Cross-Disciplinary Coursework as a Vehicle to Cultivate Collective, Sustainable, Anti-Oppressive Practices in Novice Teachers

• In Event: Critical Hope and Collective (Re)Imaginings: Intersectional Approaches to Decentering Whiteness in an Initial Licensure Program

Abstract

Purpose/theoretical framework
The university's teacher education program is currently undergoing a redesign of the initial licensure programs (ILP). The revised conceptual framework centers equity, social justice, and action as core principles. This research captures the next steps needed in cross-disciplinary courses (CDC). Students in the ILP experience six CDC regardless of their licensure area. This study used narrative inquiry to identify how recently licensed teachers (RLTs) viewed the effectiveness of CC in their first classrooms to sustain and develop anti-oppressive practices. While recognized as best practice for new teacher candidates (Andrews et al., 2019; Ladson-Billings, 2021; Love, 2019), research is needed to examine how anti-oppressive pedagogy is internalized and acted on by RLTs (Matias & Boucher, 2023). We identified what experiences in the ILP were (in)effective in preparing RLTs for the realities of anti-oppressive work within two years of program completion. Novice teachers hoping to center anti-oppressive teaching practices navigate complex school policies and procedures while engaging in praxis (Freire, 1970/2018). This study captures narratives within RLTs' cycles of reflection and action to determine the critical changes necessary to align courses to the revised conceptual framework.

Methods
Through the process of narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2004), Math, Science, English, and Social Studies teachers’ stories were gathered through semi-structured group interviews and follow-up one-on-one conversations. Transcriptions of the interviews and conversations, as well as post-interview field texts, served as data sources. All were examined to understand the extent to which CDC prepared RLTs to engage in and internalize anti-oppressive pedagogy.

Results
Themes critical of the CDC emerged in the group interviews, follow-up conversations and researcher field texts, specifically ways the courses were disconnected, redundant and overwhelming. In addition, participants indicated the need for collective action across disciplines to sustain anti-oppressive pedagogy within inherently oppressive education systems. The RLTs desire for action steps within the current political climate in which anti-oppressive pedagogies are targeted and under attack was clear. This is especially important for RLTs as their job placement is tenuous, and they may be risk-averse.

Scholarly significance
Using narrative inquiry as a methodology and method, multiple identities and roles continually flowed through our work (Clandinin, 2006). Inquiry into participants’ experiences required unsettling our white, female, cis-gender positionality to (re)imagine a more anti-oppressive approach to teacher education (Matias & Boucher, 2023) and to examine the role a white researcher should play when conducting educational research focused on anti-oppressive pedagogy (Corces-Zimmerman & Guida, 2019). This study contributes to the conversation on teacher preparation and the connections between anti-oppressive coursework and practice. Exploring the impact of the ILP on RLTs’ experiences provided a window into the program's efficacy in developing anti-oppressive teachers. As the university continues the ILP redesign, the disconnect between the CDC and its core principles of equity, social justice, and action must be fixed. Ultimately, coursework must be reenvisioned and implemented to critically prepare teachers for the current and future educational environments (Darling-Hammond & Baratz-Snowden, 2007).

Authors

• Eva Nelson, University of Minnesota

• Amy Lyga, University of Minnesota