino Americans is especially significant. Efforts to institutionalize Ethnic Studies in K-12 public schools are widespread while Filipino Americans represent one of the largest ethnic groups amongst Asian Americans. Considering Ethnic Studies as teacher education is indicative of areas of inquiry education researchers, policy makers, and teacher educators must engage. In a political moment marked by tumult, neoliberalism, and an emboldened white supremacy, Ethnic Studies offers possibilities of a necessary approach to transform education.

Author

• Edward Ryan Curammeng, California State University - Dominguez Hills