Exploring Critical Consciousness Development for Black Preservice Teachers

ABSTRACT

A growing body of scholarship in teacher education details methods for supporting inservice and preservice teachers in developing critical consciousness, particularly White preservice teachers. Less examined is critical consciousness development for Black preservice teachers. This study employs case study methods to examine beliefs and practices related to critical consciousness of four Black preservice teachers and explore how participating in a social justice-centered university teacher preparation program and a linked social justice-centered residency program supported critical consciousness development. Findings highlight the complexity of critical consciousness positioning and development for Black preservice teachers. Implications for university teacher preparation programs, residency programs, and future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Case study
• critical consciousness
• Black teachers
• teacher residency
• preservice teacher education

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

Nadia Behizadeh

Nadia Behizadeh is an associate professor of adolescent literacy and co-director of the Center for Equity and Justice in Teacher Education at Georgia State University. Her scholarly endeavors are centered on increasing middle school students’ access to critical writing instruction that prepares them to envision and build a more just world. She employs an interdisciplinary research agenda that includes developing theories and practices of powerful writing pedagogies, critiquing educational policies that negatively impact teachers and students, and evaluating methods for social justice-centered teacher preparation.

Camea Davis

Camea Davis is a poet, educator, and educational researcher with a heart for urban youth and communities. Her research focuses on youth activism, racial justice in teacher education, critical collaborative ethnography, and critical poetic inquiry. She has published in a range of journals, including Qualitative Inquiry, Equity & Excellence in Education, Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts, The Journal of Middle School Education, the Journal of Hip Hop Studies, and the Journal of School and Society. She is a research assistant professor at Georgia State University.

Rhina Fernandes Williams

Rhina Fernandes Williams is a clinical professor in the Department of Early Childhood & Elementary Education and co-director of the Center for Equity and Justice in Teacher Education at Georgia State University. Her teaching and scholarship is situated within the context of teacher education and focuses on critical and culturally responsive pedagogy. Central to her work is developing critically conscious educators who center equity and justice.