Policy Literacies and Inquiry for Pre-Service Teachers

• In Event: Teachers’ Multiliteracies: Exploring Agentic and Empowering Possibilities

Abstract

While the daily work of educators is “enmeshed in a complex, multipolicy environment” (Hodge & Stosich, 2022, p. 543), pre-service and in-service teachers rarely receive opportunities from teacher educators or school leadership to deepen their knowledge and understanding of education policy. This study responds to the call from education researchers (e.g., Good et al., 2017; Hara, 2017, 2020) for teacher education programs to provide coursework around education policy. The project explores how Preservice Teachers (PSTs) engage with education policy when prompted with specific critical literacy practices.
Employing a critical literacy approach in teacher education can prepare teachers to question power, inequality, and the status quo, problematize dominant discourses within the education system, and thoughtfully respond to events and policies that impact their teaching (Crawford-Garrett et al., 2020; Kazembe, 2017; May, 2015). We found Lewison and colleagues’ (2002) Four Dimensions of Critical Literacy particularly useful in framing how teachers can critically evaluate and respond to educational decision-making, policies, and texts that impact their working lives.
We drew on the Four Dimensions during a workshop designed to facilitate PSTs’ engagement with policies relevant to the course content and current political and policy context. Specifically, we worked with 16 PSTs in a “Reading in the Content Areas” course to critically analyze Florida HB 1467, a law requiring ”transparency” in the selection of instructional materials. Learners need purposeful and meaningful experiences with texts situated in sensible conceptual frameworks (Moje, 2015). By focusing on Florida-specific education policies and the texts that surround them, we provided PSTs with opportunities to engage with authentic and relevant learning activities.
Our data for analysis included field notes, workshop artifacts (e.g., entrance tickets, annotated copies of the memo, wall charts), and PST reflections on the workshop. Thematic analysis (Ryan & Bernard, 2003) illustrated that several of the PSTs struggled with confirmation bias, unintentionally interpreting information in ways that supported their beliefs and impeded their rejection of them (Prinze et al., 2022). Understandings were also impacted by what PSTs described as “lack of clarity” within the policy. Overall, the PSTs expressed uncertainty about what “is allowed” and were afraid of making the wrong decision when selecting books for their future classrooms. Similar to other ‘gag order’ legislation, HB 1467 lacks clarity in the way it is written, interpreted, and the consequences associated with violation of the bill.
Given the particularly politicized policy environment teachers are entering, it is necessary for teacher education programs to engage PSTs in policy inquiry by providing authentic, timely activities to mediate learning and understandings of policy contexts and consequences (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Grossman et al., 2009; Heineke et al., 2015). This workshop illustrated that when PSTs are given the space and the tools to engage with policy texts, they respond with criticality and gain clarity around the nuanced language contained within them. We hope to offer tools for future educators to navigate, understand, and, if possible, resist harmful policies.

Authors

• Katharine Hull, University of South Florida

• Kristin Valle Geren, University of South Florida

• Alexandra Panos, University of South Florida