Examining pre-service special education teachers’ biases and evolving understandings about families through a family as faculty approach

Abstract

This paper centers on a participatory qualitative study in which 22 pre-service special education teachers (i.e., undergraduate students) experienced, wrote about, and reflected upon their perceptions of families of children with disabilities over a semester-long course built on a Family as Faculty (FAF) model adapted from the healthcare profession for special education, teacher education programs. The FAF approach used has been reconceptualized to include three essential understandings (E.U.s): a) families as experts, b) examining positionality, and c) analyzing power relations. In our iteration of FAF, parents of children with disabilities co-plan and teach specific classes within a teacher preparation course on families. The authors examine pre-service teacher responses to FAF-structured experiences. Though many pre-service teachers demonstrated growth in their understandings of family’s strengths and their participation in their child’s education, there were some who continued to view families through deficit lenses. Pre-service teachers’ reflections of families, though well-intended, often used cloaked language revealing underlying assumptions. FAF approaches that take a critical stance can unveil hidden assumptions and assist students with self-awareness and critical consciousness needed as foundations to transform individual and systemic biases.

Keywords:

• Family as faculty
• special education
• teacher preparation
• pre-service teachers
• family empowerment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Historically minoritized is a term to refer to individuals of Color (e.g., African American, Asian American, Latinx/a/o, Native American, Pacific Islanders, and multiracial people) who have, over time, been racialized as “less than” in comparison to white people (see footnote 4). Minoritized elicits a larger discussion connected to systems of oppression that locate individuals of Color in the ‘minority,’ even when, by count, they may be in the ‘majority.’

2 We borrow from C. E. Matias’ (2016) work and capitalize Color in reference to people of Color who self-identify in this way. Color is intentionally capitalized to emphasize the importance of identity, heritage, and culture in relation to race, ethnicity, and other identity markers that go beyond skin tone and phenotype.

3 Marginalized within the context of this paper and in reference to parents/family members of children with disabilities refers to the ways in which dominant societal norms dictate who and who does not have power in specific educational contexts. In this study, marginalized families include those who have been oppressed, silenced, or pushed to the margins when attempting to advocate for their child with disabilities.

4 We borrow from C. E. Matias’ (2016) and Santamaría Graff (2019) work to distinguish between the White race and whiteness. The White race refers to having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. White, in this manuscript, is capitalized when referring to race. (See Footnote 8 for definition of whiteness).

5 Critical, in this context, refers to work grounded in critical theory or critical approaches to learning that seeks to confront ideological, political, historical and social forces that oppress or limit opportunities for some while affording privilege to others.

6 In this paper, when we refer to parents or family members we are using these terms loosely because, “parents” can be non-biological caregivers, siblings, grandparents, or others who are significant in the child’s life. Parents and family members or families are sometimes used interchangeably throughout this manuscript.

7 Dis/ability with a slash (/) refers to the social construction of identity, rather than fixed, mutable traits. In this instance, we are emphasizing the importance of intersectional identities that are often marginalized in educational and other settings.

8 Whiteness is a state of being that goes beyond an individual’s racial identity. It is rooted in dominant white, Eurocentric belief systems that value, perpetuate and reproduce norms reflective of specific ideologies or characteristics including but not limited to able-bodiedness, white phenotypical features, English language-dominance, and Christianity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cristina Santamaría Graff

Dr. Cristina Santamaría Graff is an Assistant Professor of Special Education, Urban Teacher Education (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 2009) at IUPUI. She has expertise in bilingual/multicultural special education and applies her skills in working with Latinx immigrant families of children with dis/abilities in family-centered projects. Her scholarship focuses on ways community-engaged partnerships with families and other stakeholders can transform inequitable practices impacting youth with disabilities at the intersections of race, class, and other identity markers of difference.

Josh Manlove

Josh Manlove is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Urban Education Studies program at IUPUI and a graduate research assistant for the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education.  He has over ten years of experience working in Higher Education/Student Affairs at both IUPUI and Boston College.  His scholarship focuses on the experiences of multiracial individuals in higher education, coalition building amongst communities of Color, and dismantling whiteness/white supremacy.

Shanna Stuckey

Shanna M. Stuckey is the Director for Research and Evaluation at the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education (CUME) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). She has a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from Indiana University and over 13 years of experience in research and evaluation work. Much of her evaluation experience has been with programs developing capacity to serve low-income and historically marginalized students. Her research interests include research methodology, action research, college and career readiness and success, and project-based learning.

Michelle Foley

Michelle Renée Foley has more than 15 years of experience parenting and working with children with special needs. Leveraging her degree in telecommunications from Ball State University and a former career in public relations, Foley works to help other parents and students with special needs to become positive advocates within the disabilities’ community. Her particular areas of interest include Asperger syndrome/ASD, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome, ADHD/ADD, neuromuscular disease, Type 1 diabetes, and chronic medical conditions and genetic disorders.