What Are the Benefits of Diversity Education for Teachers and Teacher Education?

• In Event: 16.038 - Shifting Policy Approaches to "Safe" Schooling: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Understand and Address Systemic Marginalizations

Abstract

Research demonstrates the need for teachers to understand and be able to put into practice knowledge about their learners as a diverse group and to frame difference as enriching to our society, rather than a deficit (Milner, 2010; Villegas & Davis, 2007). Simultaneously, we need teachers to develop a deep understanding of the complex ways their work in schools shapes and is shaped by larger community and societal systems of privilege and disadvantage.

Specifically, educational researchers have encouraged teacher education and professional development that focuses on recognizing the language and cultural knowledge a child brings to school to inform teaching and learning (Lazar, Edwards & McMillion, 2014). This can be difficult when teachers come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds than their students, however. In particular, White teachers do not always understand the school experiences of students of color and struggle to see and foster the literate potential of such students. Teachers of color are more likely to understand the experiences and potential of their students of color, but struggle to use that knowledge to develop curriculum and strategies that build on that potential. As a result, many teacher candidates report feeling underprepared to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Societal factors that influence achievement include historical, political, cultural, and
economic factors, such as poverty or racism. To explore such issues, teacher educators might foster an examination of how poverty impacts individual learning and explore the social capital that exists in the communities of dominant and non-dominant groups. By studying the relationship between societal factors and achievement, teachers can better identify their own responsibility for positively affecting students’ life trajectories. Secondly, teaching diverse learners requires investigating the complexity and significance of culture, including how culture is dynamic, socially constructed and shaped by power. Through this area of study, future teachers learn how to move beyond the “Heroes and Holidays” approach to curriculum design towards the daily integration of pedagogical moves, such as facilitating meaningful conversation about multicultural literature and/or developing relationships with students and caregivers.

Finally, research demonstrates the importance of instruction as a transformative practice (Lazar, Edwards & McMillion, 2014). In other words, teachers create and use curriculum that challenges and recognizes oppressive systems. This includes project-based instruction and learning that expects students to promote change related to social justice issues in their communities.

Because social equity teaching is cultivated over time, preservice teachers would benefit from teacher education programs that foster systematic opportunities to enact and examine the aforementioned dimensions social equity. This paper will address how these issues may be foreground within certification requirements for school professionals in NYS to require a semester long diversity education course would set a precedent in the US that could impact the ways we address diversity issues in schools across the country. This requirement would improve the lives of teachers and students and positively impact school climate and community.

Author

• Melissa Schieble, Hunter College - CUNY