Moving Criticality Beyond the Academy: Equipping Educators with Tools to Support Student Critical Consciousness Development

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Collaborations to (Re)Imagine Critical Studies in Education: Working Towards New Visions for Education Research

Abstract

Current federal and state policies are eroding civil rights protections, with long-term consequences for Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, economically disadvantaged, and disabled youth (referred to as multiply marginalized youth throughout the proposal; Ho, 2025; National Disability Rights Network, 2025; Southern Poverty Law Center, 2024). Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) play a crucial role in empowering future educators to disrupt the prevailing status quo within the education system (Dewey, 1929; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Quezada et al., 2024). Specifically, critical consciousness development—the ability to recognize and challenge systemic oppression and has been framed as the “antidote to oppression” (Freire, 1970; Watts et al. 2011) – is central to ensuring that future educators are critical agents of social change; yet, few TPPs embed these important elements within their instructional frameworks (Allen et al., 2017; Kumashiro, 2024). In this paper I will discuss the unequivocal importance teacher candidate critical consciousness development as the foundation of anti-oppressive teacher education and a pathway to (1) improving the experiences of historically marginalized students, (2) reshaping students’ understanding of those labeled as different, (3) challenging hidden societal structures that privilege some while disadvantaging others, and (4) encouraging educators to examine their subconscious biases in teaching and learning (Kumashiro, 2024).

Author

• Anya Sheftel, Washington State University