Power of Perspective: Professional Learning through the Eyes of Black Women Teachers

Framework

This study is framed by Black feminist Thought, a critical lens to examine how Black women educators may derive meaning from social phenomena through the lens of their overlapping historically marginalized identities and vulnerability to intersecting oppressions (Alinia, 2015; Collins, 1990, 2000). Black feminist Thought is also a tool by which to examine the interplay of oppression and engagement in the "politics of empowerment" in their organizational contexts. Taken together with qualitative methods, Black feminist Thought foreground Black women's dialogic ways of observing and evaluating intertwined inequalities and resisting socially manufactured hierarchies related to race, gender, class, and other markers of identity (Stanley, 2020).

Methods

Using narrative inquiry design, multiple data sources were used to center the emic perspectives and "the experiences as expressed in lived and told stories" (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 100) of self-identified Black women teachers of the African diaspora. Drawn from a larger study about the interplay of race, gender, and ethnicity as factors influencing professional experiences and pedagogical decision-making of Black women teachers in urban schools, this present study contextualizes their perceptions of equity-focused professional learning and its influence on their organizational experiences.

Results

Three themes emerged from the literature. First, participants perceived some merit to these equity-focused professional learning but still experienced micro-aggressions in interracial interactions with colleagues and school leaders. Micro-aggressions are defined as subtle words, actions, or environmental cues that communicate the assumed inferiority of an individual or group based on their socially devalued status or identity (Sue, 2010). Despite the implied progressive goals of their schools moderated through equity-focused professional learning, participants experienced subtle and explicit interactions with non-Black colleagues in which their competency and intellect were downplayed even when they experienced success.

Second, participants contrasted their intra-racial interactions with supportive and affirming intra-racial relationships with Black colleagues. Participants experienced these relationships with Black colleagues (and other Black women in particular) as critical tactics to facilitate their self-definition and resistance against gender and racial isolation. These relationships facilitated participants' meaning-making of their organizational experiences in ways that could not be accomplished by equity-focused professional learning.

Third, participants pointed to implementation gaps undermined the potential of equity-focused professional learning and initiatives. Additionally, participants perceived that equity-focused professional learning and initiatives failed to address ingrained and intersecting inequalities embedded in schoolwide policy and practice.

Importance

The findings of this study are highly relevant to the conference audience as they highlight critical gaps in the implementation of equity-focused professional learning. While professional development initiatives are often seen as key strategies to recruit and retain a diverse educator workforce, this research shows that despite such efforts, gendered and racialized dynamics still persist, particularly for Black women teachers. For school and district leaders, these findings emphasize the importance of adopting an intersectional approach when designing equity-focused professional learning. This approach can help bridge the gap between the progressive aspirations of these initiatives and the lived realities of teachers of color, ultimately creating more supportive and inclusive school environments.

References

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