Relationships and Community: Essential Components of a Social Justice Bilingual Teacher Preparation Program

• In Event: Collaborative and Community-Informed Teacher Education

Abstract

The Bilingual Teacher Pathway Program is a program that has integrated and built upon a culturally responsive practices in higher education. Using focus group data of former students who are now practicing bilingual teachers, the participants (N 26) offer us a collective voice on behalf of educational equity and social justice in teacher education to support bilingualism and biculturalism in schools and society. Findings from a larger qualitative study point to the power of relationships and creating community in a higher education setting. The purpose of this paper is to describe and provide examples of how the Bilingual Teacher Pathway program has operationalized a social justice framework and how this has impacted graduates who currently teach in linguistically diverse classrooms.

Authors

• Esperanza De La Vega, Portland State University

• Maciel M. Hernández, University of California - Davis

• Motoaki Hara, Portland State University

• Carrie Susan Larson, Pacific University Oregon