Students Take Center Stage: Developing Self-Advocacy Through Educational Psychology in Teacher Education

• In Event: Teaching Educational Psychology Poster Session

Abstract

In every corner of the nation, countless students would benefit from amplification of voice and agency to become their own advocates to pursue goals of self-value and self-meaning. However, holding certain students back from the critical development of self-advocacy is the confluence of two strands: an increase in the prevalence of student mental health concerns intersecting with a lack in the efficacy of teacher advocacy training in college/university teacher education programs.
Drawing on research-based strategies from educational psychology, the authors support the possibility of assisting teacher educators with preparing preservice teachers to support students’ development of self-advocacy through mental health literacy, diversity, and activism. Such self-directed advocacy can benefit students of all mental health and learning profiles.

Authors

• Anne J. Steketee, Millikin University

• Sherilyn Kile

• Michael Doria