Turning Our Gaze toward Transgender Educators: Fostering Social Justice Leadership in Educational Institutions

The purpose of this study is to find key supports for educational leaders to provide for transgender educators to succeed in an educational workplace setting. By being and becoming aware of the issues involved and conceptualizing interventions to help transgender educators function at their full potential in the workplace, a school’s leadership fosters social equity while also increasing the effectiveness of its organization. This paper draws from a mixed-methods case study that included a quantitative survey conducted with 27 transgender teachers and school principals and focuses on three qualitative in-depth cases. The results show that while some educational administrations support transgender educators in theory, they lack the proper tools to do so; alternatively, many other administrators remain openly hostile toward transgender educators, forcing some to find other work settings. For transgender educators of color, this task is more daunting because they face exponentially higher rates of violence and discrimination. To properly support and supervise transgender educators and principals, educational administrators must learn the necessary skills to provide a more welcoming environment for transgender educators, many of whom experience a myriad of personal struggles. These findings and the insights acquired have implications for transgender educators as well as state, district, and school administrators who wish to better support this growing segment of the LGBTQIA+ community.

A Maze of Challenges and Opportunities: An Autoethnography of a Queer Latinx Woman and Her Journey in Elementary Education Workplaces in the Borderland

Heteronormativity, gender bias, and whitewashed notions of education threaten queer identities in K–12 educational spaces, specifically queer women educators of color seeking leadership roles within the public school system. The understanding of race, gender, and sexuality in K–12 education spaces are each worthwhile as focal points of educational research. However, the intersection between race, gender, and sexuality requires consideration. Prior scholarly research focuses on educators of color, female educators, and LGBTQ+ educators, not on the intersection of these identities. The lived experiences of educators who identify as queer women of color lack attention. Hence, this autoethnography focuses on the maze of challenges and opportunities I experienced while navigating elementary educational spaces in a US Texas/Mexico borderland city as a queer Latinx woman of color. I accomplish this by reflecting upon, and analyzing, my (re)memberings and previous experiences in my journey from K–8 teacher to K–8 administrator. Finally, I provide recommendations to inform both scholars and practitioners.

The Retention of Educators of Color Amidst Institutionalized Racism

Representing approximately 20% of the workforce, educators of color (EOC) leave the field at a rate 25% higher than their White counterparts. Despite workforce diversification efforts, few studies investigate the psychosocial consequences of navigating racialized school climate as reasons EOC may leave the workforce. This study relies on survey data collected from educators of color (paraprofessionals through superintendents) across the state of Iowa. Applying a critical quantitative research design, we examined factors that link racialized school climate to their job satisfaction and psychological well-being. Findings indicate that a racialized school climate has a significant, direct effect on EOC’s race-based stress and professional racial self-efficacy. We argue that solely focusing on the retention of educations of color acts as a distraction from dismantling the institutionalized racism that continues to permeate our school systems.

To Teach as We Are Known

In this chapter, the authors outline the ongoing dialogues, thought processes, and pedagogical moves they make as two seasoned colleagues of color attempting to enhance the cultural competence of students through a critical multicultural education course offered at a public university-based teacher education program. They document how we address many enduring moral, ethical, and epistemological questions through their practice that are unique to educators of color working at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). They frame the work within the literature on diversity and social justice pedagogy and link their own work to the broader well-documented challenges faced by many educators of color at PWIs. They tackle the thorny concept of cultural competence, offering their professional understanding of an admittedly contested topic. They draw on spirituality to ground the “heart and soul work” they undertake that enhances their own critical consciousness as it is continually nurtured in dialogic relation to their students.

Coalitional Resistance: Challenging Racialized and Gendered Oppression in Teacher Education

In this article, the authors push back against “unnatural invisibility” and stereotypes of Asian American women by introducing a culturally informed coalitional resistance framework. Drawing from elements of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) and AsianCrit, we use the framework to discuss the evolving microaggressions we have faced in teacher education spaces and how we have survived through them. We examine marginalizing experiences each of us has faced along multiple axes of oppression across our careers, the forms of resistance we could (or chose not to) enact in specific contexts and moments, and how, through coalitional resistance, we are reclaiming our collective right to thrive and be recognized for our contributions as teacher educators. We conclude by offering implications of coalitional resistance for fellow teacher educators of color and those who wish to support them.

Critical Self-Reflection as Disruption: A Black Feminist Self-Study

As the PK-12 student population grows more diverse, the teaching population steadfastly continues to be white middle-class women (NCES, 2016). Critical teacher educators understand the importance of preparing pre-service teachers to become culturally responsive and sustaining (CR/S) practitioners by engaging in culturally relevant education (CRE). Critical teacher educators, particularly those of color from historically marginalized groups, can be important advocates in the struggle to strengthen the teaching candidate pool of CR/S practitioners. Building a cadre of teachers, who are poised to decolonize minds and spaces, sustains the work of many teacher educators of color. However, the acts of teaching and learning in most institutions of education are inundated with oppressive norms such as white privilege, xenophobia and anti-blackness. It is this reality in which I, a Black female junior teacher educator, attempt to disrupt normative teaching practices within a special education course. This self-study examined insight derived from a focus group as well as from my self-reflections conducted over the course of two semesters (Spring 2018 to Fall 2018). Using a qualitative methodological approach, the findings indicated tensions between my vulnerable position of being a junior faculty member and my desire to dismantle normative deficit practices through critical self-reflection.