Preservice teachers respond to And Tango Makes Three: deconstructing disciplinary power and the heteronormative in teacher education
Abstract
This study employs Foucualdian concepts to analyse macro and micro contexts of publicly spoken and silent discourses describing ‘homosexuality,’ ‘education’ and ‘teacher’ in order to identify teacher subject positions available to preservice teachers. The macro context is analysed by tracing heteronormative discourses found in newspaper stories involving teachers and public schools that address conflicting views of homosexuality. The macro context analysis indicates two binary teacher subject positions: martyred (unemployed) teacher/silent (employed) teacher and sophisticated teacher/unsophisticated teacher. The micro context analysis is of preservice teachers’ responses to And Tango Makes Three, a picture book by Richardson and Parnell. This analysis demonstrates how preservice teachers take up and negotiate teacher subject positions found in the macro analysis. Combined, the analyses allow the researchers to consider how preservice teachers’ performances of teacher subjectivity open up possibilities for reimagining new teacher subject positions and what this might mean for the practice of teacher educators.
Reference
Phillips, D. K., & Larson, M. L. (2012). Preservice teachers respond to And Tango Makes Three: deconstructing disciplinary power and the heteronormative in teacher education. Gender and Education, 24(2), 159-175.
Journal
Gender and Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- ELA methods course
- Liberal Arts College
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (liberal arts college program)
Preservice Sample Size
67
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Classroom Discussion
- Newspaper Articles
- written responses
Data Analysis Tools
- Discourse analysis (conversational analysis)
Researcher Positionality
Research Questions
What teacher subject positions are made possible by powerful and public discourses describing 'homosexuality', 'education', and 'teacher'?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
How do preservice teachers perform these identities made possible by such discourses?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
Based upon this, what possibilities exist for re-imagining new realities for teacher subject positions and our practice as teacher educators?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes