Abstract
Abstract: Applying transformational critical advocacy research in college instruction can be a powerful way to engage students in challenging inequity in society and promoting positive changes. Few studies systematically measure the impact of such pedagogy on the development of college students’ beliefs about advocacy. In this mixed methods study, we worked with 21 preservice teachers through advocacy letter writing activities and collected data from pre/post surveys and focus group discussions to explore the impact of such pedagogy. The findings indicated that advocacy letter writing was a meaningful activity for preservice teachers, allowing them a professional opportunity to voice their concerns about personally meaningful issues to entities in power. A significant correlation was found between baseline advocacy experiences and baseline advocacy beliefs, suggesting that the teaching of advocacy, when combined with opportunities for meaningful practice, can contribute to shifts in belief about the importance of advocating.
Highlights
Educators recognize the importance of equipping students with a variety of skills that will benefit them in their personal and professional lives
Through analysis of quantitative data collected on the pre- and post-intervention surveys during the study, we sought to address our first research question to determine if there was a statistically significant change in preservice teachers’ beliefs about engaging in advocacy through a lesson on advocacy and a letter writing activity
Others mentioned learning about environmental advocacy or Response to Intervention (RTI) to accommodate individual learning needs
Summary
Educators recognize the importance of equipping students with a variety of skills that will benefit them in their personal and professional lives. In teaching students about advocacy and providing opportunities for them to engage in advocacy within class activities, an underlying assumption is that as students learn about advocacy, their belief in the benefit and worth of advocating will naturally follow. There have been few studies that systematically measure shifts in beliefs as undergraduate students actively engage in advocacy activities. Our study design was influenced by the overarching questions of how individuals might take up a critical advocacy lens and how undergraduate students might be empowered to advocate in their personal and professional lives. We described how advocacy activities were integrated in a college course and examined the impact of such activities on the development of undergraduate preservice teachers’ advocacy beliefs
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