Deficit Thinking In Teacher Education

Deficit thinking is the central topic under study in module four. Jupp (2013) writes, “life and teacher story interviews provided pages upon pages that discussed structural understandings of student differences, yet in a contradictory turn, teachers retained deficit understandings of students as well” (p. 106). Firstly, these structural understandings that Jupp (2013) describes, can be understood as “differences [that] exist in relation of historical and social center and margins” (p. 57). If we look at the social and historical centers in America we can see them as a hegemonic center that has evolved out of western European culture and institutions (Jupp, 2013, p. 57). This in and of itself, is an understanding that many white classroom teachers …show more content…
In “Reproducing and Interrupting Subtractive Schooling in Teacher Education,” Gainer & Larrotta (2010) examined the apprehensive thinking of pre-service teacher candidates in regards to working with English language learners (p. 41). In a similar vein to Jupp’s life history methods, Gainer & Larrotta (2010) used a narrative format to explore what they deemed as “interruptions” in the thinking of novice educators, which could provide for reflective learning opportunities for the candidates (p. 2). One such examples was the experience of a pre-service math educator whose main goal in teacher prep was to learn how to teach his content of mathematics, but later came to understand that it was valuable to incorporate English language learning into his instruction, otherwise he would not break the communication barrier and reach his students (Gainer & Larrotta, 2010, p. …show more content…
Moreover, as Jupp (2013) describes in his concluding chapter, a narrative of “relationality...presents teachers’ needs for direct relationships with students, families, communities, and social agencies” (p. 105). In my understanding, through deeply ingrained relationships one can take away powerful information on the life and needs of the learner which can be instrumental in providing a clearer picture of the incidental. Moreover, a snapshot of the individual students’ life and how it can be critically evaluated towards the overall structures without placing undue blame on the student or their family and likewise draw incorrect conclusions. This also provides a good point of transition for exploring the methods of combating such deficit