"Why Don't We Talk About This?" Preservice Teachers' Perspectives on School Violence

• In Event: 64.087 - MTCC Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 64.087-3 - #NeverAgain: Addressing School Violence and Student Trauma in Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Highly publicized instances of violence in preK-12 schools have proliferated; we explore preservice teachers’ (N = 116) perspectives on the threat of school violence as they prepare to enter the field. We collected data via questionnaires (n=104) and individual interviews (n=17) in the spring of 2018 across three teacher preparation programs at a mid-sized, public Midwestern university. Participants reported high levels of concern about school violence, but strong commitment to becoming teachers regardless of this concern. All students reported the desire for more preparation quantitatively, and qualitatively they described the desire for training around prevention and response, engagement in learning about policy, law, and politics, and open discussion of what they perceived as a “taboo” subject in their programs.

Authors

• Christy Suzanne Galletta Horner, Bowling Green State University

• Kristina N. LaVenia, Bowling Green State University

• Oluwatobi Ishola, Bowling Green State University