Audrey Lucero, Professor, Education Studies, “‘I don’t know what I don’t know’: Female Teachers’ Discursive Uncertainty in Responding to Constraints on their Practice.” 

Description: "The years leading up to second Trump presidency were precarious for K-12 teachers in the US, as the ‘conflict campaign’ against equity-focused instruction spread around the country. Research has shown how teachers responded to constraints on their practice, but less is known about how they discursively positioned themselves as working in isolation or being part of a collective (“I” versus “we”), and how this affected their confidence. Through frequency and concordance analyses of educator interviews, I show that those with a stronger preference for “I” over “we” expressed greater uncertainty about enacting equity-focused instruction than those with a weaker preference. Findings both align with previous research and add nuance to our understanding of teachers’ experiences in this challenging time."