White teachers developing racial identity awareness and critical consciousness through critical reflexivity

ABSTRACT

Racial understanding is essential for many reasons, one being that the United States population is growing increasingly diverse while many communities are still racially segregated. At the same time, many white teachers are uncomfortable investigating their racial identities, and do not engage pupils in discussions about race. Using critical reflexivity, this study sought to ascertain how, if at all, four white kindergarten to fifth-year teachers who taught in predominantly white schools began developing their racial identities and critical consciousness. We also sought to understand their comfort in discussing race. Teachers did not have identical experiences, but all voiced awareness of racial truths about their own social positions and that of members of non-dominant communities. To some degree, all started advancing their critical consciousness and became more comfortable talking about race committing to further use of multicultural texts. Most importantly, they understood that this ongoing process requires continuous reflection and learning.

KEYWORDS:

• White racial identity
• critical reflexivity
• critical consciousness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).