Dismantle, Change, Build: Lessons for Growing Abolition in Teacher Education

Abstract

Background/Context: Although the uprisings in the summer of 2020 amplified existing abolitionist organizing, including abolitionist struggles for justice within K–12 schools, it is unclear if the field of teacher education has been informed by these movements. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Given this gap, as well as the ongoing urgency to dismantle the interconnected structures of White supremacy, settler colonialism, anti-Blackness, racial capitalism, and cis-heteropatriarchy within the field of teacher education, this article calls on teacher education programs and teacher educators to grow abolition within the field. Research Design: We situate abolition broadly and demonstrate the connections between abolition and struggles for justice in K–12 education. We draw on stories and lessons from our own work as educators and organizers to situate what must be dismantled, changed, and built to grow abolition within the field of teacher education. Conclusions/Recommendations: We call on teacher education programs and teacher educators to begin the reflexive, relational, embodied, imaginative, coalitional, urgent, and necessary work of growing abolition within the field of teacher education.