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The purpose of this case study was to focus on the influence of a context-specific teacher preparation program in order to explore program faculty’s articulation and enactments of political and ideological clarity. By exploring a context-specific teacher preparation program, the researcher hoped to consider the ways that an explicit emphasis of context—in particular the context of school setting—influences the ways teachers take action by means of engaging teacher educators in developing political and ideological clarity. The emphasis of context as a primary lens for viewing teacher preparation opened the possibility for a new typology of teacher preparation, adding to the work of Kretchmar and Zeichner (2016), who describe teacher preparation 1.0, defenders, 2.0, reformers, and 3.0, transformers. Using the a priori theoretical framework of Bartolomé’s (2004) political and ideological clarity, the study sought to categorize data into the four characteristics of political and ideological clarity: 1) questioning meritocratic explanations of the social order, 2) rejecting deficit views of minority students, 3) interrogating romanticized views of dominant culture, and 4) becoming cultural border crossers and dedicated cultural brokers. Four program faculty from a context-specific teacher preparation program focused on urban school settings were selected to participate in this qualitative single case study. Using constant comparative analysis, the interview, observational, and documental data was considered individually and across participants and aligned with Bartolomé’s (2004) four characteristics of political and ideological clarity as a form of teacher agency. During the analysis phase of the research, four themes emerged related to ways that program faculty developed emerging teachers toward political and ideological clarity as well as a new teacher typology of teacher preparation 4.0, disruptors. According to the findings of this study, teachers as Disruptors begin: seeing structural inequality, believing in minority populations, subverting the dominant narratives in schools, society, and curriculum, and acting to cross cultural borders and help navigate urban schools as dedicated cultural brokers. |
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