Women Teachers and the Fight to Be “Good Enough”: A Call for a Pedagogy of Authenticity

Abstract

Women teachers often endure trauma and shame as a result of systems of oppression that permeate schools. In this article, we share our stories as white women teachers in the U.S. to illustrate how systems of domination prevent us from enacting authentic teaching and offer a way forward via a pedagogy of authenticity. This three-part approach aims to foster authentic living and teaching and potentially counteract trauma enacted upon women teachers’ bodies.

Keywords:

• Authenticity
• feminism
• neoliberalism
• teacher education
• women teachers