Theory, Practice, Community: How Preservice Teachers of Color Navigate Relationships with Local Communities During Student Teaching

• In Event: Preparing for Equity and Justice: A Multi-Perspectival Exploration of One Urban Teacher Preparation Program

Abstract

Purpose
Teacher education has long grappled with the tension between theory and practice as preservice teachers navigate between the two-worlds (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1985) of coursework and fieldwork. More recently, teacher education has grappled with supporting the theoretical and practical preparation of teachers of color (Brown, 2014; Chávez-Moreno et al., 2022, Kohli, 2009; Souto-Manning & Emdin, 2020). This paper considers preservice teachers’ relationships with the communities surrounding their fieldwork placements, positioning those communities as a third “world” to navigate. This paper examines the role that surrounding communities play for preservice teachers in teacher education, particularly for preservice teachers of color and Indigenous teachers (PTOCIT) in urban-focused, justice-oriented teacher education programs.

Theoretical Framework
Literature documents widespread experiences of marginalization and isolation PTOCIT face during preparation (Bristol & Goings, 2019; Kohli, 2009; Kohli, 2018; Rodriguez-Mojica et al., 2020). Research on culturally affirming teacher education reveals the importance of community-engaged preparation (Petchauer & Mawhinney, 2022) and emphasizes the alignment between the foundational value of betterment of local communities across many communities of color (Ginsberg et al., 2021) and university-community partnerships that foster alignment between theory and practice (Gasman et al., 2017). Theories of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (Alim & Paris, 2017) underscore the relevance of PTOCIT relationships to the communities they learn to teach in, particularly in urban-focused, justice-oriented programs where fieldwork sites are often located in communities of color. These theories also articulate the importance of theoretical and practical educational experiences that are grounded in community cultural values.

Methods
This study employs ethnographic methods to trace the development of PTOCIT relationships to surrounding urban communities during teacher preparation. This study follows 15 PTOCIT across two urban-focused, social justice oriented teacher preparation programs - one in a predominantly white institution (PWI), one in a minority serving institution (MSI). PTOCIT participated in three interviews across their teacher preparation program. I also draw from weekly observations of PTOCIT in their programs’ respective courses designed around synthesis of theory and fieldwork. Using several rounds of flexible coding (Deterding & Waters, 2021) of interview data, observational fieldnotes, and field memos, I traced the evolution of PTOCIT relationships to surrounding urban communities throughout the year.

Findings
Analysis reveals PTOCIT relationships with the communities around their placement schools to be an important dimension of teacher preparation that PTOCIT grapple with as they make sense of the theory-practice tension. Participants named community connection and partnership as important core values, personally and professionally. Participants grappled with what it means to connect and partner with communities and the role that this relationship plays in their overall development as teachers, particularly within the visions of community partnership presented to them by their programs through coursework and fieldwork experiences.

Significance
These findings support prior research on teacher education programs’ relationships to community engagement and offer insights into how PTOCIT make sense of their positionality in fieldwork experiences. As teacher education continues to grapple with supporting PTOCIT across theory and practice, future research should consider how programs can support PTOCIT in bridging theory, practice, and community.

Author

• Adina Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania