Paper short abstract:

Educators’ personal beliefs and prior knowledge influence decisions. Findings in this paper argue preservice teachers’ personal Funds of Knowledge are the main catalyst to make decisions about curriculum even after rethinking and reimagining hegemonic schooling practices and curriculum in courses.

Paper long abstract:

The advent of reforms in the United States holds new opportunities to engage in transforming education. Teachers may recognize the need to critique the neoliberal underpinnings of curriculum and schooling yet do so in a state of fear. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to explore (1) what funds of knowledge (FoK) are leveraged to transform perspectives on professional knowledge and skills? and (2) what ways do preservice teachers (PSTs) think critically and act to reframe, reimagine, or abolish historically held notions of pedagogy and curriculum? The study took place in a sixteen-week, six-credit general teaching methods course at a metropolitan university in a Midwestern state of USA. 18 participants provided consent for their course assignments and discussions to be collected after course grades were posted. Key data sources include course discussions and written assignments in which PSTs conveyed their understanding and perceptions of culture and their personal experiences. Two subtheme findings were concluded from this investigation: (a) personal FoK serve as a main catalyst for PSTs’ pedagogical decisions and (b) PSTs grapple with being agentive across contexts. Even with exposure to thinking critically about educational contexts, curriculum, and pedagogy, PSTs continue to view teaching, learning, and schooling through their personal experience FoK lens. The result is a sense of “othering” the new contexts against what they knew as a “truth” of schooling. Educator preparation programs must engage PSTs to think critically and recognize how their personal beliefs, prior knowledge, and classroom contexts influence their pedagogical decisions.