Why That White Boy is Still Teaching: The Reproduction of Whiteness as Status Quo in Teacher Education

This qualitative study critically examines practices in teacher education that contribute to reproducing a predominantly white teaching force. The authors draw on second-wave critical whiteness studies, narrative research methods, and their collective experience working with teacher candidates who exhibit concerning dispositions to co-construct a fictionalized vignette that captures a situation that might call for the removal of a teacher candidate from the licensure pathway. The vignette serves as a catalyst for reflection on the authors’ teacher educator practices and highlights the ways in which their decisions perpetuate the status quo in teacher preparation and allows teacher candidates with dispositional red flags to remain in the program. Despite commitments to antiracism and social justice, whiteness and white supremacy persist in teacher preparation programs. Subsequently, Teacher Candidates of Color experience harm. Through this work, the authors invite teacher educators to reflect on systems and practices in their own programs that may be disrupted in order to improve the climate of their preparation programs and prevent harm.