Developing Culturally Responsive Teachers: Coaching for Critical Consciousness and Racial Identity Development

The purpose of this collective case study is to examine the counternarratives of teacher educators that develop culturally responsive teachers. Specifically, this study analyzes the role of critical consciousness and racial identity development to explore how teachers construct their transformation to becoming a culturally responsive teacher. The findings demonstrate that teacher educators need to engage in their own self-work to establish trust with their teacher. Once this is established, teacher educators can challenge teachers to first, shift their consciousness, secondly, examine the role of their racial identity in their classrooms, and finally, adopt culturally responsive practices. To sustain this work, teachers need to build collective with other teachers dedicated to social justice and equity. Teacher educators must also support teachers in navigating school climates hostile to culturally responsive teaching. These results suggest that in order for culturally responsive teaching to become established as a viable approach for youth of color, major institutional change needs to occur at multiple levels: there must be national, state, local, school-level reforms and every education professional must grow their critical consciousness and commit to developing an anti-racist identity.