Learning to notice for equity – a scoping review of the literature on equity-oriented teacher noticing

• In Event: “Noticing for Equity”: What Is It, and How Can It Be Developed?

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Scholars have called for teacher education to make equity a more integrated and explicit goal when preparing teachers to work in an increasingly multi-faceted reality (Cochran-Smith, M. (2020). Related to this request for enhanced teacher competency, is the field of “teacher noticing”, which has expanded over the last two decades, and where an emerging strand connects equitable teaching to how and what teachers notice in the classroom (Author and colleagues, 2017). The number of studies addressing “noticing for equity” has increased rapidly in later years, but there is a scarcity of knowledge about the characteristics of the literature. Accordingly, we address the following research question: What characterizes the existing literature about teacher noticing for equity?
We have conducted a scoping review of the research literature and aim to contribute to the discussion about how teachers, both prospective and in-service, can be educated and prepared to teach for equity. In addition, our study puts forward possible directions for future research on noticing for equity in teacher education.

Methods and data sources
The focus of our review is on studies connected to the socio-cultural perspective in teacher noticing that “call for anti-deficit noticing and emphasize the need for noticing practices that value the abilities of underprivileged students” (König et al., 2022, p. 3). According to Louie (2018, p. 61), most research on teacher noticing has overlooked Goodwins (1994) understanding of noticing as socially and culturally constructed, contested and political. Equity-oriented perspectives bring these perspectives back into light and bridge theoretical foundations with cognitive, psychological roots and critical theory, as exemplified by Hand (2012), who connected Masons’ (2002) discipline of noticing with Bourdieus’ concept of symbolic violence.

To answer our research question, intending to map the field, we have conducted a scoping review (Arksey & O´Malley, 2005), aiming to display the characteristics of the literature, through a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) of reoccurring themes. We conducted a systematic search in electronic data bases, in addition to hand searches and reference lists checks. Abstracts were imported to Covidence and screened by two reviewers based on the following inclusion criteria: (i) peer reviewed, (ii) English language, and (iii) equity-oriented teacher noticing as explicit focus. A total of 57 articles have been selected for full text review based on these criteria.

Results
The overwhelming majority of the studies are situated in the US and have a qualitative design, is conducted in the context of mathematics teaching, and have teachers or pre-service teachers as participants. Studies in other subjects, like langue arts, have been undertaken in a small, but rising number. According to our analysis, important (and interconnected) themes are “status, power and participation”, “anti-deficit noticing”, “responsiveness” and “teacher bias”.

Scientific significance
An investigation of the existing literature can provide a starting point for the process of developing a teacher education pedagogy for “noticing for equity”- catered to the needs of educational systems across different contexts.

Authors

• Inga Staal Jenset, University of Oslo, Norway

• Katrine Nesje, University of Oslo

• Tracey Lavalette, University of Oslo