I Want to Be a Teacher but the Profession Won’t Let Me: How a Criminal Record Alters a Black Man’s Teaching Aspirations

Abstract

There is a shortage of Black men pursuing and or entering the pre-K-12 teaching profession. Some of the causes for the lack of Black men in the teaching profession stems from burnout, the school-to-prison pipeline, bad experiences as students, and a myriad of other reasons. We believe that Black men having a criminal record has not been fully explored or brought to the forefront as a major issue amongst the teaching profession and teacher preparation programs. To highlight this issue, we highlight and center the experience of one Black male who wanted to become an elementary reading teacher but was unable to due to his criminal record via a case study approach and a layered textual analysis. Specifically, we investigate what inspired a Black man’s interest in pursuing a teaching career and what factors altered or contributed to his deviation from pursuing the teaching profession. We then offer suggestions for research, practice, and policy with hopes that these suggestions provide teacher preparation programs and the teaching profession at-large with tangible tangles goals and task to address the Black male shortage in the pre-K-12 profession.