Teacher activist perceptions: should teacher education programs do more to encourage activism?

This study explored whether teacher activists’ perceptions of teacher preparation programs suggest a need to address more than just content and pedagogy. In other words, are teacher preparation programs ignoring critical social components that help new teachers navigate and succeed as professionals in a rather volatile environment? A single instrumental case study was utilized to examine the perceptions of teacher activists who participated in the Indiana Red for Ed Rally on November 19, 2019. Individual semi-structured interviews and document review were used to ascertain teacher activists’ beliefs about whether the concept of teacher activism strategies is significant enough to warrant inclusion in the teacher education program curriculum. A second purpose was to explore and identify the various ways pre-service teachers could best learn about advocating for themselves, their profession, and their students. The findings showed that teacher activists believed that teacher activism should be included in TEPs and it can be integrated into the TEP curriculum in a number of ways.