Sign in Subscribe
COVID-19

Teacher Preparation Needs Critical Consciousness to Address Systemic Inequity

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Research from the University of Virginia suggests that teaching is a challenging profession, exacerbated by systemic barriers to address opportunity gaps and fill in missing education from the COVID-19 pandemic years. Teacher preparation programs are tasked with upskilling future teachers with content knowledge, pedagogy, and skills to understand and address the needs of diverse learners. A crucial aspect of teacher preparation is incorporating critical consciousness, which includes critical awareness of systemic inequity, efficacy to work for change, and taking action for social justice.

Key Takeaways:

  • Teacher preparation programs must incorporate critical consciousness to equip teachers to address systemic inequity in schools.
  • Critical consciousness development is essential for teachers to cultivate critical thinking among students and build supportive relationships with them.
  • Five key features of preservice teacher preparation programs that can benefit from critical consciousness development are:

+ Developing preservice teachers' own critical consciousness

+ Applying critical consciousness to student teaching field experience

+ Explicit instruction of pedagogy

+ Applying critical consciousness to active learning methods

+ Modeling critical consciousness through faculty mentoring

  • Incorporating critical consciousness into teacher preparation programs can support preservice teachers with a cohesive understanding and skillset to address systemic inequity.

Statistics:

  • 20+ years of experience: two former classroom teachers contributed to the research.
  • 5 key features of preservice teacher preparation programs that can benefit from critical consciousness development.
  • Studies have shown that critical consciousness development is essential for teachers to be prepared to teach students from diverse ethnic-racial backgrounds.

Sources:

  • "Teacher preparation needs critical consciousness." Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 2025,5():100119.
  • NewsRx. Research from University of Virginia Provides New Data on Epidemiology (Teacher preparation needs critical consciousness). Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA. June 22, 2025; p 164.

Read more