From involvement to solidarity: Community engagement to foster culturally-proactive and constructivist pedagogy

Abstract

Demographic differences between teachers and students and the need for pedagogical approaches that address issues of equity, power, and justice have bolstered arguments for community-engaged teaching in U.S. schools. Recent literature indicates that community-based experiences during teacher education may introduce teacher candidates (TCs) to more diverse people and spaces, develop TCs’ multicultural awareness, and prepare TCs to address issues of justice and equity in their teaching. In this study, we draw on sociocultural theory and culturally-proactive teaching to frame our development of a community engagement project at two large public universities in the U.S. Specifically, we analyze TCs’ experiences and reflections during their participation in the project to consider how their characterizations of community and community-engaged teaching shifted over time. We then draw on our findings to consider the conceptions of community-engaged teaching TCs held after engaging in the project and to identify implications for teacher education.