Internalized Racism and the Pursuit of Cultural Relevancy: Decolonizing Practices for Critical Consciousness with Preservice Teachers of Color

Abstract

In this article, we explore the need for decolonizing practices in teacher education for developing critical consciousness with preservice teachers of Color (PTOC). We assert that the development of critical consciousness for PTOC must include practices that specifically attend to their racialized experiences in the context of white spaces- their teacher preparation programs, the teaching profession, and society writ large- where they have been subjected to colonized paradigms of what it means to teach children of Color. We use culturally relevant/responsive teacher education to frame our discussion and place emphasis on the construct of critical consciousness.