“These Things Do Not Ring True to Me”: Preservice Teacher Dispositions to Social Justice Literature in a Remote State Teacher Education Program

摘要

This study describes preservice teachers’ (PTs) dispositions toward diversity education in a remote small town university. The purpose of the study is to find out whether PTs in an undergraduate elementary literacy methods class in this locale are willing to accept and adopt multicultural children’s and youth literature as pedagogical tools and materials in their future classrooms to address race and social justice topics. I used epistemology (i.e., the knowledge system, Scheurich and Young in Edu Res 26(4):4–16, 1997), interest convergence (Bell in Harv Law Rev 93(3):518–533, 1980), and field (i.e., setting, Bourdieu 1986) to analyze the qualitative data from this context. The findings highlight significant issues for teacher educators concerning development of critical consciousness among preservice teachers in small remote regions. Implications for social justice concerns and pedagogical recommendations are included for teacher educators to consider including social justice literature in their literacy methods classes.