“What Happened to Me?” New Teachers and Self-Censorship

• In Event: First-Year and Early Career Teachers' Experiences

Abstract

Using data borrowed from a larger longitudinal multi-case study, this project examines how new self-identified social justice and equity-minded activist social studies teachers engage in self-censorship. Nine social studies teachers teaching in the American South began to recognize that due mostly to indirect and assumed critique and pressure they were self-censoring their pedagogy, teaching, and professional engagement at school, and within the larger community. Centering teacher voices and experiences this research examines why and how this happened, what the teachers can do to recover from this, and what teacher education programs can do to prevent it from happening.

Author

• Brian C. Gibbs, Georgia College & State University