Examining pre-service special education teachers' biases and evolving understandings about families through a family as faculty approach. Issue 1 (2nd November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Santamaría Graff, Cristina; Manlove, Josh; Stuckey, Shanna; Foley, Michelle
• Is Part Of: Preventing school failure. Volume 65:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 20
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2020-11-02
• Subjects: Family as faculty -- special education -- teacher preparation -- pre-service teachers -- family empowerment; Problem children -- Education -- Periodicals; Children with disabilities -- Education -- Periodicals; School failure -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; 371
• DOI: 10.1080/1045988X.2020.1811626
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1045-988X

Abstract

Abstract: This paper centers on a participatory qualitative study in which 22 pre-service special education teachers (i.e., undergraduate students) experienced, wrote about, and reflected upon their perceptions of families of children with disabilities over a semester-long course built on a Family as Faculty (FAF) model adapted from the healthcare profession for special education, teacher education programs. The FAF approach used has been reconceptualized to include three essential understandings (E.U.s): a) families as experts, b) examining positionality, and c) analyzing power relations. In our iteration of FAF, parents of children with disabilities co-plan and teach specific classes within a teacher preparation course on families. The authors examine pre-service teacher responses to FAF-structured experiences. Though many pre-service teachers demonstrated growth in their understandings of family's strengths and their participation in their child's education, there were some who continued to view families through deficit lenses. Pre-service teachers' reflections of families, though well-intended, often used cloaked language revealing underlying assumptions. FAF approaches that take a critical stance can unveil hidden assumptions and assist students with self-awareness and critical consciousness needed as foundations to transform individual and systemic biases.