Social justice teacher educators: What kind of knowing is needed?

Abstract

Five knowledge domains are proposed (Author, 2010) for 'teacher educating,' big ideas that conceptualize learning/teaching as deep and broad, with equity and social justice squarely at the center. As lenses for imagining novice teacher educator learning, they can stretch us beyond our own teaching-experience-as-content for preservice curriculum to view (and enact) good teaching about teaching as the consequence of decision-making and reflective practice which grow out of dialogue, competing agendas, and diverse teaching contexts. Theoretical Perspectives: Internationally, many are calling for “more attention to what teachers of teachers themselves need to know…in order to meet the complex demands of preparing teachers for the 21st century” (Cochran-Smith, 2003, p. 6; Ellis & McNicholl, 2015; Korthagen, 2001; Loughran, 2008). Yet, teacher educator qualifications are minimally discussed (Authors, 2014: Martinez, 2008), and formal preparation for those who instruct teachers, is absent (Berry, 2007; Korthagen, Loughran & Lunenberg, 2005), despite agreement that “the quality and the effectiveness of teacher education largely depends on the competence and expertise of teacher educators” (Buchberger et al., 2000, p. 57-58). The silence around teacher educator preparation is further punctuated by a glaring gap around social justice. Teacher educators seem to “unanimously [embrace] the goal of teaching for social justice” (Agarwal et al., 2010; Cochran-Smith et al., 2009), but what do they need to know and do in order to move from espousing to enacting social justice in their teaching and teacher educating practice? Methods, Data Sources and Conclusions: The five knowledge domains were used to analyze literature about K-12 teacher preparation for social justice. Five prominent teacher education journals were selected, specifically articles that spoke to preparing “good and just teachers” (Cochran-Smith et al., 2009). The knowledge domains were then used to sort and conceptualize practices/findings in the articles to determine the knowledges teacher educators seem to highlight in their preparation of equity-minded (preservice) teachers. Preliminary analysis revealed that teacher educators seem to emphasize personal knowledge i.e., engaging preservice students in examining beliefs or pre/misconceptions, and becoming conscious of biases. A second emphasis seemed to be expanding teacher candidates’ sociological knowledge by exposing them to diverse cultures through literature and field experiences. There was less emphasis on the other three domains—contextual, pedagogical, social—and apparently more thinking about social justice versus how to enact it. Educational Significance: This study provided insight into the preparation of social justice teacher educators in relation to their priorities—and silences—around preparing social justice teacher candidates. First, priorities juxtaposed against gaps indicate not only what teacher candidates are learning—or not—about equity education, but understandings teacher educators may need to develop if they are to be well equipped to advance the dream of public education—a quality teacher whose goal is to educate all children equally well and advocate for social change. After all, teacher educators cannot teach what they themselves do not know.