Teacher Voices: Teaching Amidst the Conflict Campaign

• In Event: Teaching, Learning, and Leading Amidst the Conflict Campaign: Voices From Educators and Youth

Abstract

Objectives and framework

Most curricular traditions focused on supporting students of color or LGBTQ youth emphasize the need for teachers to try to thoroughly discuss real issues and experiences of diversity, inequality, and harm in society and schools in efforts to support students (Ladson-Billings, 2009; Gonzales et al., 2021). Education research also indicates that pursuing such accurate and inclusive discussion in classrooms is essential to supporting both young people of color and white students (Sleeter & Zavala, 2020; Wells & Cordova-Cobo, 2021). To support all students’ learning, skill-building, opportunity access, and basic belonging in school, that is, educators must build skills for talking about experiences of diversity and inequality in our society and schools (Lee et al, 2021).

However, in a national “Conflict Campaign” (Authors et al, 2022) politicians & organizations are targeting just such everyday schooltalk about and with students. Across the country, an inflamed and politically networked cohort of critics is working to restrict discussion, learning, and student support related to race and gender/sexual identity specifically in educational settings, targeting schools with state legislation and politicians’ orders; national conservative media and organizations; board directives; and local actors wielding media-fueled talking points. To date, few analysts have yet explored in detail educators’ lived experiences of these multi-level restriction efforts and local responses to them.

Mode of inquiry and data sources

We share new 2022 interview research (16 in-depth interviews) conducted with a sample of educators across the country. We interviewed all willing educators from the 2021 Conflict Campaign survey described above; we explored educators’ next experiences of 2021-22 restriction effort and local responses, with an eye to potential effects on student support and learning.

Results and significance:

Our analysis showed many educators experiencing broad threats to talking daily about race and LGBTQ lives in schools, given threatened punishment by critics at multiple levels for discussing these topics. Interviews indicated that context mattered tremendously: While some educators enjoyed support and freedom in race and diversity-related discussion and learning, other educators described intensive restriction effort emanating from local, state, and national pressures. Respondents also indicated that responses from local district leaders, school leaders, and other community members amidst such multi-level restriction efforts were crucial in effecting restriction or protecting the ability to talk and learn. Indeed, data suggest informally that the nation may be heading toward two schooling systems: one where children and adults get to talk openly about their diverse society and selves, and one where they are restricted or even prohibited from doing so. Meanwhile, research by others shows the majority of Americans actually support efforts to analyze our diverse and complex nation in school (Polikoff et al, 2022).

We will present illustrative quotes from these 16 educators and then, share draft talking points designed to support educators to tap education research to back up their daily efforts to talk about race and diversity. In an era when the Conflict Campaign is now chilling student support efforts in many locations, we propose that educators need to keep improving their efforts instead.

Authors

• Erika R. Reece, University of California - San Diego

• Reed Kendall, University of California - San Diego

• Emilie Homan, University of California - San Diego

• Abdul-Rehman M. Issa, University of California - San Diego