‘It’s Hard to Talk About’: Educators’ Experiences of Belonging and Engagement in Equity-Focused Professional Development

Abstract

Providing educators with equity-focused professional development (PD) is an evidence-based strategy for ameliorating inequitable student outcomes (e.g., racial achievement gaps). However, growing fatigue with—and backlash against—equity efforts may undermine the efficacy of this strategy. Drawing on social psychological research, we theorize that educators’ engagement and buy-in for equity-focused PD depends, in part, on the extent to which they experience a sense of belonging within these environments. Using a focus group methodology, we explored K–12 educators’ (N = 79) experiences of belonging—or lack thereof—in equity-focused PD, as well as their engagement with this PD. Through a four-phase systematic coding process, we identified environmental factors that facilitated or inhibited belonging, both generally and in racially specific ways. We also identified examples of how disengagement manifests in equity-focused PD, as well as the factors that educators believed contributed to disengagement. We discuss how these findings can provide insight into the growing backlash against equity-focused PD and be leveraged to improve the quality and efficacy of equity-focused PD.