Research on Diversity and Teacher Education

Challenges Facing Research on Diversity and Teacher Education

A foundational challenge for those who conduct—and those who consume—research on teacher education and diversity is the inconsistency in the definition of diversity, as well as a wealth of terms that are often employed as synonyms for diversity, such as minority, nondominant, equity, social justice, and multiculturalism. As an example, the American Educational Research Association's sponsored handbook, Studying Teacher Education, defined diversity as “student groups that differ from one another racially, culturally, linguistically, socioeconomically, or geographically.” In another heavily cited volume, however, James A. Banks and his fellow authors extend that definition to include students with exceptionalities. Such inconsistency makes it difficult to build and sustain a research program as a field because the object of study (just what is meant by diversity) varies significantly from study to study.

The term social justice is similarly imprecise. Social justice has been collapsed into diversity categories over the past decade in teacher education, [Page 1843]and many teacher education programs claim to operate from a social justice standpoint. Some scholars suggest that it is unclear how programs are actually operating from a social justice standpoint. Much of the literature discusses social justice but does not substantially define it, nor does it theoretically or historically justify its use. This obscurity in important concepts and language usage can impede efforts to make research more transferable and/or generalizable. It also obscures the communicative power and knowledge construction of that research, not only for the research community but also for wider audiences interested in understanding and contributing to the field, including practitioners, policymakers, educational administrators, and others.

Another challenge facing research on teacher education and diversity is an overreliance on one methodological approach. In a recent literature review on diversity and teacher education, Etta Hollins and Maria Torres Guzman went beyond identifying how teacher education programs might be designed or organized to better prepare teachers to teach diverse populations. Instead, the main recommendation that emerged from their review was that more research is needed that is longitudinal, investigates multiple sites, and examines the links among teacher preparation, teacher candidates' growth in knowledge and disposition, teachers' performances, and their pupils' learning.

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