Discovery
Whether a Racial Minority or Majority at Their School, White Teachers Struggle with Race Relations
In a study of white teachers’ sense of belongingness at their schools, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership assistant professor Jennifer L. Nelson found that these teachers were often ill-equipped for discussions about racial issues with Black colleagues and students because they had little prior experience thinking about or confronting race in their family, educational and previous work environments.
Most of the white teachers in our sample hailed from racially segregated social worlds – attending predominantly white high schools and universities that left them unprepared to handle race relations in their workplace.”
Nelson co-wrote the study with Tiffany D. Johnson, a business professor at Georgia Institute of Technology.