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Developing cultural critical consciousness and self-reflection in preservice teacher education

Theory Into Practice, Summer, 2003 by Geneva Gay, Kipchoge Kirkland

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Some teacher education students even believe that race and racism are non-issues, and are no longer problems in U.S. society and schools. As one student remarked, "Why shouldn't we teach the Western canon; it's the truth." Individuals like this are incredibly naive, do not understand the academic racism and cultural hegemony embedded in statements like this, or are in total denial of their existence. This leads to assumptions that whatever racial problems in schools and society that existed in the past have been resolved. They evoke notions of color-blindness and universality as the standard for how to engage with diverse students. These preservice teachers do not interrogate the sources of their standards of universality, what they mean when operationalized in classroom practice, or how color-blindness may conflict with some other educational principles, such as maximizing human potential, and using students' prior knowledge in teaching new information and skills. One of our major goals in helping teacher education students develop multicultural critical consciousness is to understand how these beliefs and related behaviors are cultural determinations and, when translated into practice, are discriminatory to students who do not share the teachers' values and beliefs.

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Overcoming Resistance to Cultural and Critical Consciousness and Self-Reflection

Even students who are not deliberately opposed to dealing with racially and culturally diverse issues in education need guidance and support in critiquing and changing thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors related to them. One effective way to do this is for teacher education programs to create learning climates and expectations where self-reflection and cultural critical consciousness are part of the routine, normative demands of students. In our classes students are informed from the very beginning that they are expected to "think deeply and analytically," and to "check themselves" about the topics they are studying; to carefully examine their feelings about what they experience; and to work diligently at translating the knowledge they are learning into instructional possibilities for use with the students they will teach. They are expected to think about both the personal and professional ramifications of their newly acquired knowledge--how it impacts them as human beings and as classroom teachers. We convey to students our beliefs that the person who performs the role of teacher, and understanding the cultural contexts in which they teach, are as crucial to instructional effectiveness with diverse students as the mastery of content knowledge and pedagogical techniques.

Developing cultural critical consciousness and self-reflection in preservice teacher education

Theory Into Practice, Summer, 2003 by Geneva Gay, Kipchoge Kirkland

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