Teacher Identity Development and Black Homeschooling Parents: Centering Black Homeschool Narratives

• In Event: Teacher Identity Development: Expanding Conceptualizations to Account for Changing and Challenging Contexts

Abstract

This paper examines how teacher identity develops among teachers and the similarity among Black homeschooling parents, explicitly centering Black homeschoolers’ experiences. The research is anchored in the conference theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research,” by highlighting how Black homeschooling parents draw on historical resilience and cultural knowledge to resist deficit narratives and assert new visions for educational practice. It aims to bridge insights from community-based, culturally sustaining practices into mainstream teacher education and affirming learning spaces.
The investigation is framed through critical race theory as a theoretical lens. This approach examines how homeschool parents use education as liberation, weaving in racial pride, historical consciousness, and adaptive expertise. The framework acknowledges that the development of teacher identity is not a linear or institutionally bounded process, but one rooted in lived realities, culture, and collective memory. This orientation responds directly to the conference theme on leveraging diverse perspectives and honoring the histories and futures of marginalized communities in education research.
Using a systematic approach to synthesizing qualitative research and empirical literature on teacher identity formation in both traditional schools and homeschool contexts, the findings share commonalities and differences. Recent research on homeschoolers was used to share a teacher identity development with the parent participants. These studies involved in-depth interviews with Black homeschooling parents, analyses of curricular materials and co-op structures, and thematic coding of participant narratives. Using a comparative approach, I describe the juxtaposition of institutional teacher induction with more grassroots, community-based processes of identity construction.
Findings demonstrate that Black homeschooling parents construct teacher identities through resistance, cultural affirmation, and advocacy. Distinct identity markers include motivations rooted in racial protection, curriculum innovation that blends state standards with Black history and literature, and the use of cooperative networks to foster self-efficacy and counteract isolation. These parents view teaching as liberatory work, rejecting rigid barriers between “teacher” and “parent” in favor of hybrid, community-rooted roles. In contrast, new teachers often grapple with institutional expectations and may unconsciously replicate inequitable norms unless critically engaged. Both groups face considerable emotional labor, yet Black homeschoolers’ practices challenge historical erasure and nurture collective agency.
This research deepens the field’s understanding of teacher identity by illuminating pathways outside traditional schooling, especially those led by Black families who embody and sustain historical knowledge. By centering Black homeschooling narratives, the paper offers models for integrating adaptive expertise and culturally sustaining pedagogies into teacher preparation programs. The study advocates for amplifying Black communal wisdom, supporting asset-based reforms, and pursuing research that bridges past struggles with future educational justice. These contributions answer the conference’s mandate to “unforget” marginalized histories and imagine futures anchored in equity, innovation, and sustainability.

Author

• Meca R. Williams-Johnson, Georgia Southern University