Interrogating the Tensions: A Collaborative Self-Study of Middle Grades Teacher Education Practices in Justice-Oriented Professional Development

Abstract Middle grades teachers and middle grades teacher educators are practicing in a complex sociocultural and sociopolitical moment. As part of the recent critical turn in middle grades education, antiracist teaching and equity pedagogies have gained momentum in the middle grades education literature. Calls to engage in these practices, however, have been met with education legislation and policies intended to forestall equity-oriented teaching. In this context, middle grades teacher educators have an especially important role to play in helping prepare and support justice-oriented preservice and in-service middle grades teachers. In this collaborative self-study of teacher education practices, the authors looked closely at the experiences of five facilitators of a critical professional development institute and also engaged the perspectives of professional development leaders. Together, the authors sought to understand both the strategies and tensions in their work to engage middle grades teachers in critically conscious practice. Study findings describe both teacher educator strategies for the implementation of critical professional development and the possible tensions in this work.