Preparing Teacher Candidates to Dismantle Social Injustice: One Exemplary Dual-Licensure Teacher Education Program

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Dismantling Social Injustice Among Teachers, Parents, and Students Across Race, Gender, and Sexuality (Table 32)

Abstract

Evidence of systemic inequities among schools indicates that teachers have been most challenged when called to serve students from what Crenshaw (1989) recognizes as intersecting, historically marginalized backgrounds in underserved communities. These inequities signal an urgency for teacher educators to assume responsibility for developing transformational approaches to teacher preparation that position teacher candidates to foster inclusive learning spaces. The findings from this case study of one exemplary dual certification program indicate that teacher educators worked to prepare teacher candidates to foster inclusive practices that dismantle social inequity through consistent teacher educator engagement in explicit discussions of racial injustice, in relation to intersecting social groups; and (2) positioning social injustice as a central lens within the curriculum.

Author

• Joyce M. Gomez-Najarro, California State University - Fullerton