Leave Politics Out of It Diverse Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions of Professionalism and Politics in a Red State

Abstract

Politicized discourse around what is appropriate in schools informs norms for professional behavior for preservice teachers, and professionalism expectations in teacher preparation have been proven to be exclusionary for preservice teachers from systemically marginalized groups. Therefore, it is important we understand how professionalism expectations inform how diverse preservice teachers see themselves as political actors in the field. As part of a larger critical comparative case study, this study explores how preservice elementary teachers describe their understandings and connections between professionalism and the political nature of the teaching field. Humanizing pedagogy in teacher education served as the theoretical framework, and the data included focus group interviews, participant-generated artwork, teacher preparation program policy documents, and open-ended surveys with participants. Data were analyzed Mullet’s (2018) approach to critical discourse analysis in education research. Three findings were identified: 1) professionalism is respectful and politics are not; 2) teachers do not decide what is political; and 3) diverse preservice elementary teachers believe they must be apolitical. The study is significant because it reveals how the divisive political climate is informing diverse preservice elementary teachers’ development, which has implications for the fields of teacher preparation and teacher education policy.