Research: “Our students’ identities ought to be at the center of our work”: Examining the Tensions of Enacting Critical Perspectives in Preservice Literacy Teaching

This qualitative study examined elementary education preservice teachers’ (PTs’) enactments of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies within their respective field placements. Data collection occurred across three semesters, including participant interviews, field observations, and teaching artifacts. Analysis indicates that the PTs’ field placement context(s) shaped the affordances and limitations each preservice teacher encountered during student teaching. This study suggests that PTs need support from multiple stakeholders to adopt and enact culturally sustaining pedagogies, and it raises questions about what more teacher education programs can do to support PTs once they enter student teaching.