A Mixed Method Case Study Examining The Interrelatedness Of Teacher Self Efficacy For Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Cultural Identity And Sociopolitical Consciousness

One of the most complex and persistent issues in the field of education is the disproportionate number of students of color who are subject to exclusionary discipline and referral to special education. Despite a corpus of promising literature on culturally responsive teaching and classroom management, the predominantly White, female, middle-class teaching force continues to be underprepared to support students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. There is an urgent need to re-envision teacher education programs to ensure teachers graduate prepared to effectively address racial disproportionality by employing culturally responsive classroom management (CRCM). Cultural identity, sociopolitical consciousness, and self-efficacy have been found to influence teachers' approaches to classroom management but the relationship between these three influential constructs is not yet clearly understood. In this mixed method case study, preservice special education teachers (N = 5) from two Midwestern universities responded to reflective journal prompts and completed the Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Self-Efficacy Scale (CRCMSE, Siwatu et al., 2017) at the beginning and end of their student teaching placements. Additionally, they completed semi-structured interviews at the end of their student teaching placement. Results showed that all participants increased their self-efficacy for CRCM and most (n = 4) had a greater understanding of their cultural identity and how it impacted their interactions with students. Most participants (n = 4) also increased their sociopolitical consciousness, but the preservice teachers still demonstrated limitations to their understanding of this key element of cultural responsiveness. Although a clear relationship was not established between participants' cultural identity, sociopolitical consciousness, and self-efficacy for CRCM, there was some evidence that participants' ability to be reflective about their own cultural identities and the sociopolitical influences on behavior influenced how they perceived and reported responding to students. Findings also suggest that school-based relationships and purposeful reflection on cultural responsiveness may be beneficial for preservice teachers' understanding of and self-efficacy for CRCM. This has some implications for teacher education programs aiming to support teachers' use of CRCM in order to reduce racial disproportionality in discipline and special education referral. Future research that incorporates observational data and the perspectives of students and families from diverse backgrounds could facilitate more effective preservice programming to address the issue of racial disproportionality in discipline and special education.