A critical analysis of course syllabi in teacher preparation: a systems-based approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT This theoretical paper utilises qualitative research methods to investigate the communication of anti-racist pedagogy in required teacher preparation coursework. Using the two-pronged theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory and White Teacher Identity Studies, the researcher analyses enactments of race-visible pedagogy on course syllabi. The findings report two courses that most clearly communicate anti-racist pedagogical enactments centred on critical thinking about race and power. The discussion evaluates the consistency with which courses across the focus department engage anti-racist instruction, as communicated on curricular materials. The researcher analyses these documents in relation to the focus college’s diversity and inclusion statement and university’s anti-racism statement, exploring critically how anti-racist institutional goals are transformed into substantive action and communicated on course curricula. The researcher argues for a systems-based approach to anti-racist curriculum and offers a critique of course documents as vehicles for reproducing, rather than disrupting, Whiteness in teacher preparation.