Narrowing the cultural divide : preparing culturally responsive educators by instituting transformative pedagogical pre-service training programs

This qualitative case study explored how a pre-service training program developed through a partnership between a university and a charter school, and specifically created to prepare and retain urban educators, may lead to efficacious classroom practices. To address the manner in which teachers can be ill-prepared for the realities of urban school settings, this study applied Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy framework with a specific emphasis on teacher efficacy to determine how teachers managed to persevere when faced with challenges. The literature review provided an overview of multiculturalism and culturally responsive pedagogies (CRP), with an emphasis on how these ideologies connect to transformative teaching and learning practices. The following research question guided the study: How do novice urban charter school educators maintain higher degrees of teacher efficacy after completing a teacher education program designed to prepare urban educators? This study examined the teachers’ background experiences and dispositions, the training that they received, their application of the skills to their educational settings, and types of supports and resources offered by the school or university. It simultaneously suggested improvements to support their development and recommendations to enhance the program’s effectiveness to prepare and retain educators. Through an analysis of six teachers, combined with supporting evidence from five professors and liaisons from the training university, this study revealed how committed practitioners with requisite dispositions could experience positive gains in efficacy beliefs from a preparation program that maintains a core philosophy of CRP and provides ongoing support. The key findings could potentially have implications for schools, educators, and policymakers to improve similar programs.