Reducing racialized opportunity gaps through teachers’ anti-racism social-emotional competency training and education

ABSTRACTRacial bias in teachers’ perceptions of Black and White students’ academic abilities and classroom behavior perpetuates racialized opportunity gaps in access to education. Teachers have a particularly important role in reducing racialized opportunity gaps and can do so through transformative social-emotional learning (TSEL). We suggest that teachers’ TSEL training should begin with racism consciousness embedded within their self-awareness and social awareness. These, in turn, will impact their other TSEL competencies in racially informed ways, thus reducing opportunity gaps between White and Black youth. We provide theoretical and empirical support about the ways in which racism consciousness can be embedded within the 5 socio-emotional competencies. We share recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers on ways to increase awareness and apply teachers’ TSEL to reduce opportunity gaps. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional Resources1. Resources for Educators on Children’s Racial Learning. https://www.embracerace.org/resources/resources-for-educators-on-childrens-racial-learningEmbraceRace is a civic and social organization which provides tools, resources, discussion spaces, and networks to promote critical learning about racial justice in adults and children. The resource we link specifically provides resources for educators spanning from early childhood to high school in promoting their own as well as children’s racial learning.2. Gorski, P. (2019). Avoiding Racial Equity Detours. Educational Leadership, 76 (7), 56–61.This article comments on the tension between individual educators fighting for racial equity within schools feeling isolated and facing repercussions, and educators who are hesitant or resistant to make anti-racist changes toward equity rarely being challenged. The authors provide a list of “equity detours” that school leaders and personnel take in order to protect White privilege and avoid engaging in anti-racist work. They then provide principles to guide equity actions within schools to help schools avoid equity detours and center efforts toward racial equity.3. California Transformative SEL Competencies. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/se/tselcompetencies.aspCalifornia transformative SEL competencies provides information on the skills, knowledge, and capacities that describe the five components of TSEL as well as links for each competency that provide detailed information.