Discussion
This pilot study was designed in order to answer the following research question: If I interview educators and pre-service 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 pre-service teacher self-efficacy development and Culturally Responsive Teaching? The information gleaned from this pilot study was not robust enough to thoroughly answer this question. However, if information was gathered from a larger sample size of preservice and inservice teachers, especially inservice teachers in their first year of teaching, data from the two groups could be compared and this question could be answered more accurately. As a first year teacher, I found myself yearning to build a community in my classroom where my students felt their cultures were represented and celebrated. However, I found that this was more difficult than I anticipated and wondered if there was any possibility that I could have been more prepared. Were there classes I elected not to take in undergraduate and graduate school that could have paved the path to cultural responsiveness that I wanted to find? Or were the classes I took lacking in rigorous curricula that could have prepared me to implement Culturally Responsive Teaching as a first year inservice educator?
Existing literature has shown us why Culturally Responsive Teaching is important and how exactly inservice educators can and should implement CRT in their classrooms (Gorski, 2008; Krasnoff, 2016; Ladson-Billings, 2005). Additionally, existing literature is rife with statistics and information about how to incorporate teachers of many different cultures into the classroom by diversifying preservice educator programs (Borrero, Flores, & de la Cruz, 2016; Villegas, Strom, & Lucas, 2012). However, little literature exists which compares preservice and inservice educators’ self-efficacy and confidence of the implementation of CRT. By comparing these two groups, researchers can discover in which areas preservice educators feel the most confident and efficacious and in which areas they feel the least confident and efficacious. Similarly, researchers can discover in which areas of CRT inservice educators feel the most and least confident and efficacious. This will provide answers about curricula development in teacher preparation programs.
Two overarching themes were noted: virtual instruction and relationships with students/families. A third possible theme was adaptation and differentiation of instruction in the classroom; however, more research must be conducted to conclude this due to questions asked about this particular topic during the interview for some participants.
Existing literature supports the notion that teacher preparation programs should provide strong CRT curricula for preservice teachers (Gay, 2002; Gorski, 2008; Siwatu, 2007; Sleeter 2008). This pilot study sought to identify in which areas of Culturally Responsive Teaching preservice teachers felt the least confident and efficacious. This information is especially useful when compared to inservice educators’ responses because the areas in which preservice and inservice educators’ lowest amounts of confidence and efficacy overlap must be the areas targeted first in CRT education in teacher preparation programs.
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