Centering the Well-Being of Teacher Candidates of Color: Toward a Healthy Racial Climate in Teacher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sesion 4
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Racial Justice in Higher Education

Abstract

Research has persistently shown the pervasive racism of teacher education and its harmful impact on teacher candidates of Color. Building from the social context of teacher education, the authors of this paper argue that programs must interrogate how racism is embedded structurally through policies and practices that guide the various facets of the institution. We build from higher education scholarship on racial climate to explore how multiple dimensions (historical, organizational, compositional, behavioral, and psychological) accumulate and shape the experiences and well-being of teacher candidates of Color within teacher education. We offer this conceptual model to assist researchers and practitioners to consider a multifaceted, structural analysis as they strive for a racial climate conducive to cultivating a diverse teaching force.

Authors

• Rita Kohli, University of California - Riverside

• Alison G. Dover, California State University - Fullerton

• Uma Madhure Jayakumar, University of California - Riverside

• Darlene Lee, University of California - Los Angeles

• Nick Henning, California State University - Fullerton

• Eddie Comeaux, University of California - Riverside

• Arturo Nevárez, California State University - Stanislaus

• Emma D. Hipolito, University of California - Los Angeles

• Andrea Carreno Cortez, University of Washington - Seattle

• Margarita Vizcarra, University of California - Riverside