How Future Male Teachers of Color Experienced Their Male Teachers and Teachers of Color

• In Event: Centering the Psychological Experiences of Pre- and In-Service Teachers Across Contexts and Social Identities

Abstract

Objectives
This paper investigates Black and Latino men’s experiences with teachers who share their gender and/or cultural background, and how these experiences inform their perception of the profession. Male teachers of color—a group severely underrepresented in the teaching corps—can support the achievement and well-being of boys and students of color by leveraging shared cultural knowledge and by role modeling (Casey et al., 2015). Male teachers of color can be influential role models for young men of color who choose to pursue a teaching career. Thus, this paper examines Black and Latino preservice teachers’ experiences with teachers who shared social identities, and how these experiences relate to their understanding of their race-ethnicity and gender as future teachers.

Theoretical Framework
The FIT-Choice model (Watt & Richardson, 2008) posits that prior learning experiences are important antecedents to how individuals perceive a teaching career. The current investigation integrates the FIT-Choice model with aspects of Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020), especially the role of collective identities, such as race or gender. In this view, learning experiences influence and are influenced by students’ emerging social identities (Eccles, 2009). These identities, in turn, inform how individuals see opportunities and barriers to enact identity-related values within a career path.

Data Sources and Methods
Participants were 11 male undergraduate students (4 Black/African American; 7 Latino/Hispanic) enrolled in teacher training programs in a large urban mid-Atlantic university. Participants were interviewed about their decision to become teachers, including influential schooling experiences. Interview transcripts were inductive and deductive coded to identify themes relating to men's experiences as students with male teachers and/or teachers of color as well as professional strengths and challenges they associate with their gender and race-ethnicity.

Results
As summarized in Table 4, findings are discussed within three interconnected themes. The first theme describes how experiences with teachers who shared gender and/or culture were highly influential. The second theme describes men’s experience of gender and racial stereotypes and racism and the related challenges men anticipated as future teachers. The third theme describes men’s goals and aspirations as they relate to being a man of color working with diverse students in a primarily white female profession. Results describe both commonalities and variability in themes across participants.

Scholarly Significance
Findings underscore the positive influence of teachers who reflect students’ own race and gender, consistent with prior research (Dee, 2005). Results extend the literature by illustrating how Black and Latino men’s experiences with teachers who shared their social identities influenced their conceptualization of the cultural and gendered dimensions of teaching. In doing so, the paper “reimages” (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014) the FIT-Choice model to highlight race- and gender-specific aspects of learning experiences that may influence the perceived values and costs of a teaching career among men of color.

Author

• Bradley W. Bergey, Queens College - CUNY