Examining the Immigrant Experience: Helping Teachers Develop as Critical Educators
Source: Teaching Education, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2014, pages 43-64
The goal of this case study was to examine ways that a multicultural perspective using critical literacy practices engaged practicing teachers to rethink and re-vision oppressive hegemonic structures and attitudes regarding immigrant students and their families and helped them to develop as critical educators.
The participants were 57 teachers, who enrolled to of a professional development master’s program, experienced a curriculum strand focused on immigration issues and provided extensive feedback responding to the curriculum.
The authors wanted to assess in what ways using current and controversial issues helped teachers to develop their capacities to understand and critique the world in more complex ways and what impact these experiences had on their teaching practice.
Evidence suggests that the majority of teachers were receptive to the curriculum although some teachers exhibited resistance.
Resistance appeared to be minimized and teachers’ development supported using curricular experiences that engaged teachers’ emotions, and that made clear how policies, practices, and attitudes directly and indirectly impact the lives of children and their families.