Juan Gaytan
Doctoral Candidate in Learning, Teaching, Cognition, and Development
University of California, Irvine | School of Education
Dissertation Abstract
This dissertation offers an in-depth look at the Latinx male teacher pipeline in order to develop recruitment and retention strategies of Latinx men specifically, and diverse educators more broadly, into the teaching profession. This project offers a look at the changes and development of their conceptualization of the teaching profession across the Latinx male teacher pipeline beginning with Latinx male high school students, credential students and finally veteran teachers (5 or more years of teaching experience).
Each group will participate in a semi-structured interview which addresses the various research questions in order to compile a holistic illustration of these individuals’ conceptualization of the teaching profession and how the intersections of their social identities inform their position as educators within the school system. The interview questions gather 1) how their experiences in education inform their perception of the teaching profession and education, 2) what their personal journey was like to consider and ultimately commit to the teaching profession, and 3) what being a teacher, on both a personal and societal level, means to them. The high school student interviews will focus primarily on strands 1 and 3 while credential students and veteran teachers will be interviewed on all three strands.
The themes that emerge will be incorporated into the curriculum of a local non-profit’s teacher academy program which aims to increase teacher diversity, specifically that of Latinx male teachers. The hope is that through the culturally relevant framework that emerges from this research, the curriculum will help in the recruitment of Latinx male students into the teaching profession and can inform local educators and institutions of strategies to both recruit and retain a teacher workforce that is representative of the students they serve.