Embracing Advocacy: How Visible Minority and Dominant Group Beginning Teachers Take Up Issues of Equity

This paper is from a four-year research project that followed graduates of a teacher education program from teacher certification through their first three years of teaching. It focuses on participants' narratives about their advocacy efforts in both their pre-service practicum placements and their first year as probationary teachers. Our findings indicate that while dominant group white participants chose to advocate from a position of personal conviction (often based on new knowledge of equity issues), the visible minority participants were often summoned by others to advocate. The paper concludes with a discussion about how teacher education might better address advocacy issues, alongside the focus on equity issues.