Teacher Education and the Marginalization of Ethnic Studies Teacher Candidates of Color

• In Event: Social Studies and Ethnic Studies

Abstract

With the passing of AB 101, every California high school is required to offer a semester of Ethnic Studies (ES) by 2025. Parallel to this, however, are growing movements suppressing racial discourse across the U.S. This paper centers the experiences of nine teacher candidates of Color enrolled in an ES concentration in a teacher education program in a region of Southern California with a vocal opposition to Critical Race Theory. Although they enrolled in a concentration that aligned with their political goals and ideologies, the larger program and cooperating teachers did not share their critical ideologies. We draw attention to the embedded whiteness that prevailed and disrupted their well-being, even in a space designed to disrupt it.

Authors

• Rita Kohli, University of California - Riverside

• Corinna D. Ott, University of California - Riverside

• Patriccia Ordoñez-Kim, University of California - Riverside