The Souls of White Teachers: Racial Consciousness Development of In-Service Teachers
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In 2014, 82% of public school teachers in the United States were classified as White, whereas more than 50% of public school students were students of color. Research has extensively documented the misguided and harmful attitudes about race that many White teachers bring to the classroom, ranging from cultural deficit thinking, to believing in the myth of colorblindness, to denying the history and current situation of racism in the United States. However, research has also revealed that attempts to engage White teachers in conversations around race spark defensive, guilty, and hostile reactions. Therefore, more research is needed to understand how racial consciousness development can occur for White in-service teachers. My thesis investigated White racial consciousness development through the lens of ten White public school teachers in Portland, Oregon, who lead racial equity professional development workshops in their respective schools. My study asked the question: What factors contributed to the racial consciousness development of White in-service teachers? Data were collected in semi-structured interviews, and analysis revealed the following factors as influential in my participants’ racial consciousness development: relationships with people of color, mentoring relationships, and teaching relationships with students of color; learning settings; experiences as a racial minority; intellectual curiosity; and experiences of marginalization. Together, these factors enhanced three components of the White teachers’ racial consciousness: knowledge, practice, and commitment. My findings suggest that school districts and schools of education must find opportunities to not only increase White teachers’ knowledge and practices around racial equity, but also opportunities to deepen their commitment and motivation to engage in anti-racist work.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 2016 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Trachtenberg, Violet |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Martinez, Ramon |
| Degree granting institution | Graduate School of Education |
Subjects
| Subject | Whiteness |
|---|---|
| Subject | critical Whiteness studies |
| Subject | White teachers |
| Subject | race |
| Subject | critical race theory |
| Subject | racial consciousness development |
| Subject | in-service teachers |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Trachtenberg, Violet (2016). The Souls of White Teachers: Racial Consciousness Development of In-Service Teachers. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Graduate School of Education
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- vtrachtenberg@gmail.com
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...