Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Multicultural Teacher Education: A Paradoxical Objective

• In Event: 33.036 - Coloring the Field: Examining the Experiences of Latino and African American Educators

Abstract

Although national accrediting agencies have charged teacher education programs (TEPs) to prepare all teacher candidates to meet the needs of all students, much of the research on multicultural teacher education focuses on White pre-service teachers and their assumed cultural incompetency. This study seeks to explore how one TEP worked to develop culturally relevant teacher candidates of color (TCCs). It explicates how TCCs enacted resistance to specific pedagogy, curriculums and content, but also the ways they negotiated engagement in multicultural education courses. Broadly, this project responds to gaps in education research regarding the academic and sociocultural experiences of TCCs and the salience of culturally relevant pedagogy in higher education.

Author

• Chelda Smith, Georgia Southern University