Date of Award

Summer 2024

Language

English

Embargo Period

7-9-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Education Theory and Practice

Program

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Dr. Alex Kumi Yeboah

Second Advisor

Dr. Cheryl Dozier

Third Advisor

Dr. Sonja Cherry Paul

Keywords

whiteness, teacher education, racism, critical race theory, critical whiteness studies

Abstract

This study sets out to understand how five teacher educators deconstruct whiteness in their courses and how their institutions support or hinder their work. Undergirding the study is the silence of whiteness residing in education and the urgency to notice, name, and disrupt it (Kohli et. al, 2021; Sleeter, 2017). The racial demographics in K-12 is 80% White for educators, and 54% students of color (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Therefore, most educators are teaching from experiences or identities that differ than their students. Since teaching is a personal endeavor, bringing our identities and experiences into the classroom, (Ahmed, 2018; Buchanan-Rivera, 2022; Nieto, 2010) it is essential to interrogate how those identities and experiences influence their teaching and acknowledge how the demographic divide between educators and students impacts the educational experiences and outcomes of students of color (Milner, 2008; Siddle-Walker, 1996).

Beyond the examination of White educators’ racial identities, all educators must understand the historical contexts of systemic racism and whiteness and the impact and insidiousness of it within education. Building this capacity of understanding is necessary for any current and future educator to develop and this study set out to understand the following research questions:

(1) How teacher educators engage in deconstructing whiteness in their courses

  1. What happens when teacher educators enact antiracist pedagogy?
  2. How do teacher educators describe the culture that supports or sustains them as they seek to disrupt whiteness?

(2) How do teacher educators’ identities manifest in their course design?

The five teacher educators in this study resided in New York State and worked in both public and private institutions; three identified as White woman and two identified as Black women. Over the course of one year, four interviews and three observations per participant, four themes emerged from the findings of this study that indicated how they approached deconstructing whiteness as well barriers: (a) Demonstrated a commitment to address racism and whiteness in courses (b) Provided opportunities for students to engage in critical consciousness and their positionality through conversations and course assignments (c) Lead their courses with reflexivity and (d) Challenges of navigating colleagues in a layered system of whiteness. Drawing on the study’s theoretical framework of critical race theory and critical whiteness study, several recommendations surfaced while answering the research questions. First is the importance to notice and name whiteness in their courses. This study showed that noticing and naming is an essential place to begin, however, to attain racial justice teacher educators must also act and understand how they are perpetuating or disrupting whiteness. Second, how we engage in conversation about whiteness, racism, and racial identities is essential in avoiding perpetuating whiteness and harm for students of color. “Without intentional frameworks of self-reflection to guide their praxis in a healthy direction (Lyiscott, 2019, p.34), education will continue supporting “well intentioned” educators swimming in whiteness. Third, the voices of teacher educators of color must be centered and prioritized, and collectively both White educators and educators of color must address racisms and whiteness in all courses while simultaneously necessary for White educators to engage in the internal work of racial literacy development.

There were three implications for teacher education that surfaced from this study: (a) development of racial literacy for faculty (b) development of discourse in deconstructing whiteness (c) support, recruit, and retain educators of color. The implication on the impact of policy surfacing from this study is the importance of moving from beyond the rhetoric of centering racial justice to investing in structural changes

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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