Safety, Policy Advocacy, and the Teacher's Role: Preservice Teachers and School Shooting Policies

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding the Complexity of Teachers' Lives: Examining Autonomy, Collaboration, and Safety

Abstract

This paper examines pre-service teachers’ experiences with school shooting policy. Analysis of individual interviews, group discussions and reflective memos with pre-service teachers (n=7) in seven Massachusetts districts shows that pre-service teachers, while deeply concerned about the possibility of school shootings, view existing policies as ineffective, damaging to their pedagogical practice and relationships with students, and out of step with teachers’ concerns. Further, they interpret proposed policies as undermining the value of teachers in contemporary society and threatening the core tenets of teachers’ work. Constrained by limited professional preparation for policy involvement, pre-service teachers express significant doubts about their ability to effect meaningful policy change. This research has implications for educational policy as well as teacher policy engagement.

Author

• May Hara, Framingham State University