Teacher Education and the Fight for Ethnic Studies Amongst Conservative Backlash

• In Event: Attacked Because It Works: Defending the Power of Ethnic Studies in California

Abstract

Objectives: In California, students, parents, educators, and community members have fought for an education that is culturally sustaining and community-responsive, explicitly advocating for K-12 Ethnic Studies (ES). With the passing of AB 101 in 2021, California was set to be the first state to make ES a high school graduation requirement, mandating all high schools offer a semester-long course by 2025. Simultaneous to this movement to grow K-12 students’ access to ES in California, however, a parallel national movement has emerged, restricting racial discourse in schools. Local, state, and federal governing agents across the U.S. have passed bills, measures, or statements banning “Critical Race Theory (CRT)” – a legal theory used to spotlight the endemic nature of structural racism – and now “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI),” making it unlawful or vulnerable to the removal of resources to discuss issues of race, identity, and civil rights in K-12 schools (Kaplan & Owings, 2021; UCLA School of Law, 2023). Proponents of these anti-CRT and anti-DEI initiatives accuse schools and educators of using race discourse to “indoctrinate” children into “state-sanctioned racism” (Kingkade et al., 2021) against white people and the “true” history of the U.S. (Kaplan & Owings, 2021). Bans in select districts in California, has led to a wide-spread chilling effect that has shaped the experiences of teachers in schools, as well as the training of teachers. This paper shares findings from a study with teacher candidates enrolled in a K-12 Ethnic Studies Teacher Education Pathway in a diverse California community fraught with outward conservatism and white supremacy.

Methods & Data Sources: Participants were recruited during their one year credential and master’s program, and through in-depth interviews, the study explored their experiences navigating learning to teach about issues of structural racism, settler colonialism, and imperialism during a time of incredible backlash and fear-mongering. Participants were asked to reflect on what they were learning in their program, and how that pushed up against what they were witnessing and hearing from students, parents, fellow teachers, and administrators in their school.

Theoretical framework & Results: Using Critical Race Theory to analyze these interviews, we learned that, in direct opposition to what they were learning in their teacher education program, several candidates were being advised or coached by educators at the school to ‘tone down’ the curriculum, or teach in ways that would be more palatable to those in opposition, as a way to protect themselves. Several participants shared that this made them more wary of being an educator, and for others, more intentional about teaching strongly and staying in the fight.

Significance: From these findings, it is becoming clear that teacher education programs will have to contend with their role and agency in maintaining the fight for racial justice during this time of suppression and attack. Given this fight ahead, teacher education programs need to be even more committed to Ethnic Studies as a transformative pedagogy in the fight for more just futures.

Author

• Rita Kohli, University of California - Riverside