Deficit Narratives Research Articles

Confronting Deficit Narratives

This descriptive qualitative study investigates the concerns that pre-service teachers at a small liberal arts college expressed about the racialization of English learners (ELs) and documents their increasing awareness of and preparedness to address these concerns during and after their student-teaching experience. The study included informal meetings and discussions with seven pre-service teachers at various coffee shops in the midwestern United States. Data consisted of transcripts of focus-group interviews, drawings by the participants, discussion posts, reflective essays, and field notes from one author’s observations of their interactions and reactions during the meetings. The study draws on a raciolinguistic perspective to examine the participants’ expressed opinions and experiences. Findings document the participants’ concerns regarding misconceptions about racialized students and their learning in connection with language and race. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in guiding pre-service teachers to embrace an antiracist education. The results align with the imperative of challenging deficit narratives and preparing socially conscious content-area teachers who advocate for equal educational opportunities for ELs. The paper concludes with implications for critical teacher preparation for school districts with racially and linguistically diverse students and promotes a broader perspective that goes beyond instructional practices and considers the socio-political aspects of schooling for ELs. Cette étude qualitative descriptive examine les préoccupations exprimées par les futurs enseignants dans un petit collège d’arts libéraux au sujet de la racialisation des apprenants de l’anglais et documente leur prise de conscience croissante et leur préparation pour répondre à ces préoccupations pendant et après leur stage en enseignement. L’étude comportait des réunions et des discussions informelles avec sept futurs enseignants dans différents cafés du Midwest des États-Unis. Les données étaient composées de transcriptions d’entretiens de groupes, de dessins réalisés par les participants, de messages de discussion, d’essais réflexifs et de notes prises par l’un des auteurs sur le terrain lors des observations de leurs interactions et leurs réactions pendant les réunions. L’étude s’appuie sur une perspective raciolinguistique pour examiner les opinions et les expériences relatées par les participants. Les résultats révèlent les préoccupations des participants concernant les idées fausses sur les élèves racialisés et leur apprentissage en relation avec la langue et la race. Ces résultats permettent de comprendre de manière globale les défis et les opportunités liés à l’adoption d’une éducation antiraciste par les enseignants en formation. Les résultats soutiennent l’impératif de remettre en question les discours déficitaires et de préparer des enseignants de matières disciplinaires socialement conscients qui défendent l’égalité des chances pour les apprenants de l’anglais en matière d’éducation. L’article conclut avec les implications d’une préparation critique des enseignants destinés aux districts scolaires accueillant des élèves issus de la diversité raciale et linguistique, et promeut une vision plus large qui va au-delà des pratiques pédagogiques pour prendre en compte les aspects sociopolitiques de l’enseignement des apprenants de l’anglais.

Neoliberalism and the Complexities of Conceptualizing Community School Policy for Racial Equity

Full-service community schools are increasingly adopted as educational policy nationwide to transform educational institutions into community hubs, addressing racial and social disparities and countering deficit narratives related to marginalized youth and families. As the movement toward community schooling as an educational policy gains momentum, more research is needed to understand the complex process of conceptualizing such an initiative for racial equity. Spanning from the early planning stages to 3 years into the implementation of community schooling, this paper uncovers the tensions that emerge as school and district leaderships’ interpretation of the purpose of community schooling and root cause of racial inequity unveil conflicting conceptualizations of the community school initiative: community schooling rooted in neoliberal ideals of efficiency, coordination, and service choice, on one hand, and those rooted in more transformative approach with systemic reflection and change in classrooms, schools, and other institutions on the other.

Centering students’ thinking with the rights of the learner to counter deficit narratives in mathematics

ABSTRACT This article explores the implementation of Olga Torres’s Rights of the Learner (Torres’s RotL) framework in a 100-level undergraduate mathematics course, particularly focusing on assessment practices. Torres’s RotL framework offers a means to center students’ voices, mathematical thinking, and humanity in the classroom. The article delves into the five rights outlined by Torres — the right (1) to be confused, (2) claim a mistake, (3) speak, listen and be heard, (4) write, do, and represent what makes sense to you, and (5) the right to feel safe and respected — and discusses their implications for assessment in the mathematics classroom. Drawing from sociopolitical perspectives in mathematics education, the article emphasizes the importance of rehumanizing the classroom environment and addressing power dynamics and identity issues. Through reflection and alignment with Torres’s RotL, various assessment practices are shared related to small group and individual classwork, whole class discussions, weekly homework, asynchronous choice activities, and exams, highlighting how each can honor students’ rights while fostering a supportive, inclusive learning environment.

The kids are (not) alright: Teachers’ perspectives on the discourse of youth in social-emotional crisis

In this qualitative study stemming from a discourse community with six elementary teachers in the United States, discourse analysis was used to explore how these teachers discuss the international notion that youth are in a social and emotional crisis. The teachers resisted a deficit narrative that youth are to blame for this crisis and require fixing. Resistance was evident in teachers' discursive strategies such as illuminating students’ strengths, recognizing how “crisis” can emerge from systems operating as intended, and pointing out the contradictory metaphors of movement (stuck in the past, obsessed with progress) that can prevent global transformation in education.

Students we label international: an urgent call to reconceptualise research with international students

PurposeThis article problematises the international student label by critically examining the mechanisms that actively portray international students as necessarily different, deficient and uncritical. It broadly aims to tackle the following issues: (a) to challenge the underpinnings of the international label; (b) to uncover the role of neo-essentialist representations of cohorts of students labelled international in sustaining financial exploitation and deficit narratives; and (c) to criticise the current hyper-internationalisation strategy widely adopted by UK HEIs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper mainly relies on findings from research that adopted narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of students labelled international. Data were collected via a series of interviews with 15 postgraduate students at a university in the north of England. The paper also makes use of brief statistical analyses to provide a general overview about the status of UK higher education (international student admission, net economic impact and income).FindingsThe paper reveals the underpinnings of the international label and how it is mobilised to other non-UK-domiciled students. The paper equally establishes a strong link between hyper-internationalisation and the (un)sustainability of the UK’s higher education sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is expected to raise important questions around the experiences and realities endured by students labelled international. In particular, the paper challenges the international label and the mechanisms that sustain the label at institutional levels.Practical implicationsThe paper calls for abandoning the international label as a marker of a presumed difference. Equally, the paper highlights the current unsustainability of the UK’s higher education sector and suggests a gradual cap on international tuition fees to alleviate some of the educational inequalities endured by students international, and to ensure the sustainability of the higher education sector.Originality/valueThis is the first research that openly challenges the international label and substitutes it by “students labelled international”. Equally, this is the first paper that recommends to cap international tuition fees on account of findings from students' narratives and statistics that reveal the unsustainability of the UK's higher education sector. Finally, the paper’s conceptual contribution includes a reference to the idea of hyper-internationalisation.

A Counterstory to Deficit Narratives of “Underperformance” of Demographically Minoritized Students in General Chemistry

A Counterstory to Deficit Narratives of “Underperformance” of Demographically Minoritized Students in General Chemistry

Absence & presence: The six racism-in-education-processes (‘the 6 REP’)

This article aims to explore the ways in which racial inequity in England education affects resilient minority (ReM) – that is, racially minoritised – students. Scholars argue racism simultaneously produces and normalises the lack of opportunities given to ReM students, shown within six key processes: (i) pre-university educational attainment, (ii) university application choices, (iii) university admissions process, (iv) degree completion and achievement, (v) graduate career prospects, and (vi) the racialised student experience. Each of these processes afford opportunity but are vulnerable to external factors (e.g. race and gender), thus students’ futures are ultimately constrained to uncontrollable aspects of their being. This is because racism manifests in both overt and covert ways leading administrators to believe a colour-blind and meritocratic system is beneficial for students, in turn creating deficit narratives. Thus, the author has called these stages the six Racism-in-Education-Processes (6 REP). Research has highlighted the impact of these processes, but few have amalgamated them altogether. Therefore, this paper deploys existing literature and the author’s theses using a Critical Race Theory analysis to critically examine the 6 REPs impact on Black African England students, to illustrate the absence of racial equity leads to the presence of racism.

Narratives of research collaboration for sustainability at the global science-policy interface: A vehicle for inequality or transformation?

Collaborative science has become a ‘gold standard’ in sustainability science, to address increasingly complex socio-environmental challenges and knowledge divides. Inequalities shaping research collaborations (RCs) however remain unexplored in the science-policy interface. To address this gap, we carry out a critical discourse analysis of texts by international policy and research actors engaged in the global discourse on science for sustainability. We examine which narratives of RC they mediate, and how these address inequalities related to RC. Our study shows that documents of United Nations bodies primarily mediate a deficit narrative, with focus on a lack of resources and innovation capacity in ‘less developed’ countries. The alternative transformation narrative of RC mediated by reports of UNESCO and other science-policy institutions implementing science for the SDGs offers a more complex picture, which accounts for epistemic inequalities and frames RC as essential to address global challenges. The latter narrative holds most potential for change yet emerges with a varying prevalence, which we explain by institutional contexts and disciplinary diversity of experts. We find a disparity in the visibility of the transformation narrative in texts by policy actors and academic actors implementing science for sustainability. This may have structural implications for RC in global science and the inequalities they (re-)produce or counter. We suggest a more nuanced engagement with RC as policy and research subject for science to deliver the holistic transformation the 2030 Agenda strives for.

Reframing Deficit Narratives to Honor the Community Cultural Wealth of Immigrant Families of Children with Disabilities

Existing research suggests that immigrant families navigating the special education process are rarely positioned as powerful partners working alongside educators. This is a manifestation of the racism and ableism endemic to the United States schooling system that leads to educators viewing immigrant families from a deficit-based lens. Do these perceptions, however, match the ways that immigrant families view themselves? This qualitative participant-observation study addresses this question by exploring educators’ and families’ perceptions and positionings of immigrant families who are navigating special education. I unpack discrepant views among educators and families of 16 children labeled “English Learner” with or suspected of having disabilities. The findings indicate that the immigrant families see themselves as possessing tremendous community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), which counters the deficit-oriented view the educators have of them. I argue for a reframing of the common narratives surrounding immigrant families in special education away from deficit-based conceptions towards ones that honor the strengths, knowledge, and assets of the families.

Taking boys seriously: Utilising participatory action research to tackle compounded educational disadvantage

This paper presents successive phases of Taking Boys Seriously (TBS), a longitudinal participatory action research initiative bringing together diverse educational bodies and indigenous educators across a highly stratified education system in a contested society. The voices and everyday life and school experiences of adolescent boys are positioned firmly at the centre of a research methodology aimed at re-engaging, empowering, and learning from marginalised boys. We discuss how a collaborative and reflexive process co-produced with a committed steering group has been vital in pursuit of systemic change. New concepts of compounded educational disadvantage, relational education, and an educational ecosystem have been co-theorised and applied in practical ways to counter deficit narratives and support holistic approaches and new partnerships across educational settings in Northern Ireland. Strengths and limitations of our participatory approach are considered, particularly in relation to the role and participation of boys in the research process.

BLinG-Health: A Peer-Led Physical Activity Program for Black Adolescent Girls—A Pilot Study

Background: Culturally relevant approaches that address low physical activity rates among Black girls are increasing, yet opportunities to engage in physical activity (PA) remain minimal. Coupled with deficit approaches to school-based PA programming, positioning Black adolescent girls as PA leaders is missing from practice. BLinG-Health aims to develop peer leaders to participate in and deliver group fitness sessions in an after-school PA program. Methods: Black adolescent girls engaged in a culturally relevant, 8-week pretest and posttest quasi-experimental pilot study examining the impact of a peer-led school-based PA intervention program in a Baltimore, Maryland, public school. After peer leaders engaged in a 12-hr fitness education, training, and certification program using the Interactive Fitness Trainers of America’s Tabata group fitness instruction and certification series, peer leaders led classmates in group fitness 2–3 days a week for 8 weeks. Peer leaders and participants completed two assessment rounds at baseline and Week 9, including height and weight, to compute body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, hip-to-waist ratio, a 12-min run/walk, and push-up test. Results: Participants (n = 7; Mage = 16.43 years) significantly improved in cardiovascular endurance (p = .025) and muscular endurance (p = .013) with modest, nonsignificant changes in anthropometric measures. Discussion: Challenging deficit narratives on Black girls’ PA engagement, participants consistently attended weekly group fitness sessions and improved cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Empowering Black adolescent girls to lead group fitness sessions among peers may enhance PA engagement. Schools should consider culturally relevant programming to increase Black girls’ opportunities to engage in PA.

“Bet You Can’t Wait to Get Out”: Complicating Narratives of Leaving in Rural Young Adult Literature

Using critical theories of dominant- and counter-narratives, this study analyzed the texts of selected young adult books that focused on an underrepresented population of working-class rural youth in Appalachia. We explored how the dominant deficit narratives of these communities shaped the identity construction and choices of the books’ characters, especially their decisions to stay in, leave, or return to their rural hometowns. We showed how those narratives reflected the lives and decisions of real rural young people. We also looked at the identities and ways of being that are available to rural young adult readers and how those identities are connected to structural power and inequity. With over nine million rural students in the United States, each of them deserves to see themselves reflected in the literature they read.

An Untapped Resource: Introducing the Special Section on Community College/Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Education Abroad

Current research counters the deficit narrative by capturing student and faculty education abroad leaders’ perspectives, which collectively show how the open access philosophy of the community college supports and enables new educational opportunities (Whatley & Raby, 2020). Research also shows the varied learning outcomes available through community college/TVET education abroad that are geared towards adult learners (Wood & Raby, 2022). Still other research debunks the deficit narrative by detailing institutional networks that support various forms of internationalization (Smith, 2019). New research confirms that access to study abroad at community colleges supports all students, especially those who have been historically marginalized (Barone, 2021). In this way, community college education abroad research findings align with and lead a focus on social justice (Viggiano, 2019) and on diversity, equity, and inclusion (Whatley & Raby, 2020). The five articles in this special section add to the expansive body of community college education abroad literature.

Ideological sensemaking in an elementary science professional development community

ABSTRACT Background Ideologies are socially constructed frameworks for sensemaking that influence teaching and learning. Drawing on Learning Sciences research on ideologies, we explore how an elementary science professional development (PD) community used substrate (shared interactional resources) in sensemaking interactions to reify or rearticulate dominant ideologies. Method We analyzed PD interactions to understand how PD community members used substrate across multiple timescales as part of ideological sensemaking. Findings We first show how participants drew on substrate to rearticulate ideologies about young learners’ capabilities in science. We then show how limited resources available in substrate impeded interactional engagement with deficit narratives of multilingual learners. Contribution Practically, we demonstrate how ideological rearticulation requires establishing intentionally designed substrate as a resource for later PD and facilitation that surfaces and challenges dominant ideologies. Methodologically, we show how substrate—often analyzed at microgenetic scales—can be traced back over longer timescales to understand longitudinal learning.

Humanising portrayals of children with psycho-social differences in children’s and young adult literature

ABSTRACT Children who are othered due to their psycho-social differences have a right to academic, social, and emotional inclusion in schools. Inclusion can be facilitated using children’s and young adult literature (C/YAL), yet characters with psycho-social differences are rarely represented and may be portrayed using a deficit perspective. This study centres on Humanising Pedagogy, creating classroom dialogue that explicitly names humanising constructs and interrupts deficit narratives. We developed Humanising Pedagogy constructs for a content analysis of C/YAL: social inclusion, reciprocal relationships, agency and autonomy, assets and strengths, and creative problem-solving. Using six books, we also identified examples of social barriers and deficit narratives that impeded the main characters’ full inclusion. Additional humanising constructs were identified by completing multiple rounds of analysis: hope, empathy, belonging, and creativity. Recommendations for educators are included.

How do I compare to the other people?": Older Adults' Perspectives on Personal Smart Home Data for Self-Management"

Research on smart home monitoring for older adults has predominantly focused on systems whose data and alerts are directed towards family members, caregivers, or healthcare providers. Older adults have expressed interest in engaging with these systems by seeing and using their data, but they are often limited to a passive role as subjects of monitoring. This paper presents qualitative results of a longitudinal smart home project with older adults living independently in the community. Based on interviews conducted throughout the 2.5-year study with 12 participants, we report on their lived experiences of having the monitoring system in their homes and on how they reflected on the data collected by the system. The results show how participants were able to extract meaningful information from the monitoring data without finding the system invasive or intrusive. Specifically, older adults exhibited interest in data that they found indicative of living an active lifestyle, such as time spent outside the home. Drawing from critical literature on active aging, we discuss implications for incorporating peer comparisons to support reflection on personal health data without reinforcing a deficit narrative of aging.

Autistic People's Experience of Empathy and the Autistic Empathy Deficit Narrative.

There is a dominant discourse, both in clinical texts and throughout the academic literature, that autistic people lack empathy; however, over the past decade, both clinicians and academics have increasingly rejected deficit-based descriptions of autism in favor of more nuanced explanations of the experience of autistic individuals in a social world. This study asked 76 autistic individuals about their own experience of empathy and the oft-cited empathy deficit. Data were thematically analyzed and revealed a wide array of empathic self-concepts among respondents. Notably, there was a high proportion of hyper-empathic experiences. Many respondents reported their empathic responses to be overwhelming, or even distressing. These different experiences of empathy contrast with societal expectations of empathy, which often result in additional labor for autistic people as they navigate the non-autistic centered world. Although the academic literature is, in some areas, slowly moving away from a deficit perspective, more broadly there is still a negative impact from misconceptions around autistic people and empathy. Further work needs to be done to not only explore this misconception at a societal (rather than academic) level, but also better bridge the gap around the changing ideas of empathy and real-world understanding of autistic empathy.

“Parents don’t know they have the option to say no”: the experiences of Caribbean and Latin American parents navigating special education in Ontario

ABSTRACT This article examines ways Latin American and Black Caribbean parents navigate special education programs in Ontario’s education system. Based on qualitative interviews with parents, the findings suggest that racialized immigrant parents must find ways to navigate the system as newcomers while also addressing the intended and unintended effects of special education programs for their children. Parents described the exclusionary processes used in special education assessments and acknowledged that unequal access to resources excluded them from decision-making processes affecting their children’s learning. Using tenets of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this article centres on the intersections of race and ability to reveal how the normalcy of whiteness, coupled with systemic ableism embedded in Ontario’s education system, creates barriers for racialized parents who are trying to support their children’s learning. Importantly, newcomer parents must challenge deficit narratives to ensure that their children can access equitable opportunities for academic success.

Academic teaching staff and their conflicting constructions of international students in UK higher education classrooms

ABSTRACT International students have been commonly constructed by researchers and practitioners using multiple conflicting narratives. For instance, discourses in both research and practice often frame international students as benefits or resources for developing intercultural learning experiences, while simultaneously portraying them as lower quality students who are deficient in academic skills. In this study, we investigate whether academic staff who teach international students have internalised these common and conflicting discourses from the literature and how these constructions ultimately influence their teaching practices. Through interviews with 45 academic staff across disciplines, we highlight the ways staff juxtapose dual constructions of international students as both ‘benefit’ and ‘burden’. Our findings indicate that staff working conditions, including high workloads and massification, lend themselves to problematic ‘othering’ of international students through homogenisation and deficit narratives.

Gendered Racial Stereotype Endorsement:

Recent indicators continue to highlight the underrepresentation of Black girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), from advanced course enrollment and degree attainment to employment. In this paper, we consider the role of stereotypes as an underlying motivational mechanism that shapes Black girls’ STEM identity and persistence. This theoretical review seeks to provide a conceptual foundation for research on gendered racial stereotype endorsement among Black girls and the differential ways girls may incorporate this knowledge as they navigate STEM learning environments. We define gendered racial stereotypes as widely held beliefs and depictions of Black girls (as a collective group) and their lived experience as perceived by broader society. Despite their awareness of stereotypes, Black girls frequently develop strategies to aid in their persistence. Although they may occasionally endorse these stereotypes, Black girls also use their understanding of stereotypes as a motivator to actively resist and disrupt deficit narratives. By utilizing process-oriented and culturally-informed approaches, we extend the current understanding of Black girls’ stereotype development. Additionally, we provide practical recommendations for research, policy, and educational praxis to aid in the continued positive development of Black girls’ identity in STEM learning environments.