Dissertation

Supervising preservice teacher critical consciousness

Preservice teachers are underprepared to address the needs of racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse students in their daily practice. They also report difficulty in countering White bias as it appears in daily teaching. As a result of this lack of preparation, many teachers do not have the capacity to challenge systemic inequities and institutional barriers once they become credentialed new teachers in classrooms. Many researchers have called for teacher education programs to focus on developing critical consciousness and teaching for social justice to disrupt this phenomenon. What is less chronicled is whether and how teacher educators, specifically field supervisors, are prepared to investigate issues of inequity with preservice teachers. In this qualitative, participatory action research (PAR) study, I collaborate with a lead field supervisor to examine how field supervisors are and can be supported in the work of developing critical consciousness among preservice teachers. Two research questions drive this study: 1) How does a teacher education program support field supervisors in engaging in critical consciousness work with preservice teachers within their student teaching placement? 2) How does field supervisors' capacity for critical consciousness impact their work with preservice teachers? This study will utilize a theoretical framework informed by a multidimensional theory of racism in education, enabling me to attend to the sociopolitical factors that undergird the teacher education program setting. This PAR study will include narrative inquiry as a method and will utilize narrative discussion, a series of unstructured, open-ended interviews, as the primary method of data collection.

Items in ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.