Teacher Candidates as Entrepreneurial Technicians: Emphasized and Diluted Discourses Within the edTPA

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Theorizing and Reflecting on Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In this paper, we draw upon Foucauldian concepts to consider how the edTPA delimits and reinforces particular notions of effective teaching and teachers, thereby functioning as a discursive tool (Foucault, 1977). To explore this, we employ critical discourse analysis (CDA) with a collection of key edTPA texts. Our analysis finds that while both the tenets of neoliberalism and multicultural education feature in the edTPA, only the former is meaningfully operationalized. Moreover, the priority given to neoliberalism privileges a teacher object of entrepreneurial technician. We contend the discursive effects of this tool are likely to be significant given the power it holds as a disciplinary apparatus.

Authors

• Angela Leigh Masters, CUSD #3

• Meghan A. Kessler, University of Illinois Springfield