Blind Spots and Eye-Openers: Attending to the Concerns of Racialized Teacher Candidates in a Social Justice Course

ABSTRACT This collaborative self-study begins with the critical incident that led a collaborative relationship between a relatively privileged teacher educator and a racialized teacher candidate. The teacher candidate, serving as a critical friend, helped the teacher educator become aware of his blind spots and enhanced his critical awareness and practices by attending to the voices of racialized teacher candidates. The teacher candidate identified five themes – the three blind spots and two eye-openers in this article – as areas for growth among teacher educators. The authors explore these themes through reflective writing that explores changes in practice over the duration of the course. The study is significant both for the social justice themes raised and for its consideration of self-study as a dynamic reflective process that can impact practice immediately. Also, by involving a teacher candidate as a full collaborator, this inquiry builds on Finlayson, Whiting and Cutri’s account of a teacher candidate’s experience of a program.