Understanding the Development of Socially Just Teachers through Supervision in a Professional Development School Partnership: An Activity Theoretical Analysis
Open Access
- Author:
- Lynch, Megan
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 26, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Rachel Wolkenhauer, Major Field Member
Bernard Badiali, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Karen Johnson, Outside Unit & Field Member
Uju Anya, Major Field Member
Kimberly Anne Powell, Program Head/Chair
Matthew Poehner, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- sociocultural theory
cultural historical activity theory
instructional supervision
teacher education
professional development schools (PDS)
social justice - Abstract:
- Schools should be the place to cultivate and model a just society. Teacher candidates must be equipped with the ability to recognize, critique, and oppose any practices, policies, or structures that perpetuate the social and economic inequalities that currently exist. Yet the culturally responsive teaching strategies increasingly adopted by researchers and teachers across the U.S. have been attempted with little to no systemic, institutional, long-lasting change (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2009). Mills and Ballantyne (2016) make several recommendations for addressing these methodological gaps include investigating 1) the links between understandings and enactment of socially just practice, 2) the influence of the field placement, and 3) the pedagogy employed in teacher education and teacher educators’ attitudes/beliefs. Cochran-Smith and Zeichner’s (2009) call for teacher education research to use more complex frameworks that discuss “how practice is shaped by not only by what individuals may believe or hope to achieve also by contexts, materials, and other people” (p. 16). We know that preparing teacher candidates to enact socially just pedagogies is necessary, but the literature has little to suggest on how this transformation might be possible. In response to these gaps in the literature and in practice, I developed an intervention study informed by Sociocultural Theory (SCT) and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (AT; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986; Leont’ev, 1978; Engeström, 2015) such that I could promote and trace teacher candidates’ development of socially just teaching microgenetically. This took place in two concurrent parts: 1) I co-taught six lessons on social justice over the course of a 15-week Spring Seminar and 2) I observed teacher candidates in their teaching placements and led post-observation debriefs focused on their teaching practices that suggested socially just teaching. This study asks, how are aspects of socially just teaching materialized through the practices of an intervention focused on social justice in a teacher education Seminar course, in what ways do the PDS teacher candidates enact socially just teaching, how was this enactment influenced by the researcher’s responsive mediation, and in what ways does the PDS activity system mediate teacher candidates’ development of socially just teaching? Findings revealed that in coursework, an inquiry-based teaching approach provided teacher candidates with the space and opportunity to begin to ask different questions and inquire into their practices in different ways. Yet this was not enough to promote development; it only created moments of cognitive/emotional dissonance. However, when coupling teacher education with my supervision, which was focused on socially just teaching, it was possible to see microgenetic development. All three cohorts oriented to socially just teaching in ways that was dependent on their own lived experiences, their context, and the influences of their PDA and mentor teacher. Analysis of my own supervisory skills and responsive mediation revealed successes, but also missed opportunities, misinterpretations of what teacher candidates were thinking, and raising questions that were not targeted within the teacher candidates’ zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). Thus, the findings for each cohort are multifaceted, highlight emergent ways in which the teacher candidates enacted socially just teaching, and are contingent on the character and quality of my mediation and their PDA’s supervision. Finally, findings revealed two constraints on the teacher candidates’ development as socially just teachers. First, their object of activity was, at times, compartmentalized and siloed – being a good teacher for some teacher candidates was choosing either developing socially just teaching or developing an inquiry stance. Second, a lack of shared understanding of social justice allowed for mixed signals and a greater potential of teacher candidates not seeing social justice as needing to address institutional and systemic inequities. Implications speak to the powerful role practitioner inquiry can have when coupled with social justice, as well as highlights the importance of the university supervisor and that they hold a uniquely powerful role in bridging theory and research and offering more targeted support to teacher candidates. Though this study was disrupted by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings suggest that teacher education and supervision within professional development schools can foster teacher candidates’ emergent socially just teaching.