What's the Cost?: A Phenomenological Study of Black Male Teachers' Persistence

Black male teachers comprise 2% of the teacher population in the United States. In light of this disparity, there is a need to diversify the teacher workforce by recruiting and retaining Black male teachers. Black teachers are influential in students’ academic performance and personal growth. Without their presence, we are missing a key demographic and a key part of a student's educational experience. While Black male teachers’ experiences have been studied, we are less clear on the motivational processes behind their decision to teach. Therefore, this qualitative study takes a phenomenological approach to understand the lived experiences of Black male teachers’ and the factors that have impacted their persistence in teaching. The study is grounded in Situated Expectancy-Value theory, which is ideal for understanding an individual’s reasons for engaging and persisting in a career path. However, there has also been a call to reimage traditional theories to center race to better support racially-minoritized groups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 Black male teachers who have persisted in the field for at least 3 years. Through Hycner’s (1999) data explication process, five major themes were revealed: (1) Cultural Connection and Relationships, (2) Navigating Marginality, (3) Organizational and Affective Challenges, (4) Supports, and (5) Value and Expectancies. The Black male teachers reported persisting in the field mainly for communal reasons despite racialized challenges (i.e., stereotypes and assumptions) and systemic issues in the schools. Findings have implications for teacher preparation programs, retention, and recruitment efforts, as well as expanding theory and future research with Situated Expectancy-Value theory.