Changing the Narrative: Decolonizing Qualitative Research Methods to Amplify the Experiences of Educators of Color

• In Event: Collaboratives, Collectives, and Communities: Making a Home for Research Among the People

Abstract

Objectives and Purpose:
Given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the Black Community, our organization sought to design a research project to understand the racialized impacts of COVID-19 on educators of color, with a particular focus on Black educators in South Seattle and South King County school districts (Road Map Project Region). We interviewed educators to understand their experiences as educators of color within their school environment, the impact of COVID-19 on their role, their experiences with burnout and whether and to what extent their school supported self care and healing.

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight how this research team uses our positionality to engage in research practices that center and uplift the experiences of public education educators of color. We will provide an overview of our current study, describe our methodological approach to community-based research and illustrate how our approach informs and strengthens our ability to engage authentically with our study population. Finally, this presentation offers several practical examples of ways to transform traditional data collection methods.

Perspectives and Theoretical Framework:
Our theoretical approach is informed by the idea of holism (Safir & Dugan, 2021), which is a core stance that integrates all aspects of learning - the emotional (heart), spiritual (spirit), cognitive (mind), and physical (body). “In this knowledge system, well-being is the ultimate goal, and the four elements of heart, spirit, mind and body cannot be separated” (p. 17). We also adopt a decolonized approach to qualitative research that centers the concerns and worldview of Indigenous and Afrocentric ways of knowing (Smith, 2021; Bakari, 1997). Within this framework, we use semi-structured interviews grounded in the understanding and recognition that (1) educators of color and Black educators, in particular, experience anti-black racism within their school environment; (2) Educators of color disproportionately carry the burden of mentoring and caring for students of color in predominantly White educational spaces and (3) Educators’ cultural knowledge, inherent skills and lived experiences often go unrecognized.

Methods, Techniques and Modes of Inquiry
We adapted our interview protocol to center educator well-being and framed interview questions to challenge education systems and create opportunities for educators to imagine liberatory school environments.

Recognizing that school systems rarely provide adequate opportunities for educators to process their racialized experiences, we designed our interview protocol to normalize the experiences of anti-black racism and create space for processing racial harm impact, as well as systemic failure to address burnout and self-care.

We also provided space for educators to discuss inherent skills, qualities or characteristics they incorporate into their role and whether their teacher education helped to develop these attributes. We found that many educators of color rely heavily, if not solely, on their lived experiences or their inherent skills of empathy, connectedness and cultural relatability rather than what has been taught in teacher education programs. Finally, we asked educators what they would change about the education system. Posing this question provided a space for them to begin to imagine what education spaces free of racial injustice can look like.

Authors

• Danika Martìnez, The Community Center for Education Results

• Kristin McCowan, Community Center for Education Results