Examining racism in teacher education
Fasching-Varner published in journal with 8% acceptance rate
07/25/16
Teachers College Record (TCR), a peer-reviewed journal in the field of education, published "The permanence of racism in teacher education," an article co-written by School of Education’s Shirley B. Barton Endowed Associate Professor Dr. Kenneth Fasching-Varner. Teachers College Record is a premier academic journal in education.
Drs. Vanessa Dodo Seriki of Loyola University, Maryland, Cory Brown of Murray State University, and Kenneth Fasching-Varner wrote this article which chronicles the experiences and journey of three academics as they transition from doctoral studies to becoming junior faculty members in teacher education.
The article contextualizes experience in Obama-era where post-racial rhetoric in the United States has been at its highest across a variety of sectors including higher education. Using critical race theory as an analytical tool, the article highlights the ways in which racism exists and is manifested in three different teacher education programs.
The authors explore how post racial discourse has disguised racism and racial micro aggressions in teacher education. The analysis presented through counter-story telling depicts how racism remains endemic and significant in U.S society at large and teacher education programs specifically.
To address the persistence of racism in teacher education Dodo Seriki, Brown, and Varner call for programs and faculty to develop meaningful courses, create opportunities for teacher candidates to experience working with and for populations that are different from their own, and engage in critical self-reflection about their own identity and the identity of their potential students. The authors discuss and recognize how those identities converge within the classroom space.
Read "The permanence of racism in teacher education" in Teachers College Record, Volume 117, Number 14, 2015, p. 74-102.
Fasching-Varner’s areas of scholarly expertise and interest center on the intersection of White Racial Identity (WRI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Dr. Varner serves as the program leader for the Higher Education Administration program, chairs the Internationalization committees for both the College of Human Sciences and Education as well as LSU at larger, and is a faculty member of the Curriculum Theory Project, the African and African-American Studies program, as well as Women and Gender Studies at LSU.
About SOE
The LSU School of Education (SOE) offers graduate and undergraduate programs in Curriculum and Instruction and in Educational Leadership, Research, and Counseling. The School’s mission is to prepare P-12 educational professionals to be leaders, practitioners and scholars knowledgeable in contemporary educational issues.
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About CHSE
The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division of Louisiana State University. The College is comprised of the School of Education, the School of Leadership and Human Resource Development, the School of Kinesiology, the School of Library and Information Science, the School of Social Work, and the University Laboratory School. These combined schools offer 8 undergraduate degree programs and 18 graduate programs, enrolling more than 1,900 undergraduate and 977 graduate students. The College is committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching, research, and service and is continually working to improve its programs.
Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education at chse.lsu.edu