Role retreatism of social studies teacher-coaches: An unequal balancing act

Conner, Caroline J.

doi:10.1016/j.jssr.2019.01.005

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…As a result, the pressure to win or risk losing both teacher and coaching jobs continues (Hill, 1997;Konukman et al, 2010). In contrast to these dilemmas, some teacher-coaches state they were proud of their classroom achievements and challenged the teacher-coach stereotype (Conner, 2014;Herbert, 2007;Rodgers, 2013). Consequently, more work is needed to understand how the achievement or lack thereof of coaching can impact teachers in the classroom.…”

Section: Role Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social studies teacher-coach: A quantitative analysis comparing coaches and non-coaches across how/what they teach

Knowles

Hawkman

Nielsen

2020

The Journal of Social Studies Research

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This quantitative study of 3557 high school teachers from 44 states assesses the implications of the social studies teacher-coach. The study compares social studies teacher-coaches and non-coaches in terms of teacher demographics and school contexts, disciplines taught, and instructional preferences. Substantial differences between coaches and non-coaches were found across gender, community type, and teaching experiences. Teacher-coaches disproportionately taught general classes such as government, Economics, and Geography, while non-coaches are more likely to teach Advanced Placement courses. Finally, self-report data measuring teacher's instructional preferences indicates that teacher-coaches were more likely to indicate implementation of lectures, textbooks, worksheets, and videos, while non-coaches were more likely to indicate preference for examining photographs, artifacts, or primary materials.

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Section: Role Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social studies teacher-coach: A quantitative analysis comparing coaches and non-coaches across how/what they teach

Knowles

Hawkman

Nielsen

2020

The Journal of Social Studies Research

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“…Despite their presence in popular culture and the teacher workforce, the history of Black male teacher-coaches has been erased and replaced with a White origin story (Stacy, 2016) that does not align with the specificity of the Black male teacher-coach tradition set forth by Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Dr. Edwin B. Henderson (Henderson, 1949;Thomas, 2022b). Contemporary scholarship has primarily focused on White male participants and has framed teacher-coaches as anti-intellectuals who avoid teaching duties (Conner, 2014). Thus, Black male teachers have historically been constructed as problems for their counter-hegemonic practices, and teacher-coaches have been positioned as anti-intellectual.…”

Section: Black Male Teachers and Teacher-coachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gatekeepers and Guardians of Black Intellectual Thought: Black Male Teacher-Coaches Combating an Anti-Black Epistemic Order

Thomas

2023

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context: Historical narratives and contemporary research continue to produce scholarship on teacher-coaches through a White racial frame that both reifies a Western European origin story and centers the experiences of White males. However, the American history of teacher-coaches is not the Black history of teacher-coaches. The Black male teacher-coach tradition is anchored in the utilization of Black intellectual thought to implement revisionist ontology projects that simultaneously claim Black personhood and contest curricular genocide while being consumed within an anti-Black milieu. In this study, the tradition of Black male teacher-coaches’ critical civic engagement within secondary schools is taken from the margins and centered. Purpose/Objective/Research Questions/Focus of Study: This study examines how Black male teacher-coaches utilize Black intellectual thought within secondary social studies and literature courses to combat a White-controlled epistemic order of knowledge. Within their courses, the participants purposefully challenge institutional forms of bad faith by utilizing Black intellectual thought to unsettle the coloniality of truth to challenge the existing anti-Black scholastic order of knowledge. Using the theoretical lenses of subjective understanding and bad faith, this study is guided by the following primary research question: How do Black men in predominantly non-Black schools utilize Black intellectual thought to enact their work as teacher-coaches? Research Design: The findings from this study emerge from an instrumental multiple case study that included four Black male teacher-coaches serving as secondary social studies or literature educators in schools that were not predominantly Black. Employing an interpretive approach within this methodology created space to redress the following two broader external interests: (1) de-essentializing the specificity of the Black male teacher-coach tradition from a Eurocentric dominant narrative, and (2) explicating the salience of Black intellectual thought in the counter-hegemonic practices of these Black men relative to anti-intellectual tropes about teacher-coaches in general. Findings/Results: Findings indicate how participants continue the legacy of the long Civil Rights Movement by utilizing Black intellectual thought to enact a project of revisionist ontology to combat an anti-Black epistemic order of knowledge. The study explicates the following thematic findings: (1) carving out space for Black intellectual thought, (2) centering Black intellectual thought, and (3) making Black intellectual thought relevant. Conclusions/Recommendations: Findings from this study illustrate how Black teachers in general, and Black male teacher-coaches in particular, serve as the gatekeepers and guardians of Black intellectual thought within predominantly non-Black secondary schools. Participants who were secondary social studies and literature teachers resisted a White-controlled epistemic order that marginalizes Black intellectual thought. These findings have direct implications for secondary preservice teachers with the desire to courageously enact fugitive pedagogical practices to include diverse, antiracist curricular materials.

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“…The current researchers do not attest that social studies teachers who coach are less effective teachers than those who do not. In fact, they contend there are many perceived benefits of coaching such as the ability to foster strong relationships with and among students (Conner, 2014). In an empirical study, Bowen and Greene (2012) found that a schools' commitment to athletics was positively correlated to students' academic success.…”

Section: The Social Studies Teacher-coachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To avoid such burnout, prior research further indicates that social studies teachers prioritize one role at the expense of the other—a phenomenon known as role retreatism . Research investigating role retreatism indicates that teacher-coaches tend to prioritize the role for which they feel most rewarded, most valued, and most accountable (Conner, 2020; Millslagle & Morley, 2004; O'Connor & MacDonald, 2002; Ressler, Richards, & Wright, 2016; Richards & Templin, 2012). The unequal rewards system SSTCs encounter contributes to their prioritization of coaching (Conner, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coaching to Teach: Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Experiences with a Hiring Contingency

Conner

Bohan

2021

The Journal of Social Studies Research

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Social studies teachers are frequently athletic coaches who are often criticized for prioritizing coaching over teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of preservice social studies teachers regarding the relationship between coaching and teaching with respect to hiring in middle and secondary schools. The researchers employed phenomenological research methods to investigate the hiring experiences of social studies teacher candidates. Survey and interview data were collected from social studies teacher candidates at the three largest universities in a southeastern state. Results illuminate a pervasive coaching contingency that many social studies teacher candidates face. Social studies teacher candidates perceived that willingness to coach a sport is the most important factor, other than teaching, to be hired to teach—particularly at the high school level.

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Role retreatism of social studies teacher-coaches: An unequal balancing act

Cited by 6 publications

References 22 publications

The social studies teacher-coach: A quantitative analysis comparing coaches and non-coaches across how/what they teach

The social studies teacher-coach: A quantitative analysis comparing coaches and non-coaches across how/what they teach

Gatekeepers and Guardians of Black Intellectual Thought: Black Male Teacher-Coaches Combating an Anti-Black Epistemic Order

Coaching to Teach: Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Experiences with a Hiring Contingency

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