Exploring teachers’ beliefs and feelings about race and police violence

ABSTRACT

In this article, the authors analyzed White teachers’ open-ended responses to three critical items on the Teachers’ Race Talk Survey (TRTS). The authors focused on: (1) teachers’ beliefs about the importance of discussing race in the classroom with their students; (2) teachers’ feelings of preparedness to have race conversations in the classroom with their students; and (3) teachers’ beliefs about discussing, in class, police violence against Black people. Findings showed that while most White teachers believed race was important to discuss in order to unlearn and disrupt their prior beliefs, the majority described fear as a primary factor for feeling unprepared to actually discuss race in the classroom. Despite their beliefs about the importance of race, teachers’ beliefs about police violence against Black bodies reflect a color-blind approach by either viewing police violence as a natural occurrence or minimizing the role that race plays. To continue developing teachers’ critical knowledge related to race, the authors discuss implications for examining the quality of race-centered curriculum in teacher education programs and they pose broader questions related to the evolving knowledge base for teaching.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• teacher education curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Alvarez

Dr. Adam Alvarez studies social context issues related to race, violence and trauma to better understand how best to prepare and support teachers who work in urban environments. 

H. Richard Milner IV

Dr. H. Richard Milner IV’s research, teaching and policy interests include urban teacher education, African American literature, and the social context of education. In particular, Dr. Milner’s research examines policies and practices that support teacher success in urban schools. He can be reached at [email protected].