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"If you are going to last in this profession, you have to be yourself": Qualitative portraits of critical educators in urban secondary schools

Sellers, Kathleen Marie
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-5569
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1680002853924981

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Educational Leadership.
This study examines the professional experiences of three teachers in a national network of urban, low-income serving, Catholic high schools. These teacher-participants were chosen to participate in this study because they engaged in experiential, community-based pedagogy within this national network and exemplified a commitment to social justice through their teaching practice. As detailed in Chapter One, such teaching practice resembles critical pedagogy and aligns with best practice in quality civic education. Therefore, by examining the experiences of critical educators, this study aimed to illuminate ways we can enhance civic learning for K-12 students by enhancing support for and removing the barriers to critical educators’ distinct pedagogical practice. This is particularly important for Students of Color, who have faced historical exclusion from formal and informal modes of civic learning (Campbell, 2012; Lo, 2019). Critical theory (Freire, 1970/1993; Giroux, 2003; Horkheimer, 1972[1992]) and social reproduction theory (Bourdieu, 2016; Bowles & Gintis, 2016) were used to frame this study, which employed qualitative portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) to answer two key research questions. The first question— Why do teachers in this Network engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy? —drew attention to the internal and external factors impacting my participants’ practice. This set up inquiry into the second key research question: How do these educators exhibit civic and/or critical consciousness about and through their work? Findings from this study revealed that both internal and external factors contributed to the choice teacher-participants made to engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy. Professional ecology, consisting of local school and corporate cultures, were particularly influential on these teachers. That ecology functioned in distinct ways at each study site to both aid and obstruct the critical teaching practices of teacher-participants. Despite the obstacles they faced, these teachers all expressed dimensions of critical and/or civic consciousness through their pedagogical discourse, relationship-building, and professional practices. However, each teacher also expressed struggles with Freirean duality (Freire, 1970/2005) as they recognized and responded, to varying degrees, to the hegemonic forces at play in their professional contexts. Implications for practitioners, school community partners, and policymakers are discussed.
Érica Fernández (Committee Chair)
Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member)
Thomas Misco (Committee Member)
Lisa Weems (Committee Member)
Veronica Barrios (Committee Member)
188 p.
Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Mathematics Education; Religious Education; Secondary Education; Social Studies Education; Teacher Education
critical pedagogy; civic education; teacher experience; qualitative portraiture; secondary education; Catholic schools; critical theory; social reproduction theory; neoliberalism; urban Catholic education; civic debt; civic advantage; corporatization of schooling; unveiling interviews; experiential pedagogy; teacher empowerment; school-level policy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sellers, K. M. (2023). "If you are going to last in this profession, you have to be yourself": Qualitative portraits of critical educators in urban secondary schools [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1680002853924981

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sellers, Kathleen. "If you are going to last in this profession, you have to be yourself": Qualitative portraits of critical educators in urban secondary schools. 2023. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1680002853924981.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sellers, Kathleen. ""If you are going to last in this profession, you have to be yourself": Qualitative portraits of critical educators in urban secondary schools." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1680002853924981

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1680002853924981
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© 2023, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.