Dual Language Teacher Leadership and Agency: Preparation, Praxis, and Sustainable Pedagogies

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Bilingual Education's Reemergence in California: Bilingual Teachers Adapting, Responding, and Resisting

Abstract

Objective & Theoretical Framework
As critical educators, we are called upon to be revolutionary workers (Freire, 1970). Conceptions of praxis and dialogue undergird my analysis as I theorize understandings of Dual Language teacher leadership and agency. Freire, (2000) asserts: “To exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it,” (p.88); this is what participants in this study aimed to do. Using a critical pedagogy theoretical framework, this study examines dual language teachers’ leadership and agency that draw upon sustainable pedagogies in teacher preparation and professional development programs (Author, 2017; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Grant & Agosto, 2008; Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2014; Darling-Hammond, 2006; Darling-Hammond, et al., 2005; Sheets, 2003). To disentangle how teachers’ agency and leadership may look in praxis, this study employs an observation protocol (Author, 2016) guided by four key tenets: (1) Ideology, (2) Pedagogy, (3) Access, and (4) Equity (IPAE). The exploration of teacher practices across these tenets offers a better sense of how to support teachers’ agency and leadership development with equity at the core (Author, 2017; Author, 2016; Achinstein & Athanases, 2006).
Method & Data sources
This qualitative multiple case study was conducted through a naturalistic case study inquiry paradigm to capture the depth and breadth of Dual Language teachers’ leadership and agency across varying school contexts, IPAE tenets, and teacher experiences. Case study participants in a bilingual teacher preparation program with specialized preparation for working with Dual Language Learners in low socio-economic and majority Latino communities were observed over a four-year period. Data examined for evidence included: IPAE Observation Protocol, focus groups, interviews, and pre and post follow up surveys and dialogues. Deductive reasoning, within and across case study analysis, was conducted to examine evidence of teacher agency and leadership related to the four tenets: Ideology, Pedagogy, Access, and Equity. To ensure feasibility and trustworthiness of findings, I triangulated multiple data sources, engaged in member checking, and held research team debriefings (Yin, 2009).
Results
Participants exemplified the IPAE Tenets in the classroom observations and critical reflections in ways that manifested their agency and leadership roles in their workplace. Across all teachers there was particularly strong evidence in the areas of critically consciousness leadership and agency grounded in their clarity of Ideology, Pedagogy, Access and Equity. Noteworthy evidence was in the area of ideological clarity that demonstrated dynamic and multi-purposed approaches to their classroom pedagogy and school leadership.
Scholarly Significance
There is a critical need to help Dual Language teachers deepen their knowledge about how their ideology informs their pedagogy that in turn announces or denounces access and equity for all, especially for students in low socio-economic contexts. Taken as a whole, these teacher case studies provide evidence that educator preparation and professional development programs can focus on and produce teachers who exemplify what agency and leadership looks like in practice and in ways that challenge oppressive societal structures through pedagogy that views students’ communities, cultures, ethnicities, languages, and contextual realities as assets for teaching and learning.

Author

• Cristina Alfaro, San Diego State University