Surfacing the Real: On Responding to Coded Neoliberal Rhetoric Embedded Within Simulated Curricular Challenges

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Transformational Clinical Practice and Apprenticeships (Table 11)

Abstract

This study uses clinical simulations in teacher education—semi-scripted interactions between teacher candidates (TCs) and paid live actors—as a means for analyzing teacher candidates’ responses to curricular challenges. Specifically, this study examines the unique dilemma teachers face when book challenges surrounding content related to themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion are obscured by coded neoliberal rhetoric prevalent in the national discourse. We draw on Lacan’s theory of the three registers of human reality as a framework for illuminating the veiled apparatus that undergirds these attacks and renders them difficult to resist. Finally, we discuss critical practices toward supporting teacher candidates as they learn to deconstruct and respond to such challenges in their roles as future teachers.

Authors

• Brett Finlayson, Baldwinsville Central School District

• MaryBeth Yerdon, SUNY - College at Cortland