Exploring preservice teachers’ practices and perspectives on Whiteness

The litany of research confirms Whiteness exists among preservice teachers in teacher education. Yet, much of this research is qualitative, and the few quantitative studies that have been conducted with preservice teachers do not consist of instrumentation assessing cultural, emotional and behavioural facets of Whiteness. The purpose of our study was to explore White preservice teachers’ practices and perceptions of Whiteness by developing the Whiteness Components Scale (WCS) which consists of three factors: White Emotionality (WE), White Ontological Expansiveness (WOE) and White Standardization (WS). Results show preliminary support for the WE factor, whereas more development is needed to better measure the constructs of WOE and WS. Further refinement and psychometric testing of the WE should be conducted, and suggestions for future research to expand the WCS are discussed.