Beliefs and Relationships Matter: Critical Pedagogy Tenets As A Foundation For Changing Teacher Practice

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Luis Enrique Rodríguez García (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Teaching and learning processes often reflect traditional practices that do not meet the academic needs of historically underserved students, especially Latinx and Black students. The goal of the participatory action research project and study, anchored by our collective beliefs in critical pedagogy tenets, was to improve teacher practices and student outcomes and co-construct a culture of learning that supported teachers and coaches. I conducted this study with a Co-Practitioner Researcher (CPR) group that included teachers and instructional coaches\; over three iterative cycles, we planned, co-facilitated, and analyzed data from Community Learning Exchanges (CLEs), coaching sessions, and grade level collaboration meetings. We found that enacting our espoused beliefs in classroom practices required a collective effort, or teaching practices did not fully change. Secondly, by being attentive to adult relationships, school leaders and instructional coaches shifted adult collaboration from contrived to authentic collegiality. By attending to values and beliefs as the engine of change and engaging in praxis, reflection in order to act, we iteratively built our change model on the values that sustain us: our beliefs in the power of critical pedagogy and our capacity to translate those tenets to classroom practices and adult learning. While exercising steady flexibility and adapting to changing circumstances, we iteratively ensured that our values matched our pedagogical choices to better serve Latinx and Black students. The findings have a key implication for educational leaders interested in implementing socially just and equitable teaching practices: beliefs are the foundation of changing practice.

Additional Information

Publication

Dissertation

Language: English

Date: 2023

Subjects

Teacher Practice

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