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

Abstract

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.

A Mixed-Methods Study of Teacher Dispositions and Culturally Relevant Teaching

“…PSTs' limited attention to critical consciousness, or the sociopolitical context, might be a reflection of the extent to which teacher educators engage this element of the framework (Stenhouse, 2014). Paris and Alim (2014) and others maintain that teacher educators need to be vigilant in their own self-critique of practices that do not always support more critical applications of theories that they teach in their preparation of teachers (Allen et al, 2017).…”

“…Despite the difficulty in encapsulating dispositions, they persist as fundamental considerations in the preparation of teachers (Allen, Hancock, Starker-Glass, & Lewis, 2017; Garmon, 2005; Hollins, Kolis, McIntyre, Stephens, & Battalio, 2010). Many urban school districts identify sought-after teacher dispositions believed critical to teaching and learning (Boggess, 2010).…”

Walking the Talk: Employing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Teacher Education

“…More specifically, multicultural education scholarship often neglects teacher educators and the dispositions, practices, and pedagogies that mediate their work (Gorski, 2012). In solidarity with colleagues such as Allen et al (2017) and Andrews et al (2019), this article speaks directly to that gap.…”

A Place for Neuroscience in Teacher Knowledge and Education

“…Conceptions of KoS vary greatly (Appendix, Table 1). These include viewing KoS as part of learning theories (Barnett & Hodson, 2001), as a component of PK (Dohrmann, Kaiser, & Blomeke, 2012), as an understanding of cultural backgrounds (Allen, Hancock, Starker‐Glass, & Lewis, 2017), and as learning how students respond in classrooms to particular content, PCK (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). Many of these newer views of teacher knowledge only focus on its cognitive dimensions, eliding the neural underpinnings.…”