“A Very Difficult Decision” Teacher Educator Parents, their Children’s Schooling, and the Misalignment of Values and Choices

Abstract

In this paper, we explore how teacher educator parents’ (TEPs) feelings about their choices for their children’s schooling and how these choices align or don’t with their professional values. We provide a nuanced look at the emotional elements of “school choice” and the delicate intersections of teacher educators’ personal and professional identities amid a neoliberal educational system that is grounded in choice. This paper illuminates TEPs’ cognitive dissonance and struggle through conflicted and emotional choices as they strive to live in ways that reflect their ideals, while parenting within a racist and stratified school system.

Keywords:

• School Choice,
• Parents,
• Neoliberalism,
• Teacher Educator Parents