“All These Ways to Slyly Maneuver”: Navigating Niceness During Student Teaching

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Unforgetting, Worldmaking, Navigating, and Creating: Literacies of Teacher Education

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how five secondary English Language Arts preservice teachers navigated “niceness” as a dominant discourse during student teaching, as observed through their participation in a problem-of-practice group. Drawing on interviews and group meetings, analysis reveals how preservice teachers prioritized maintaining positive relationships—often avoiding critical conversations with mentor teachers and colleagues—while seeking ways to advocate for students. At times, participants openly critiqued, subverted, or adapted niceness to navigate tensions, particularly within the collaborative third-space of the inquiry group. Findings further illustrate the complexity and ambiguity of niceness in teacher education, showing it both impedes and enables meaningful risk-taking and critical discussion. Implications address mentoring, collaborative structures, and the ongoing negotiation of professional identity in teacher education.

Author

• Christopher Kingsland, Towson University