Racism and Police in Schools: Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs

• In Event: (Re)membering Race, Unmasking Power: Socialization and the Futures of Teacher Education Research

Abstract

Little scholarship exists about how preservice teachers view the roles and responsibilities of school police. Recent cohorts of preservice teachers are at a unique timepoint: they have experienced school shootings, lockdown drills, and the presence of police in many schools, in addition to heightened discourse about and action for #policefreeschools and abolition. This studies explores preservice teachers’ beliefs about the intersection of policing and racism in schools. We found that most pre-service teachers had generally positive beliefs about school police. We also found that color-evasive racist beliefs predicted positive beliefs about school police. There was also a group of teachers whose beliefs appeared to be less formed and therefore more malleable. We offer implications for teacher educators and teacher preparation programs.

Authors

• Hannah Carson Baggett, Auburn University

• Kamden Strunk, Virginia Commonwealth University