Critical professional development and the racial justice leadership possibilities of teachers of colour in K-12 schools

A Systematic Review of the Literature on Inservice Professional Development Explicitly Addressing Race and Racism

“…A framework researchers have termed “critical professional development (CPD)” (Kohli et al, 2015) subsumes a range of pedagogies documented by researchers across this review ( n = 40). Researchers have identified two specific approaches aligned with CPD—teacher inquiry groups and racial affinity spaces—and documented equity coaching as a final, less common pedagogical approach.…”

“…Critical professional development is a PD framework recently formalized by scholars (Kohli et al, 2015) with roots in Freirean pedagogy (Freire, 2012), teacher inquiry and research (e.g., Cochran-Smith, 2004), and teacher activism (e.g., Montaño et al, 2002; Picower, 2012). Contrasting CPD with traditional, top-down PD, Kohli et al (2015) wrote, Critical professional development follows the tenets of dialogical action: it is designed to provoke cooperative dialogue, build unity, provide shared leadership, and meet the critical needs of teachers. CPD engages teachers in political analysis of their role as educators in the reproduction or resistance of inequality.…”

“…Kennedy’s (2016) PD theory of action, however, is a technical-rational orientation to PD whereby understanding the learning design of teachers’ practice-focused development is central. Such an orientation to PD can fail to consider how teacher learning and change represent both a learning problem and a political problem (Cochran-Smith, 2004) and can produce top-down, “antidialogical PD” experiences (Kohli et al, 2015, p. 17). Furthermore, in an environment of increased national attention to issues of race and racial inequality, it is important to also leverage scholarship that considers external factors shaping racial-equity PD contexts: partisan politics, district context and demographics, support among school and district leaders, parent advocacy, and more.…”

“…Three core contentions from scholars underlie the research throughout this review addressing racial-equity PD: (a) racism plays a role in society and school experiences (e.g., Bonilla-Silva, 1997; Kohli et al, 2017), (b) teachers’ conceptions of race and racism and their racial identities influence their teaching through the beliefs and practices they hold and enact (e.g., Michael, 2015; Milner, 2015), and (c) focused attention via PD on the role of race and racism in teachers’ work is needed to address racial inequality (e.g., Casey & McManimon, 2020; Kohli et al, 2015). Thus, this review positions teachers, informed by their racial identities, as actors contributing to and resisting structural racial inequality in schools, with PD as one way to address this responsibility.…”

Multidimensional Role of Teachers as Pedagogues, Intellectuals and Activists for Promoting Social Justice through Education1

“…They support and are supported by a neoliberals that would like to reduce teachers to technicians who will do what they are told to do (Biesta, Priestley, & Robinson, 2015;Hardy, Rönnerman, & Beach, 2019). This is a rejection of a teachers' role as intellectuals who will strive to transform society towards gaining social justice for the underprivileged and deprived sectors of society (Apple, 2013;Kohli, Picower, Martinez & Ortiz, 2015;Yogve & Michaeli, 2011).…”