Modeling Responsible Change: Outcomes of a Middle School–University Partnership in Critical Service-Learning

• In Event: 61.061 - Communities as Central Places of Preservice Teacher Learning

Abstract

In 2016, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) adopted and fully implemented a set of accreditation standards that support the critical dispositions developed by the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC). According to InTASC Standard 2, pre-service teacher candidates must use “understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards” (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011, p. 11).
Essentially, teacher candidates must demonstrate a dispositional perspective that all children can learn and be successful in school. Further, they must exhibit appreciation and respect for the variety of languages and diversity of backgrounds of their future students. Consequently, teacher preparation standards in the United States require multiple and varied clinical experiences to prepare teacher candidates for working with diverse students. To this point, there is an expectation that exposure through experience will help to cultivate teachers’ dispositions, their behaviors and values, which many argue will result in the development of practices and beliefs that facilitate learning for all students (Borko, Liston, & Whitcomb, 2007; Burant, Chubbuck, & Whipp, 2007; & Villegas 2007).
This study examines the potential of critical service-learning as a method by which teaching candidates can develop these types of justice-oriented dispositions. According to Mitchell (2008), university professors who utilize a critical service-learning approach must emphasize the skills, knowledge, and experiences that provide opportunities to “transform
[students] as engaged and active citizens” (Mitchell, 2008, p. 52). Beyond simply doing service related to the academic content of a course, critical service-learning enables students to “articulate their own visions for a more just society and investigate and contemplate actions that propel society toward those visions” (Mitchell, 2008, p. 56). It has become widely accepted that although there are possible benefits in using a service-learning pedagogy, instructors facilitating these partnerships must exercise caution and be intentional about activities that require service providers (students) to reflect on the their ideological, political, and social positionalities (Butin,
2015; Eby, 1998; Kahne & Westheimer, 1996).
Critical service-learning in teacher preparation programs has the potential to engender a social justice mindset. Thus, in this study, descriptive and narrative analysis are used to determine the impact that a service-learning course on education has on pre-service teachers’ perceptions about teaching in urban schools. This paper describes and justifies critical service-learning through a presentation of findings from an explanatory case study (Yin, 2003) where undergraduate pre-service teachers collaborated with eighth graders in their own critical service-learning project. Narrative analysis of pre-service teachers’ journal responses explores the ways in which the undergraduates’ perspectives on schooling and educational equity were challenged by engaging with middle school students attempting to enact social change in their communities. Further, findings suggest that with a carefully prepared curriculum and pedagogy and a well-developed community partnership, this work deeply impacts both the people being served and those providing the service. Further, this partnership cultivates a justice-oriented mindset as pre-service teachers approach careers in urban education.

Author

• Heather Marie Coffey, University of North Carolina - Charlotte