Preservice Teachers’ Conceptualizations of Equity and Equality: Tensions Between Technical and Humanizing Approaches

Traditionally, preservice teachers (PSTs) have been introduced and socialized to a cartoon of three children attempting to watch a baseball game as the prevailing definition of equity. Yet, in our sociopolitical context where Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ children are continuously marginalized, we critique whether this simple construction of equity is sufficient. Rather, we build upon these understandings by outlining tenets of critical humanism and exploring the degree to which PSTs fluctuate between technical and humanist conceptualizations in their definitions of equal and equitable instruction. In this large-scale qualitative study using data collected between 2022 and 2024, we analyzed 1,528 PST responses about their conceptualizations of equity and equality. We found that PSTs harbor various conceptualizations of equity that are robust around resource-based teaching attributes such as materials, instruction, and accommodations. However, PSTs presented paradoxical understandings of equity related to treatment and opportunities, revealing tensions between technical and humanizing approaches to education.