From Object to Subject: Problematizing the Framing of Black Women in Current Teacher Education Research

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Black Women on Teaching (Table 6)

Abstract

Recently, efforts to increase diversity in the United States teacher workforce emphasize benefits to students without strategic consideration of minoritized teachers’ needs. Often, research focusing on hiring Black women discusses their increased numbers as a strategy to fill positions at “hard-to-staff” schools or position them as cultural saviors for Black children rather than on providing them with safe and uplifting employment opportunities. In this paper, I systematically review current teacher education literature focusing on Black women pre-service teachers. In illuminating how BWPSTs have been characterized in current literature, this analysis provides a frame to more critically explore their experiences and ultimately to support their developmental needs as classroom teachers.

Author

• Mariah D. Harmon, Pennsylvania State University