Teaching Professionals or Stepford Wives? The Role of Teacher Education in Producing the "Stepford Teacher"

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: And We'll Rise Up! Critical Perspectives on Advancing Leadership and Research in K–12 Settings (Table 40)

Abstract

We present an allegory of teacher education using the horror film, Stepford Wives, to argue how teacher education programs produce like-minded people, attract similar bodies, and detract change and diversity due to the way it is built from the ground up. Much like the production of ideal robot mothers and wives in The Stepford Wives, there is also a push for “the perfect teacher” who is imagined as a “nice” white middle-class woman who is compliant, provides care, and makes learning “fun” for children. The allegory of “Stepford Teachers” allows us to demonstrate that it is no accident that most are white middle-class women.

Authors

• Ganiva Reyes, Miami University (OH)

• Brittany A. Aronson, Pennsylvania State University