Teacher Activism in Kentucky: A Political and Educational Awakening

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Paulo Freire Roundtable 3

Abstract

This qualitative study demonstrates how seven teacher activists in Kentucky describe their activism as “waking up” from the neo-liberal agenda. Beginning in 2018, legislative changes related to pensions and charter schools motivated Kentucky teachers to organize and participate in a series of sick-outs during 2018 and 2019. Participants share their reasons for becoming politically involved, as well as reflect on the ways that the governor and bill sponsors maligned their activism and their everyday work. In so doing, they connect national and state-level neo-liberal policies to the ways that political leaders and the general public understand and describe teacher work.

Author

• Jennifer Sink McCloud, Transylvania University