Elementary Character Education in the Context of the Black Lives Matter Movement

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Introduction: Over the past several years, the police murders of Black individuals and activist work to raise awareness of racist violence have made racism and white supremacy unavoidable topics of national discourse. It is within this context that the current study seeks to understand how elementary school teachers think about their roles in the development of young students’ critical consciousness of racism in the US. The aim of this exploratory qualitative project is to address the following questions: 1) How do elementary school teachers think about their role and the role of school in the development of students’ character and morals, assimilation into dominant social systems, and ideas about race and racism? 2) How do teachers see themselves enacting those roles? 3) What pressures, internal and external, do teachers experience related to teaching about race and racism?

Methods: Data collection for this project began in the summer of 2020. Participants to date include 20 teachers, the majority of whom identified as White (18 participants), middle class (19 participants), and female (19 participants). Participants had an average of 12 years of teaching experience and were located in 8 different U.S. states. Recruitment is ongoing and will continue until 4-6 more teachers have participated. Participants completed demographic questionnaires along with a measure of Critical Consciousness and a one-hour semi-structured interview. Analysis of interview transcripts is ongoing and follows a modified grounded theory approach. Transcripts are first being reviewed by a team of researchers who independently generate and then deliberate on codes until consensus is reached. After the coding team has converged and few discrepancies emerge, the remaining transcripts will be coded by a single researcher and reviewed by members of the consensus team. The team will then review the coded data for themes and will develop a model reflecting the process through which teachers’ stated values and practices play out in their teaching within the context of a national reckoning on racism and white supremacy.

Findings: While analysis is currently in the preliminary stages, initial memo-ing and coding suggests that teachers of young children believe they play an essential and special role in the moral and character development of their students, but not all feel that they can or should couch that praxis in the specific framework of critical race theory or the details of current events. Reasons for this vary and include perceptions that curricula are too rigid, current events are too controversial, certain topics are not developmentally appropriate, and that to counteract racism at the elementary school level it is sufficient to teach children to celebrate differences. Those teachers who do explicitly discuss systemic racism with their students are often doing so by their own initiative rather than as part of a broader, school-wide priority.

Implications: Findings will be discussed with respect to their alignment with the tenets of progressive, explicitly anti-racist pedagogical frameworks. Implications for scholars interested in developing teacher-, classroom- or school-level measures of Critical Consciousness will also be discussed.

Authors

• Noah Hoch, Clark University
  Presenting Author

• Anna Wagner, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ashley Hebert, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amy Heberle, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author