Developing a Critical Consciousness for Diversity and Equity Among Preservice Music Teachers

Introduction

Last year, I had the opportunity to present a professional development series, Urban Music Education: Myths, Misconceptions, and Misdirections, to preservice music teachers at a major research university in the southeastern United States. I wanted to provide a learning experience that extended beyond the “basics”—“What” is urban? “Who” is educated in urban schools? “How” should one teach students in urban schools? Historically, such questions served as the underpinnings for my research and presentations; however, for this professional development series, I wanted to illuminate a more complex aspect of urban education—the “why” of urban education. I wanted to structure an educational opportunity that would yield a degree of critical consciousness among preservice music teachers around issues of teaching sociocultural diverse children in their future music classrooms. Over recent years, the more I have delved into sociological research about equity and equality, social justice, and critical theories of education, the more apparent it became that to answer the “why” of urban education, I had to address “isms”—racism, classism, sexism, and so on—that established and continue to uphold the sociopolitical constructs that directly and indirectly affect the “lived” experience of the 17 million children educated in urban schools each year. It also deemed important to illuminate how such “isms,” both individually and collectively, created the narrative for what has become known and accepted as urban educational norms.

I realized such conversations would be challenging for many preservice music teachers as this experience probably represented the first time they would explore and examine their own attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs about such “isms,” which, more than likely, they had not experienced from a real-life viewpoint (Chou, 2007). In addition to the “typical” challenges one may encounter when presenting such complex material, I could not ignore my own positionality (how one situates within a social context as either privileged or disadvantaged), as a black female presenting these “isms” to a group of predominately white, middle-class students. In the midst of these uncertainties, I wanted to shift my position from teacher–leader to facilitator of learning to alleviate any resistance or barriers associated with delivering such complex material. I challenged myself to present this content in a creative, thought-provoking, yet nonthreatening way. I wanted to establish a safe, “carefree” environment as we engaged in conversations around race, class, privilege, and so on. The professional development session was organized as a three-part series in which content was scaffolded to provide preservice teachers an opportunity to build on prior knowledge and internalize new concepts as they were introduced. The sessions were structured to introduce theoretical principals related to urban education, more specifically, issues related to music education in urban schools; present “hands-on” activities that transferred theory into practice; and provide opportunity for reflection, deconstruction, and critical processing about content presented.

This article details the teaching and learning process that occurred during this professional development session. This article is organized into two overarching sections: Part 1 explores the research and rationale for increased diversity training in music teacher preparation programs to better prepare preservice teachers for the 21st-century classroom and Part 2 provides a summative overview of the activities and presentations presented.

Part 1: Review of Literature

Preservice teachers typically enter teacher education with very little cross-cultural background knowledge and limited direct interracial and intercultural experiences (Chou, 2007). The average (white) teacher generally has vastly different life experiences and an inadequate understanding on the perspectives and life circumstances of low-income and/or ethnic minority students and their caregivers (Amatea, Cholewa, & Mixon, 2012). As a result of such limited experiences, teachers oftentimes default and rely on stereotypic beliefs when teaching them (Chou, 2007; Darling-Hammond, 2006). Such stereotypes and beliefs may influence the way teachers evaluate students’ intelligence, knowledge, capacity, and future achievement, establishing what is known as an expectancy theory or self-fulfilling prophecy in their classrooms. Self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when students’ characteristics or behaviors do not actually lead to academic success or failure; however, teachers’ expectations of students’ characteristics or behaviors shape the academic outcomes of such students (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Mehan, Hertweck, & Meihls, 1986).

Over the past three decades, teacher preparation programs have acknowledged that diversity training should be a critical component of teacher preparation as 21st-century teachers encounter the most sociocultural diverse classrooms in public school history. Several national accreditation agencies require teacher preparation programs to increase the knowledge, skills, and disposition of diversity among teacher candidates (Villegas & Lucas, 2002); however, over the years, several challenges with curricula reform have ensued. Among the numerous challenges with implementing cultural diversity training opportunities in teacher education programs, one of the greatest obstacles occurs when teacher educators, who—similar to preservice teachers—have limited experience with other cultures themselves, are required to teach such courses. Oftentimes, in these situations, teacher educators may unknowingly and inadvertently reinforce the actual stereotypes and beliefs about minority and ethnic groups they attempt to dismantle during the diversity teacher training process (Hixon, 1991).

Possibly one of the greatest missteps in diversity courses seems to be overall course structure. Several diversity courses fail to guide preservice teachers through a deep reflection of their own socialized cultural identities based on past experiences, knowledge base, and learned value beliefs (Chou, 2007). This process is essential to disrupt preconceived notions about certain social constructs. Contreras (1998) stated,

Teacher educators continue to assume that teacher education students will pick up the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help them teach classes of socio-cultural diverse students without any direct instruction and planned experience. Moreover, teacher educators assume that most of the schools will continue to be monocultural and monosocial: therefore, there is no obligation to commit time and resources to preparing teachers to teach children who are at risk of being mis-educated and undereducated. (p. 14)

Recognizing the need for more diversity training among preservice teachers has occurred in all content areas, including music education. The initial acknowledgment of the need for better prepared music teachers to effectively teach diverse student populations was a pivotal discussion during the historic 1967 Tanglewood Symposium where music educators convened “for the future of music education in a nation that had only recently reached a fair degree of consensus on civil rights” (Mark, 2000, p. 9). In 1970, then editor of the Music Educators Journal, Charles Fowler, published a special edition report titled, “Facing the Music in Urban Education.” This article referenced a “shortsightedness” within the music education profession that was at-risk of becoming a “national epidemic”:

[T]he so-called “tried and true” approaches fail to work. Music teachers in the ghetto soon discover an enormous gap. Not a generation gap, but a much more confusing and devastating one—a gap between their middle class values and the particular values held by their students. There is often a vast difference between the teacher’s and the student’s cultures. . . . The old image, the old ways, and the old music education curriculum are developing cracks. They don’t work in the ghetto. Not only that, there is evidence that what happens on the front line is becoming an epidemic that is certain to spread to the suburbs and beyond. (As cited in Frierson-Campbell, 2006, pp. 9–10)

A decade later, little change had transpired in diversity teacher training in music education, as another editorial release accused the profession of a “kind of blindness” and suggested that “the music education profession must contribute its skills, proficiencies, and insights toward assisting in the solution of urgent social problems as in the ‘inner city’ or other areas with culturally deprived individuals” ¹ (Frierson-Campbell, 2006, p. 139). The Tanglewood “music-for-all” conversation was expounded on during the Vision 2020 conference (Madsen, 2000), which reemphasized the importance of teaching and learning quality music: “All persons, regardless of age, cultural heritage, ability, venue, or financial circumstance deserve to participate fully in the best music experiences possible” (Frierson-Campbell, 2006, p. 219).

Over recent years, music teacher preparation programs have attempted to incorporate more non-European–based music, multicultural music, and world music ensembles into the teacher preparation curriculum. As a result, preservice music teachers may be equipped with a broader scope of diverse repertoire, instructional strategies, and curricular materials; however, similar to general education, such content integration does not provide the knowledge, skills, and teaching dispositions required to understand and effectively teach sociocultural diverse students (Abril, 2009; Banks, 2004; Dekaney & Robinson, 2014; Howard, Swanson, & Campbell, 2014).

There are no clear pathways for how to best prepare preservice music teachers to understand issues of diversity, develop a critical consciousness concerning the “lived” experiences of socioculturally diverse students, and more important, cultivate the skills to leverage their position of power to actively work for equity on behalf of their students, schools, and surrounding communities (Chou, 2007). Chou (2007) suggested that preservice teachers must have the opportunity to (1) become reflective—develop an awareness of their own cultural perspectives to gain insight into the cultural assumptions underlying their own expectations, beliefs, and behaviors; (2) appreciate the value of diversity—understand the relationship between human diversity, power, and inequality in schools and the consequences for the lives of students; (3) examine the nature of teaching—have the ability to self-evaluate and become sensitive to students’ needs and learning styles and understand what and how various philosophical underpinnings influence their teaching; (4) learn the significance of language and culture of students—enhance understanding of various cultures among students and incorporate diverse cultures into the curriculum; and (5) embrace opportunities to deepen and broaden understanding—develop a better understanding of the “lived” experiences of their students and obtain the knowledge base deemed important for teaching all children.

Similar to general education, music education has been grappling with the best strategies to equip preservice music teachers with the required skills to effectively teach music to all students. Previous attempts include “diversity” activities such as field trips to low-income neighborhoods, service-learning projects in underserved communities, tutoring in public housing neighborhoods, and teaching practice in low-income schools (Aaronsohn, Carter, & Howell, 1995; Baldwin, Buchanan, & Rudisill, 2007; Gomez, Strage, Knutson-Miller, & Garcia-Nevarez, 2009), to name a few. Kelly (2003) found that although preservice music teachers were comfortable with the idea of teaching in ethnically and racially diverse environments, they preferred to teach in suburban schools with student populations that reflected their own cultural backgrounds. McKoy (2013) discovered that preservice music teachers obtained some knowledge and skills related to cultural and pedagogical issues after participating in course and field experiences in a diverse community; however, most remained ambivalent about their own personal attitudes and awareness of cultural differences. Also, she found that a small percentage of students—primarily white males—continued to hold beliefs that certain racial groups were less capable of learning than others.

Although specific activities and field placements in diverse settings may be well intentioned, without the underpinning of a strong, theoretical-based curriculum, such experiences could inadvertently reinforce habitual patterns of thought preservice teachers may already possess (Haberman & Post, 1992; Kelly, 2003; McKoy, 2013). “Situated learning” opportunities may prove more beneficial for the cultural development of preservice music teachers than isolated activities and field placement experiences in diverse settings. Situated learning opportunities are highly structured experiences that take place as a function of the context, culture, or locale, in which learning occurs while simultaneously establishing a discourse learning community or a group of people who share a language, social practices, and beliefs toward the same purpose (Lave & Wenger, 2007). Situated learning opportunities are based on the notion that knowledge is a process, not a product; therefore, knowledge (in this case, learning to effectively teach sociocultural diverse students) would be experienced through various levels of participation within the discourse learning community as preservice music teachers develop the skills and dispositions that typically could not be acquired through a formal classroom setting.

The growing concern about the expanding “demographic divide” between the predominately white teaching force and the sociocultural diverse student population in public schools has made teacher education reform a national political agenda item. Researchers suggest this demographic divide is one of the key contributing factors for the historically low underachievement of poor, minority children; the disproportionate representation of underserved children in special needs programs; and the continuous expansion of the achievement gap between white and non-white students in the United States public schools (Gay, 2000; Griner & Stewart, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 2006; Shipps, 2003). It has become vital that preservice teachers are equipped to navigate the demographic divide they will encounter in their 21st-century classroom.

Although the initial acknowledgment of diversity issues and concerns were posed in 1967 during the Tanglewood Symposium conference; the music education profession has yet to reach the “tipping point” of determining ways to better prepare preservice teachers to effectively teach music to all students, regardless of sociocultural background. As history has indicted, acknowledging the need more diversity preparation in music education has been a simple notion; however, implementing effective strategies that will prepare a more culturally conscious music teacher has been a much more challenging undertaking.

Part 2: Application

This professional development session was designed to increase a degree of critical consciousness for diversity and equity among preservice music teachers. It was organized into three sessions: understanding “Access,” understanding “Intersectionality,” and understanding “Myths, Misconceptions, and Misdirections” of music in urban schools.

Session 2: Understanding “Intersectionality”

The subsequent session was designed to allow preservice music teachers an opportunity to explore the sociopolitical constructs introduced during the game. To do this, I introduced “Intersections of Inequality” or intersectionality. Intersectionality is based on the notion that cultural categories such as gender, race, social class, ability, sexual orientation, geographic location, and religion interact or intersect among categories and reinforce one another rather than function independently (Collins, 2000). Each social category has an embedded hierarchical system that refers to the overall organization of power within a society based on a particular arrangement of intersecting systems of domination and/or oppression; what and how these systems come together are historically and socially specific and intersect to create systems of oppression, domination, and discrimination (Nash, 2008).

The spectrum for each social category spans from privileged to marginalized populations. When social identities do not clearly fit into either of these designated binaries, they are labeled as border identities, because people with border identities may experience both privilege and disadvantage due to their status (Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007). Examples of border identities include people of mixed racial backgrounds or those who are bicultural—born in one country but raised in another (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1.

Matrix of Domination/Oppression.

To help students understand this concept more concretely, I mapped my own intersectionality on the Matrix of Domination/Oppression as an example. I explained that my race as black (marginalization) and sex as a woman (marginalization) function as marginalizations on a Matrix of Domination/Oppression; however, my high level of education (privilege) influences my middle-class socioeconomic status (border), which grants me access to certain social systems I would not have otherwise been granted. Also, I demonstrated that in several situations, but not all, my categories of privilege (education and middle-class status) serve as counter to my categories of marginalization (black and female). Similarly, we examined how some social categories may shift during one’s life span. For example, I was raised in a rural, American Indian community (considered a marginalization due to the limited access to resources); however, my middle-class status affords me to now reside in a metropolitan area (considered a privilege due to access to resources). Also, I am protestant (a privilege in the United States); however, now my religious affiliation functions as a marginalization since I relocated to a region where a specific religious practice is a fundamental aspect of the culture (see Figure 2).

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Figure 2.

Robinson’s intersectionality map. Each category ordered from privileged to marginalized social groups.

After processing through these examples, each preservice music teacher mapped his or her own intersectionality on the Matrix of Domination/Oppression. During this activity, students became increasingly more cognizant of ways power and privilege had influenced various points of access in their personal lives. After we discussed the students’ personal Matrix of Domination/Oppression, I introduced the concept of “identity.” Identity—how one experiences the world—is complex and it is a socially and historically constructed concept that is intricately linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology (Scott, 1994). We discussed the notion that poor, minority children in underserved schools typically have a majority or all marginalized cultural categories. Unfortunately, such students (unlike myself), oftentimes have no cultural categories of privilege (as my being born to a middle-class family, obtained a high-level of education, and maintain middle-class status) that serves as a counter to their marginalized categories and provide access into social systems that could afford them better life opportunities (see Figure 3).

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Figure 3.

A “typical” urban student’s intersectionality. Each category listed from privileged to marginalized social groups.

Conclusion

While attending a national professional conference, four students who participated in the professional development session approached me full of joy and excitement. To my surprise, and without prompting, they immediately began talking about the game and the content they learned during the session. Although this chanced reencounter with the preservice teachers occurred nearly a year after my visit to their university, it seemed as though the professional development session may have yielded a positive, and possibly long-term, imprint on their development as future music teachers. The primary charge for the professional development session was for teaching and learning purposes; therefore, I did not collect data nor administer formal assessments to determine if change would occur in students perceptions and attitudes around diversity issues. Weeks after the conference, I was still in awe of the students’ enthusiasm about my visit to their university, so I emailed them and requested a brief statement of their experience during my visit; they each responded promptly. One student wrote,

Overall, I felt that the lecture and activity (board game) that we participated in was eye-opening and effectively communicative. The board game we played was extremely engaging. Though I wasn’t sure exactly how the game was going to work before we played, it ended up showing me very important aspect[s] of the student–teacher relationships. We each took on the roles of different students with different circumstances. I learned that there are situations that we (as teachers) have to prevent; in order to do this, we have to be aware of our students’ environments.

As I conceptualized these activities, I did not have any intention on developing a structural or strategic process for teaching issues of diversity in music education. My goal was simple—to remove as many barriers possible as we “talked about the hard stuff.” The game was designed as a teaching tool to provide preservice music teachers an opportunity to examine complex social issues in a “safe,” comfortable atmosphere and to structure “space” to allow preservice music teachers an opportunity to contemplate perspectives that may be different from their own.

Additionally, the game seemed to have generated a sense of empathy among the preservice music teachers. In the simplest form, empathy is “an awareness of others’ feelings, needs and concerns” (Goleman, 2011). As culturally competent music teachers, it is essential that preservice teachers develop and embrace a sense of empathy for the students they will teach. During the game, empathy began to cultivate as preservice teachers embraced “new ways of thinking.” For instance, the “marginalized” team expressed hints of frustration as “roadblocks” made obtaining basic goals increasingly more challenging. As one “marginalized” team member stated, “Our progress was not based on our academic ability, but on circumstances we could not control.” As the “privileged” team became cognizant that the insurmountable challenges their counterparts endured were circumstantial in nature and not “self-induced” or “because they did not care,” their empathy increased. During the game, the “privileged” team asked, “May we share some of our credits with them?” It was touching to see the “privileged” team share a substantial number of “credits” with the “marginalized” team in an attempt to “even the playing field” between themselves and their peers.

For approximately 50 years, music education scholars have purported the need for more diversity training among preservice music teachers. This call has become increasingly urgent as contemporary preservice music teachers encounter the most ethnically and culturally diverse classrooms in public school history. Although preservice music teachers may enter the profession with adequate skills to teach music content and concepts, a majority of preservice music teachers are not equipped with the skills and teaching disposition required to navigate the social and cultural facets they will encounter in their music classrooms.

A paradigm shift is recommended in the way we prepare our future music educators. This recommendation does not infer we discontinue the effective pedagogical practices currently employed to prepare high-caliber music educators but rather include more cultural and diversity training opportunities that will equip preservice music teachers with the appropriate tools to navigate the demographic divide they will exist between themselves and their music students. A student wrote,

The lecture really revealed how much perspective we must have as teachers. It was so revealing to have Dr. Robinson speak in terms of intersectionality; she broke students’ situations down into certain circumstances (racial, financial, gender, etc.) and showed us how to become fully aware of the resources that our students are given or not given. With Dr. Robinson’s idea/perspective, I feel like I will be able to meet my students where they are and adjust my teaching methods/pace accordingly. This was incredibly beneficial, especially to someone who grew up with all the resources that I need[ed] to succeed. I had supportive parents, financial support, and a good school to attend. I must be aware that not all kids can be taught like they have these things, or I will lose many kids along the way. Dr. Robinson helped me see that.

I developed this three-day professional development session with the goal of enhancing the understanding, or critical consciousness, about the “lived” experiences of socioculturally diverse students. It is important to acknowledge that a three-day session does not allow preservice music teachers enough time to reframe all preconceived notions based on their own socialized cultural identities, past experiences, knowledge base, and learned value beliefs (Chou, 2007); however, any opportunity to engage in such conversations may be beneficial. A student wrote,

The three-day experience we had with you was very valuable for my teaching career. I realized through the game we played that yes, money helps some students succeed in life but you need more than money for [other] children to succeed. We have to be there for them and know the resources that our students/children need. I grew up in a very low–middle-class family but I never realized that because what my parents were lacking in finances were made up in support for my education. So, in conclusion, as a teacher I feel I need to constantly be aware of my students needs and to always provide resources for them to succeed!

As we reference the 1967 Tanglewood Symposium “music-for-all” call of action to provide “all persons, regardless of age, cultural heritage, ability, venue, or financial circumstance deserve to participate fully in the best music experiences possible” (Frierson-Campbell, 2006, p. 219), the music education profession should contemplate reconceptualizing teacher training practices to better prepare highly trained, critically conscious, culturally competent music teachers who can effectively teach music to all children in the 21st-century classroom.

Acknowledging that preservice music teachers need more diversity training has been a simple notion over the years; however, determining best practices for such training has deemed quite challenging. Recently, while presenting the game and content at another university, an undergraduate student asked, “Do you see this as a specific class or something that should thread through all of our courses?” My response was “yes and yes!” Cultural competence does not occur through isolated professional development, independent diversity courses, or culturally based resources and materials; one becomes culturally competence over a period of time through a variety of experiences. The best approach to increase cultural intelligence among preservice music teachers would include set courses in the degree program that delve into complex material strategically and systemically. Such courses should be pragmatic in approach and structured in a way that would allow preservice music teachers time to process and internalize content. Most important, such courses should include “situated learning” experiences to develop discourse communities of learning. Through well-structured discourse communities of learning, preservice music teachers would experience ample opportunities of “discovering” success teaching diverse student populations in safe, controlled environments.

More research is needed to provide answers to complex questions about diversity and music education: What should be the approach in identifying best practices in developing appropriate cultural dispositions among preservice music teachers? What curricular changes would yield a more critically conscious, culturally competent music teacher? What pedagogical practices should be employed when training preservice music teachers in cultural diversity pedagogies? Ultimately, the music education profession, in general, must embrace the idea of cultural competency. Conversations around topics of race, culture, and diversity, specifically as related to music education, should become a norm in the profession. Once such conversations become a norm, it is possible solutions for better preparing teachers to teach sociocultural diverse students will naturally ensue.