A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Visual Microaggressions in Teacher Education

• In Event: Naming Injustice, Confronting White Supremacy: Examining Issues of Diversity in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine visual microaggressions embedded in projects created by preservice teachers (PSTs). We qualitatively analyzed the images that PSTs (N=97) included in a website assignment for a required child development course and their written reflections on the images they incorporated. The following semester, six PSTs participated in focus group sessions where they reviewed the images used in the website projects and reflected on the messages they conveyed. Findings included four types of visual microaggressions related to 1) portraying children’s home lives as unsafe and unhappy, 2) showing teaching as a white profession, 3) white saviorism, and 4) reinforcing negative stereotypes about poverty. Recommendations for teacher education and coursework are included.

Authors

• Kyle Elizabeth Miller, Illinois State University

• Carolyn Hunt, Illinois State University