Sealing the Cracks: A Portrait of Critical Advisement Pedagogy for Pre-Service Teachers of Color

• In Event: No Matter How Bleak: Teachers Learning and Living a Justice Praxis

Abstract

Objectives & Research Question
The metaphor of “the pipeline” is often used to convey the supposed linear ways students move through their academic journeys. In this way, the “student-to-teacher pipeline” is applicable. A body of research exists that documents the barriers encountered on the journey toward teacher credentialing (Coburn, 2020; Gist et al., 2019). For teachers of Color, barriers toward licensure are exceedingly challenging. From subject competency exams, financial constraints for testing, and state standards written from Eurocentric perspectives, it is no wonder the number of teachers of Color is alarmingly low. How, then, can teacher education programs be responsive to prospective teachers of Color? This paper attempts to address this issue by centering the crucial, yet often less acknowledged, impact of academic advising for teacher candidates. The main research questions are: 1) What role does an academic advisor for teacher of Color candidates play in their teaching pursuits? and 2) What experiential knowledge will an effective teacher education advisor have?

Theory
This paper blends Freirean Critical Pedagogy and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) to understand the advising experiences of pre-service teachers of color candidates (Puroway, 2016). Freirean pedagogy asserts that schools either maintain and reproduce social orders or empower teachers to transform schools and society. CSP (Paris & Alim, 2014) reminds us to shift focus away from “static, unidirectional notions of culture and race that reinforce traditional versions of difference and (in)equality” (p. 95). To understand the shifting grounds for becoming a teacher, one must also examine the very system we are promoting future teachers to become part of.

Methods/Sources
This qualitative study employs Portraiture, as it “advocates for blurring empiricism with aesthetics to account for complexities, dynamism, voice, relationships, and subtleties of experience” (Curammeng, 2022, p. 31), and autoethnography (Chang, 2008) to construct a portrait of both researcher and academic advisor. Further, it follows Lawrence-Lightfoot’s (2005) notion that the “self of the portraitist emerges as an instrument of inquiry... and a voice that speaks and offers insights” (p. 11). To that end, data included observations, artifacts, and reflective memos from over two years supporting over 30 teacher candidates of Color at a university in Los Angeles that primarily serves first-generation, low-income students of Color.

Findings & Significance
While the process and pursuit of teacher credentialing is arduous at best, findings illustrate the key role an academic advisor plays as teacher of Color candidates navigate their journey. Informed by participants’ experiences and co-constructing an intersectional approach toward advisement, I offer what I am referring to as “critical advisement pedagogy” - one that: a) Centers the experiential knowledge of advisors; b) Engages teachers of Color from a strengths based perspective, c) Works to advocate and anticipate systemic barriers toward credentialing, and d) Maintains an ethic of care and justice for all advisees. This paper contributes to a growing body of scholarship in teacher education examining the crucial role advisors have in teacher candidates' becoming. My hope is that programs can responsively “seal the cracks” for all future teachers, especially those of Color.

Author

• Jhey    Crisostomo, California State University Dominguez Hills