Examining Preservice Educators' and Educators' Self-Efficacy in Culturally Responsive Instruction
If I interview educators and preservice educators about self-efficacy beliefs and these educators also self-rate regarding educator efficacy and confidence, in what ways, if any, could that information inform teacher preparation programs about preservice teacher self-efficacy development and Culturally Responsive Teaching?
CONTEXT
Personal
Situational
The racial divides in St. Louis are not unique; redlining, gerrymandering, and racial segregation are still present in many, if not most, urban cities across America. We see this racial segregation even more clearly in our schools. Discipline for students of color, specifically Black students, is not distributed equally. In fact, Missouri’s discipline gap between Black students and White students was the largest among 48 states studied (Losen, Hodson, Keith, Morrison, & Belway, 2015).
National
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 2017-2018 school year, 79% of the teaching population were White/non-Hispanic (NCES, 2020). These data also showed that “teachers of a given race/ ethnicity were more often found in schools where their race/ ethnicity matched a majority of the student body”, however, “at the same time, in schools where the majority of students were not White, the majority of teachers tended to be White” (NCES, 2020).
As I began my career teaching in a preschool classroom for children with hearing loss, I realized how much I didn’t know about cultural responsiveness. That first year, my class of six students consisted entirely of families from various parts of the world, and their culture seeped into my classroom. I gladly embraced this widening of my own cultural lens; I had much to learn about cultural responsiveness and integrating culturally appropriate activities into my classroom.
"I don't feel like we did a lot of explanation and differentiation and modification, stuff like that...I guess that just comes with teaching and student teaching...learning that kind of stuff. But I don't feel confident in my ability to do that"
Preservice Participant A
About the Researcher
I have always been interested in learning about different cultures. As a college graduate, I worked with refugees from all over the world who had settled in Nashville, TN. This experience opened my eyes to the myriad ways we are all connected, despite our differences. This research was an opportunity for me to delve further into the Culturally Responsive Teaching pedagogy.
If you have any questions about this research or if you would like to participate in a future study, please reach me on Twitter
@colleenmkinsella