“They act like they went to hell!”: Black teachers, racial justice, and teacher education

Abstract

Purpose While Black teachers have engaged in racial justice-oriented teaching for centuries and the body of research on racial justice-oriented teachers is growing, very little is known about how teachers come to this work. The purpose of this paper is to focus on where and how Black teachers who teach with racial justice aims learned to engage in this work. Design/methodology/approach This is a narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) study that was designed and analyzed using a critical race theory lens. Findings Participants learned to engage in racial justice-oriented teaching from their lived experience, particularly from their K-12 teachers who showed why this kind of teaching was necessary. Additionally, participants were highly skeptical of whether or not teacher education programs could prepare White preservice teachers to engage in this kind of teaching. Originality/value There is very little research focusing on how Black teachers come to engage in racial justice-oriented teaching, and even less that provides insight into how Black teachers perceive teacher education programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This study sheds light on when, where and how Black teachers learn to teach with racial justice aims, and it also illuminates the experiences of Black teachers in PWI teacher education programs.

Black Lives Matter at School: Using the 13 Guiding Principles as Critical Race Pedagogies for Black Citizenship Education

“…As Duncan (2019, 2021) reminds us, the counter-story tenant supported through narrative approaches is consistent with critical race research and pedagogies, providing space for our participants to share stories that center previously marginalized voices and change the master narrative. Because narrative research considers “extended accounts of lives in context” (Riessman, 2008, p. 6), a narrative approach allowed us to situate the teachers’ stories within their work with BLMAS Week of Action.…”

“…Narrative inquiry speaks to the telling and retelling of said stories in our own lives, the histories, and perspectives that are brought to the table, and the conversation and the lives of those that interact and connect with us as scholars, as teachers, and as colleagues. (Berry & Bowers Cook, 2019, p. 87, p. 87) As Duncan (2019Duncan ( , 2021 reminds us, the counter-story tenant supported through narrative approaches is consistent with critical race research and pedagogies, providing space for our participants to share stories that center previously marginalized voices and change the master narrative. Because narrative research considers "extended accounts of lives in context" (Riessman, 2008, p. 6), a narrative approach allowed us to situate the teachers' stories within their work with BLMAS Week of Action.…”

The Barcelona Conference on Education 2023: Official Conference Proceedings

“…In the first stage, several criteria were initially applied to exclude studies, including those less than three pages in length, not written in English, articles that are not related to RFTs and VFTs. After this stage of the screening, 37 articles ([1], [2], [3] [8], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [26], [27], [28], [29], [37], [39], [42], [44], [45], [49], [50], [51], [52], [55], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [63], [67], [68], [69]) were selected for full text assessment. The second stage of the screening process involved reading title, keywords, and abstract to identify studies that are relevant to RFTs and VFTs that had been peer reviewed in an educational context.…”

“…A Real Field Trip is not a break from school, but rather an opportunity to have an authentic, real-life, experiential learning experience outside the classroom. The RFT experience provides students with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of a topic they have been studying in the classroom (Duncan,[13]). Through direct observation of the study area, RFTs assist individuals in understanding the relationship between inductive and deductive pathways of any knowledge, and between such knowledge's sensory and rational components [21]).…”

Teacher candidates of Color experiences and perceptions of culturally responsive teaching within teacher education: “they hit the target, not the bullseye”

“…However, our study centers TCoCs’ experiences and perceptions of how culturally responsive teaching is taught in teacher credential programs. This approach builds on scholarship examining how future educators of color navigate the predominately White space of teacher education by seeking out forms of authentic care (Blum et al , 2021) and relying on their own experiences to teach for racial justice (Duncan, 2021).…”