A Review of Identity in Research on Social Justice in Teacher Education: What Role for Intersectionality?

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen C. Pugach ◽  
Joyce Gomez-Najarro ◽  
Ananya M. Matewos
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
New Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Intersecting Identities ◽  
Social Markers

This review examines the past 25 years of empirical research on social justice in teacher education, focusing on the question of how researchers in the field, who demonstrate a long-standing aspirational commitment to preparing new teachers for diversity and equity, address students’ and teacher candidates’ multiple social markers of identity, and in particular the complexity of their identities. Using the framework of intersectionality, we illustrate how teacher education researchers position student and teacher candidate identities and their complexity. Findings indicate that identity is typically addressed in a unidimensional manner, with little acknowledgment of students’ or teacher candidates’ complex, multiple, and intersecting identities. We conclude our analysis by exploring the potential of intersectionality as a framework for identity considerations when preparing equity-minded new teachers who are committed to social justice.

Finding Possibility in Pitfalls: The Role of Permeable Methods Pedagogy in Preservice Teacher Learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Heather Hebard
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Candidate ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Field Placement ◽  
Pedagogical Tools ◽  
Field Placements

Background/Context Tensions between university-based teacher preparation courses and field placements have long been identified as an obstacle to novices’ uptake of promising instructional practices. This tension is particularly salient for writing instruction, which continues to receive inadequate attention in K–12 classrooms. More scholarship is needed to develop a theory and practice of methods education that accounts for these tensions. Purpose This study investigated how opportunities to learn to teach writing in preservice preparation mediated teacher candidates’ learning. The investigation's aim was to add to our knowledge of how teachers learn and the factors that impact this learning to offer implications for improving teacher education. Participants and Settings Participants included literacy methods course instructors from two post-baccalaureate, university-based, K–8 teacher certification programs and participating candidates enrolled in these courses (N = 20). Settings included methods course meetings and participating candidates’ field placements. Research Design This comparative case study examined opportunities to learn and preservice teachers’ uptake of pedagogical tools across two programs. A cultural–historical theoretical lens helped to identify consequential differences in the nature of activity in preservice teachers’ methods courses and field placement experiences. Data included instructor interviews, methods course observations, teacher candidate focus groups, and field placement observations. Patterns of field and course activity in each program were identified and linked to patterns of appropriation within and across the two cohorts. Findings In one program, methods course activity included opportunities to make sense of the approaches to teaching writing that teacher candidates encountered across past and current experiences. The instructor leveraged points of tension and alignment across settings, prompting teacher candidates to consider affordances and variations of pedagogical tools for particular contexts and goals. This permeable setting supported candidates to develop habits of thinking about pedagogical tools, habits that facilitated uptake of integrated instructional frameworks. In the other program, methods activity focused almost exclusively on the tools and tasks presented in that setting. This circumscribed approach did not support sense-making across settings, which was refected in the fragmented nature of teacher candidates’ pedagogical tool uptake. Conclusions Findings challenge the notion that contradictions in teacher education are necessarily problematic, suggesting instead that they might be leveraged as entry points for sense-making. In addition, permeability is identified as a useful design principle for supporting learning across settings. Finally, a framework of pedagogical tools for subject-matter teaching may provide novices with a strong starting point for teaching and a scaffold for further learning. “I felt at the beginning of the school year that writing was not going to be a strong point for me…. Maybe part of it was the way [my cooperating teacher] modeled it for me; it was just free flowing, kind of … jumping from thing to thing [each day]…. It wasn't like the way [our methods instructor] had modeled for us … [using] four-week units.” –Sheri, teacher candidate, Madrona University

Disability and the Meaning of Social Justice in Teacher Education Research: A Precarious Guest at the Table?

2020 ◽  
pp. 002248712092962
Author(s):  
Marleen C. Pugach ◽  
Ananya M. Matewos ◽  
Joyce Gomez-Najarro
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Social Markers ◽  
Empirical Record

Although disability is assumed to be part of the teacher education social justice landscape, its position in the context of social justice is contested and has not been informed by an analysis of the empirical record. To address this gap, we examined 25 years of research on social justice in teacher education, focusing on how disability is presented in relationship to other social markers of identity. Disability is only modestly visible within this literature; when included, it is typically treated as an isolated marker of identity, absent considerations of intersectionality. Overcoming this marginalization of disability requires new, robust cross-faculty alliances in conceptualizing research on social justice in teacher education; adopting discursive practices that complicate disability in terms of its intersectional, reciprocal relationship with the full range of social markers of identity; and intersectionality-driven instruction connecting multiple identities and the multiple instructional strategies required to transform teacher education for social justice.

Teaching Diversity to Preservice Teachers: Encouraging Self-Reflection and Awareness to Develop Successful Teaching Practices

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marla S. Sanders ◽  
Kathryn Haselden ◽  
Randi M. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Diverse Schools

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to promote discussion of how teacher education programs can better prepare teacher candidates to teach for social justice in ethnically and culturally diverse schools. The authors suggest that teacher education programs must develop teacher candidates’ capacity to teach for social justice through preparation programs that encourage critical reflection and awareness of one’s beliefs, perceptions, and professional practice. The authors ask the following questions: How can teacher educators provide structures in professional preparation programs that will produce reflective practitioners? How might we prepare teacher candidates who are constantly thinking about how they perceive their students and their families and how those perceptions affect the way they relate to students? Through a discussion of five case scenarios, the authors discuss prior research on preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools and offer suggestions for improving professional education programs.

The Intersection of Music Teacher Education and Social Justice

2015 ◽  
pp. 643-657
Author(s):  
Julie Ballantyne ◽  
Carmen Mills
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Practice

Research in the area of music teacher education and social justice often remains a theoretical discussion of possibilities and suggestions for future practice. In the interests of uncovering empirical research that can illuminate evidence of practice and for practice in the future, this chapter provides a thorough and systematic review of previous empirical work in the field. It provides evidence of what research has been accomplished, and where the field has yet to go, in addressing the concerns of social justice and diversity in music teacher education. The chapter reveals how previous work conceptualizes and enacts the development of socially just approaches in music teacher education and concludes by arguing for the importance of further empirical research at the intersection of these areas.

Differentiated Fieldwork and Practicum Experiences

2018 ◽  
pp. 2119-2139
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Schroth ◽  
Jason A. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
New Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Practicum Experiences ◽  
Different Levels

Teacher education programs are charged by administrators, legislative bodies, parents, and others to produce new teachers who are “classroom ready” upon graduation. Many interns and teacher candidates, however, come to their programs with very different levels of preparation and skills in dealing with children. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, teacher educators should differentiate fieldwork and practicum experiences to better meet candidates' varying readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles to create placements that fit the interns' needs and skills. Differentiating the fieldwork and practicum experiences of interns has the dual benefit of increasing retention rates of teacher education programs and better preparing new teachers for their first classrooms. Suggestions are made regarding ways teacher educators can differentiate placements for interns and teacher candidates.

Differentiated Fieldwork and Practicum Experiences

2017 ◽  
pp. 306-326
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Schroth ◽  
Jason A. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
New Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Practicum Experiences ◽  
Different Levels

Teacher education programs are charged by administrators, legislative bodies, parents, and others to produce new teachers who are “classroom ready” upon graduation. Many interns and teacher candidates, however, come to their programs with very different levels of preparation and skills in dealing with children. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, teacher educators should differentiate fieldwork and practicum experiences to better meet candidates' varying readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles to create placements that fit the interns' needs and skills. Differentiating the fieldwork and practicum experiences of interns has the dual benefit of increasing retention rates of teacher education programs and better preparing new teachers for their first classrooms. Suggestions are made regarding ways teacher educators can differentiate placements for interns and teacher candidates.

Revising a Teacher Education Program for Diversity and Social Justice through Culturally Responsive Coursework and Professional Collaboration

2016 ◽  
pp. 409-436
Author(s):  
Gayle Y. Thieman
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Teacher Preparation Program ◽  
Graduate Teacher Education

A major revision in a graduate teacher education program (GTEP) at a mid-sized urban university provided an opportunity to rethink goals as teacher educators in order to address issues of diversity and social justice. This chapter suggests some answers to the question: What characteristics of a teacher preparation program prepare teacher candidates (TCs) to provide high quality education for all students, including those who have been historically underserved? This chapter reports a case study of the relevant research and implementation of substantially revised university coursework to better prepare teacher candidates for a diverse student population, and increased collaboration to promote program coherence. Revised coursework emphasizes culturally responsive teaching, content area literacy, and accountability for K-12 student learning. Collaboration is facilitated by clustered placements, co-teaching, and lesson study.

Exploring exemplars in elementary teacher education

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Asher Dobrick ◽  
Laura Fattal
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Elementary Teacher ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Elementary Teacher Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World

PurposeEducators who teach for social justice connect what and how they teach in the classroom directly to humanity’s critical problems. Teacher education at the elementary level must center such themes of social justice in order to prepare today’s teachers to lead their students in developing an understanding of how to make the world a better place to live. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents three case studies of exemplary, pre-service teacher-created lessons that integrate the arts, social studies, and language arts around themes of social justice. Teacher-candidates envisioned, planned and taught effective, engaging, standards-based learning experiences that began with children’s literature and led to artistic expression.FindingsThrough lessons like these, teacher-candidates learned to meet arts, social studies, and literacy standards while building the skills and attitudes their students need as “citizens of the world.”Research limitations/implicationsElementary teacher education programs can help teacher-candidates to prepare for the challenge of teaching for social justice by integrating the arts with core academic areas, including social studies.Practical implicationsThis integrated model suitably serves our current, mathematics- and literacy-focused, assessment-saturated school system. Pre-service teachers learn to plan and teach integrated learning activities. They learn practical ways to infuse the arts in both their field experience and future classrooms.Social implicationsWhen the arts are central in education, students benefit in numerous important ways, developing critical and creative thinking skills, empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to collaborate with others productively. The arts, essential to humanity since the dawn of civilization, thus serve as a natural focal point for education for social justice.Originality/valueThe innovative methods involved in this study, in which subject areas throughout the elementary teacher education program are integrated in one meaningful, practical, applied lesson on social justice, represent a practical, original, and valuable way to enhance teacher education programs’ focus on social justice.

Mapping Culturally Relevant Pedagogy into Teacher Education Programs: A Critical Framework

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayana Allen ◽  
Stephen D. Hancock ◽  
Tehia Starker-Glass ◽  
Chance W. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Culturally Relevant ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Relevant Pedagogy

Background/Context Teacher education programs are charged with the daunting task of preparing the next generation of teachers. However, the extant literature has documented that teacher education programs have struggled to effectively arm teacher candidates with effective pedagogies to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student population. Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) is a social justice framework posited to support academic achievement, cultural competence, and critical consciousness for all learners. To this end, this article examines the integration of CRP into teacher education programs. Purpose In this article, we discuss CRP and interrogate teacher education programs in the critical areas of governance and accountability, policies and programs, curriculum and instruction, and teacher educators. Furthermore, this article presents a conceptual framework for the integration of CRP into teacher education programs. Research Design This article is a conceptual paper that builds upon the hallmarks of CRP, which are rooted in a critical race paradigm that centers on exposing and challenging racial policies that maintain the status quo in teacher education programs. We present a critical framework to support the mapping of CRP into teacher education programs through critical reflection, social justice action, and critical questioning. Conclusion/Recommendations A teacher preparation program that does not critically interrogate race, power, and privilege in the context of schools does not maintain a social justice mission and consequently does not meet the tenets of CRP. A critical examination of race and other sociocultural concepts that disenfranchise K–12 students in schools must be an integral and reflective practice for teacher candidates. Requiring teacher candidates to gain skills in critical reflection and critical consciousness in an effort to deconstruct the existing social order is imperative to support culturally relevant pedagogy in teacher education curriculum.

Nudging the Opportunity Structure: A Modest and Ambitious Aim for Teacher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
John P. Fantuzzo ◽  
Mark Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Argument Proceeds

Background/Context Teacher candidates are being educated in a political and economic context that calls the value of their professional preparation into question. What is more, a rising generation of teacher candidates has only experienced education during the Era of Corporate School Reform, meaning, the political aims of public education were systematically neglected during their upbringing due to an intensive focus on high-stakes competitions, consumer preferences, and the privatization of public schools. This essay asks how teacher candidates, raised to value a narrow and reductive form of academic success, can be prepared to attend to their students’ flourishing and collectively work towards social justice. Focus of Study Stressing the indispensable role of teacher education, with a focus on the importance of educational foundations courses, we argue that teacher candidates should learn in such courses to nudge students towards a pluralistic opportunity structure, defined by political philosopher Joseph Fishkin, as a structure of opportunity comprised of many less harshly competitive and therefore more accessible paths to diverse forms of flourishing and economic opportunity. Research Design The proposed aim seeks to reconcile the social ambitions of early progressive theorists with the method of reflective equilibrium used by contemporary educational ethicists. It is developed using a case study method. Cases are drawn from the reflections of three academically successful teacher candidates. Each candidate, for distinct reasons, critiques the conception of academic success they were habituated to value during their P–12 schooling and each urges their peers to not reproduce its harms by teaching differently. The argument proceeds by exploring how their critiques are reflected in the value of equality of opportunity and how their advice for teaching differently is continuous with the work of pluralizing the opportunity structure. Conclusion The teacher candidates’ critiques of academic success are not simply private reflections, but nascent expressions of a principle of social justice, a new theory of equality of opportunity, that can be realized by attending to the wellbeing of all students, including advantaged students attending independent schools.

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