Notes on: Mensah, F & Jackson I (2018).
Whiteness as Property in Science Teacher
Education. Teachers College Record DOI:
10.1177/016146811812000108.
[Long, repetitive. Data on how trainee teachers
feeal uneases at teaching science, poorly
connected to CRT and themes of Whiteness as
property]
There is a problem with the retention of teachers
of colour (TOC) especially in science. This study
is on the experiences of those in preservice
courses 'as they gain access to science as White
property' and tried to engage in science as
learners and teachers. They use surveys,
observation journals, course papers and post
course questionnaire and CRT ['utilising
constructivist grounded ? during the initial phase
of analysis and themes'] claiming that their
'unique voices of colour and positionalities
enabled suitable interpretation. Representations
of POC must be increased and science teacher
education transformed. Structural forms of race
and racism must be revealed through an examination
of curriculum structure and pedagogy.
Disparities between the race and ethnicity of
teachers and students is expected to increase with
increasing diversity, for example with increased
enrolments for Blacks and Hispanics and other
ethnic minorities, and students of colour will
'surpass enrolment of White children by 2023. The
biggest increases might be found in Hispanics and
Asians/Pacific Islanders. Black students make up
15%. Teacher diversity is important. Many TOC want
to teach in diverse and urban settings so the way
in which they become multicultural educators is
important — maybe they need programs that
specifically include a multicultural approach
although this is seldom found. Instead, it is more
common to experience isolation and marginalisation
in preparation and in schools and classrooms. Thus
there is a 'high national turnover rate'(2),
although other factors include school variables,
low incomes, problems of low cultural and
otherkinds of capital in schools.
The problem becomes particularly serious when
looking at science teaching. The candidate pool of
science teachers is already diminished, partly
because fewer SOC major in STEM-CS [computer
science], and those that do often leave or change
majors — 48% of bachelor degree students had left
by spring 2009. Although 'twice as many Asian as
White Black or Hispanic students enter STEM-CS
fields… Completion rates are lowest for Black and
Hispanic students with only 16% of those in each
of those groups… Earning bachelor's degrees' (3).
The majority of POC college graduates do not enter
teaching — only 15% of the workforce are Black or
Latin@, and in some states there is a low
diversity index.
TOC can build positive relationships and enrich
science learning when interacting with SOC, and
increase 'recruitment retention and professional
development', although more research is required.
Traditional methods of preparing to teach science
'are not overtly culturally relevant for SOC',
because science is 'rooted in positivist thinking
that restricts ways of knowing to a Western
conception of knowledge… Learning environments are
typically teacher centred and lecture-based, and
curriculum and content generally devoid of
multiple perspectives'. This has been seen as
Eurocentric, with other ways of knowing and doing
science as deficient, exposing the '"epistemological
deficiencies"' of non-Western scientific ideas.
These elements are found in the notion of '"good
science education"' and must be contended with.
Students must also 'confront an ideology of
Whiteness applied to science… Views of science as
a privilege and benefit for some and exclusionary
for others'. Teacher education supports the status
quo and the way it grants or denies access to
content of knowledge and by 'not critiquing
teacher education curriculum, knowledge or
pedagogy to make them more relevant to students
and TOC' (4).
There is a need to emphasise teacher education
curriculum and pedagogy and also to understand the
experiences of TOC, especially preservice ones
(PTOC). Their experiences should be analysed. CRT
can be a theoretical framework which centralises
experiential knowledge 'and the unique voice of
colour'. It also suggests 'the tenet of Whiteness
as property as a lens to provide an historical
racial analysis of the experiences of the 7 PTOC'
as they discuss their past experiences in terms of
race and racism and their current experiences, how
they gain access to science learning and teaching.
Overall, the theoretical framework suggests the
notion of '"science as White property"'. (5)
Teacher preparation and science education lacks
much theoretical grounding when examining
diversity race and racism, and sySTEM-CSic racial
inequities are often ignored. This leads many to
'subscribe to unspoken norms of Whiteness' and
neglect the experiences of TOC and the impact
racism has had on them. CRT offers one approach to
seek this deeper theoretical understanding.
[CRT is summarised — legal studies and radical
feminism, disillusioned with civil rights law,
early activism, a summary of the central tenets
from several sources { Solorzano, Zamudio et al,
Del;gad and Stefancic} cf Arday2022. Zamudio et al
further developed these into concepts or tools CRT
to get a sharper focus within education and
Delgado and Stefancic have pursued more analysis,
so there are overlapping themes and concepts.
Zamudio particularly stresses the importance of
praxis to struggle for social justice.
Here they develop the experiences of their seven
respondents as counter stories and develop themes
of Whiteness as property to contextualise their
experiences. This theme 'asserts that there are
tangible aspects of life that White people claim
as their own' (7) and thus can deny access to
them. It was based on claims to land and labour as
in Harris, and rights to use transfer and
enjoyment were claimed in addition, leading to
exclusivity as the core value. 'Over time' other
concepts 'such as time, creativity and benefits of
education' have become associated with property as
in Ladson Billings
and Tate on affluent neighbourhoods and
unequal school funding, or tracking within
schools. Any educational practices that 'continue
to restrict or deny access for SOC or TOC' can be
seen through the same lens — hence 'the phrase
"science as White property"' [quite a leap here].
'Traditional, Eurocentric positivist teachings of
science reified a White, male ownership of
science' [almost a tautology] (9). There is a lack
of representation of scientists of colour, and
overrepresentation of White middle-class male
scientists and this is 'consistent with Whiteness
as property' this limits the teaching and learning
of science as a right for SOC and other
marginalised groups — 'women, students of poverty
and students in low resourced urban and rural
areas'. The right to use and enjoy science has
historically only meant a 'disregarded and
exclusionary view of science' rejecting indigenous
knowledge and cultural frames of reference,
excluding marginalised groups who were 'not
allowed to make contributions, or not recognised
for their contributions'. This is 'analogous to
the property function of Whiteness'. The culture
of science is one for the privileged, closed,
foreign to the vast majority of student, and when
it is made accessible pedagogy curriculum and
content often discourage SOC because pedagogical
practices 'still maintain the White status quo and
cultural of power of Western modern science' this
carries over into science teacher education.
Solorzano and
Yosso have used CRT to look at teacher
education. Others have noticed that preparation
programs 'are most often designed to meet the
needs of White female middle-class teachers' while
TOC are left out. Even recommendations for diverse
texts or teaching diverse students assume White
teachers [but we know that most of them are White]
this 'communicates that teacher education is the
property of Whiteness and PTOC are excluded or not
given much attention' (10).
PTOC often draw upon their own negative
experiences of 'a smart non-emotional White male
wearing glasses and a White laboratory coat'. They
have often felt excluded or marginalised. So they
'lived within a perpetual cycle of alienation
exclusion and inequity' including 'finding
themselves in teacher education programs as White
property'. The scenario illustrates: [a scenario?
a kind of composite counterstory?]
As SOC at school they were alienated or did not
have 'rich science learning experiences', maybe
science is not even taught for they were taught by
teachers who would not scientists and they were
only offered the chance to complete worksheets,
making science 'an interesting and unnecessarily
challenging'. Where they were taught, 'the teacher
was a mid to old aged White male and the learning
environment was not engaging, the science content
was boring and irrelevant, and the pedagogy was
predominantly lecture style' [Mensah 2011b seems
to be quoted here]. As they graduated they were
not college ready for science or science related
career and did not enter college ready to major in
STEM-CS-nor a desire to be science teachers [so
how did they become interested?]. As elementary
teacher education candidates they are being
prepared to teach 'in under resourced, racially
,linguistically and ethnically diverse school
settings', often similar to the ones they attended
themselves, where science is still taught
sporadically if at all, but 'they want to teach
science and see it is important' [why? Apparently
they see it as 'important for students to learn,
as they did not have rich science learning
experiences themselves — now that would have been
interesting to explore]. School placements often
do not offer science as a high priority subject
area, however and often operate with particular
regimes or policies that 'prevent science teaching
and learning from happening'[what might these be?
There is some reference to 'reform based
science'just above]. Now in college, they realise
they are not ready for science, they note they
were not properly prepared. they have often
forgotten the little science they did learn and
elected to take humanities and other fields. There
are 'intimidated by science', then enter a teacher
education which neglects science learning but are
now charged with teaching a generation of
learners. In the classroom 'they are less than
casually committed to teaching science to their
students' [not quite sure what this means — not
even casually committed, or less casually
committed than their own teachers were?]. Having a
stronger science background would have set these
teachers on a path leading to science -related
careers, but as it is, 'another generation of
students suffer' and lack the opportunity 'to
participate in and now science connected,
technologically savvy, innovatively engineered,
mathematically minded, computer focused, modern
world (11).
In addition to all this, 'there is a racial
analysis that "presumes that racism has
contributed to all contemporary manifestations of
group advantage and disadvantage" (Matsuda,
Lawrence, Delgado and Crenshaw 1993) that also
shows up in the inequitable access to science'
(12). It must result in alienation and exclusion
because science is White property [it is
presumed]. The cycle continues over many
generations decreasing the number of students
interested in science and this is a serious threat
to educational equity and access. Institutional
factors perpetuate race and racism and maintain
inequity.
CRT wants to transform education 'to better serve
the needs of all students' (12), and this means
addressing the needs of PTOC in science education.
Science is a civil right, and this should be a
commitment to '"culturally informed pedagogies"'
in science teaching. CRT can transform science
teacher education by seeing race and racism are
central and offering a deeper understanding of
educational inequity. So the experiences of seven
PTOC were analysed asking questions like: 'how
does a multicultural science education calls help
PTOC gain access to "science as White property"?
What role did the instructor play in assisting the
PTOC to gain "science as White property"?' [Well
these are only going to lead to one conclusion,
because they are so badly designed]. What happened
to counterstories?
They studied students at a graduate level science
methods course at a New York University, designed
to orient PTOC to multicultural science teacher
education and offer them practical applications
through micro-teaching. These authors were the
instructors and designers of the course and the
course assistant and they also researched two
semesters, citing Atkinson and Hammersley on all
research being a form of participant observation
[!], and acknowledging their positionalities and
epistemologies as an influence [that can hardly be
denied after the way the questions were framed].
They took an interdisciplinary focus on science
and literacy over two semesters focusing on active
engagement, collaborative and inclusive classroom
learning, participation in laboratory activities,
discussion of readings and teaching presentations.
They tried to enhance engagement and knowledge
with things like the NASA website and although
they covered the content topics in the elementary
curriculum they also made 'culturally relevant and
interdisciplinary connections' (14). They acted as
'facilitators and active participants' joining
discussions and encouraging learning from each
other. They involved two partnership schools and
taught 'field-based methods course' the assignment
consisted of development teaching and reflection
upon a lesson via micro-teaching. The trainees
also wrote field-based assignments, did further
micro-teaching and taught for four weeks as paired
co-teachers.
[Lots of details of who they are and where ensue.
There seems to have been tremendous effort to get
a lot of data from the seven of them. Data
analysis was similarly well over the top using
'constructivist grounded theory' (16), with
everything 'read line by line and coded for
emergent themes', a constant comparative method to
generate a coding document, coding with interrater
reliability between themselves, some triangulation
and finally a post course questionnaire to clarify
what they thought they found. Overall – guess what
— 'there was evidence for notions of "science as
White property" to be fruitful in describing'
their experiences, found in all the narrative
accounts and collective works, all the
conversations in sessions. [The examples are much
less easy to identify as indicating these themes,
however — they seem to talk about various
experiences of being minorities and the
difficulties of identifying a science teacher, and
maybe how things would have been different if they
had had teachers that they could relate to, or how
their earlier images held them back and how they
were forced to think differently about teaching
science (17)]
'The concept of Whiteness as property offered a
robust way of viewing the data' after all the
methodological efforts. There is still a claim
that their understandings 'steered the process of
data collection and analysis', although they
pretty well knew what they were going to find
surely? They did find that they could discuss the
findings with each other and with their
respondents and relate their own experiences to
the findings, which enabled them 'to interpret the
data from a CRT perspective. While 'our
perspective also spoke to other tools of CRT, such
as social construction or differential
racialization due to having experiences in common,
and giving attention to antiessentialism
from the centrality and intersectionality of race
and racism' [?].
Positionality therefore also 'emerged as an
important discovery', which implies that
'Professor positionality' is also likely to be
important in gaining access to science as White
property. These themes have reflected the
'theoretical and methodological lenses used in the
study as a starting point' [indeed they have].
A CRT analysis was particularly helpful 'to
explain the disconnect the PTOC experienced as
learners of science' as they entered the course.
Exampling draws this out — one felt she did often
not have a voice in school and did not enjoy
science and found the content unfamiliar. She was
grappling to find her own '"culture of power in
the field of science education in order for me to
have a voice and a stance"' [pretty ambitious!].
Her views shifted over time and her positionality
became stronger. She saw it as important for
'"students of all backgrounds to have a shared
experience with science"' (20). Shifting
perspectives was also shown by other PTOC. Some
questioned some taken for granted assumptions of
teaching and learning, some explored the idea of
science as White property, some thoughts about
connections between student culture and science
learning, connecting science to daily experiences
through enquiry. One said that his previous
experience was 'similar to the banking concept of
education of Paolo Freire', and he saw the need to
connect science to daily lives and interests,
asking questions and challenging ideas, engaging
in science.
Another PTOC transformed her thinking about access
for underrepresented or marginalised groups,
challenging dominant perspectives of who science
was for. She realised that she was indeed a
scientist and claimed her identity even though she
did not feel she had yet '"the knowledge of
content and executions/activities related to the
content"' (21). She realised science could be
enjoyable and relevant. Another was uncomfortable
with teaching science at first because of her past
experiences but realised that science could now
encompass different things beyond the traditional
notion.
All this showed that 'CRT allowed us to analyse
how the PTOC struggled to claim science as White
property' (22) [these are fully normal mundane
reactions of anyone learning to teach science
especially those who haven't done it before?]
[Then some repetition]. The PTOC had been
challenged by experiencing science in the past as
disconnected, uncomfortable, not addressing the
questions and interests, being inaccessible,
whereas new gains 'as White property' help them
identify more with science teaching and feel more
comfortable, even excited, gain a voice, develop
personal connections, develop 'the right to use
and enjoy science as White property'.
The positionality of the Prof seems important as
well. They mean intersecting social variables
'such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, and
religion among others' (23), which are 'multiple
systems of oppression, with race fundamentally
connected to them all'. The course was designed
and taught by the first author, 'an
African-American female who identifies as a
scientist' who incorporated multicultural
interdisciplinary approaches and experiential
learning. She had a background in work as well as
education. The second author was an
African-American female doctoral student in urban
education. She was not a scientist but was a
course assistant placed in a partnership school.
They set out to break 'the arbitrary boundaries
that some students associated with science
education' which, of course, 'reflected the
Whiteness as property concept for science
learning' (23). The instructors also showed
alternatives to the normal views of science and a
scientist: they were seen as 'a role model of who
can do science.' (24)
They discussed 'culturally relevant teaching
multicultural science education and readings by
researchers of colour' (24), including some by the
authors. And this was appreciated by the students.
They shared personal experiences and did
co-teaching. They appeared as someone that the
students could relate to. They broke the
stereotype. 'By her very presence, the Prof
demonstrated that science was accessible and was
all right for the PTOC's use and enjoyment. She
enacted a critical reflexivity'.
There were ample opportunities to learn science
for themselves and 'develop an identity as a
science teacher' (25) and to learn from the
professor's experience. Having a Black professor
was unusual anyway. One participant was afraid
that having Prof Mensah in front of them would
actually prove the general statistics about race
inequality wrong. Others thought it necessary for
all teacher education peers to have a science Prof
of colour.
The discussion reflects 'the language of CRT' and
bangs home the two major themes — science as White
property, and Prof positionaility. These are
useful in 'privileging the voices of the seven
PTOC' (27) and shows the need for further
theorisation of CRT [with lots of
repetition]. All ends with pleas for more
scientists of colour, challenging the traditional
images. There is something about transformative
curriculum, but this seems to amount to tinkering
around with multicultural bits and trying to
develop a more engaging pedagogy — we don't really
tangle with the central critiques of Eurocentrism
positivism after all. Not surprisingly
professorial positionality looms large.
Still it goes on. Race and racism is enmeshed in
American society and it is easy to overlook, but
we must not do so if we are committed to social
justice. White property in science is an important
construct. We need further research. We must go
beyond science education to interrogate and reveal
race racism and power in curriculum and pedagogy
generally so we need more research. Micro-teaching
was very helpful, so were science days in
classrooms. Above all we should consider 'not only
how we prepare [teachers] but also who prepares
them' (31) given 'the important role the race
(among other variables) of the instructor plays in
providing access'.
This fulfils the requirement in CRT for action and
struggle, a whole vision to do away with
inequitable social hierarchies. We must broaden
the curriculum and change teacher preparation,
adopt CRT as a framework to expose racism.
Consider the past learning experiences PTOC and
'we have the opportunity to work toward
"eliminating racial oppression as part of the
broader goal of ending all forms of oppression"'
by actively transforming teacher education.
[Long, repetitive and assertive. Flimsy connection
between the sorts of problems that teachers face
getting ready to teach a subject and their
particular interest in science as a White
property. Ambiguities at the level of practice as
well — are they there to break the hold of
Eurocentrism and positivism, or just think of more
engaging ways to get people to feel at home in it?
Ludicrous optimism about ending oppression through
teacher education. It seems to end in a plea for
more Black teachers again]
|
|