Voices of Asian American teachers

Abstract

The self, social and relational identity of Asian teachers is generally shaped by upbringing, misconstrued perceptions, ignorant assumptions, and underrepresentation of Asians in American society. This is prevalent in institutions including schools and teacher education programs that often fail to recognize educators from marginalized backgrounds and support their needs to be successful as early childhood and elementary teachers. There’s little to no acknowledgement about the discrimination Asian teachers face and the struggles they may have by labeling them as the “model minority.” Asian critical theory is a framework that was adopted to challenge White supremacy and further analyze the racial oppression of Asian Americans (Museus & Iftikar, 2018). Currently there are still only 2% of the teaching force in the United States who are Asian American (Chow, 2021). One Asian American teacher, Chiappe realized the importance of representation when she first started working as a teacher. She mentioned, “there were not many teachers that looked like me at the school where I worked” (Oh-Young et al., 2022). Researchers Kim and Cooc (2020) emphasize the need for AAPI teachers because AAPI teachers can serve as role models for Asian American students who are overlooked for needed school services or simply need emotional, mental support from teachers who understand the struggle to be in a society where they are the minority. This research study amplifies voices and experiences of Asian American teachers who are marginalized in the U.S.