ABSTRACT
This chapter examines microaggressions by preservice candidates towards teacher educators in an educator preparation programme. Three case studies drawn from the author's first-hand experiences in an undergraduate preservice programme anchor the chapter. Using the methodology of portraiture the chapter explores each case in vivid detail. As a set, the cases portray teacher candidates resisting the expectations of their roles and going outside the conventional bureaucratic framework to report on superiors and disengage from appropriate preprofessional norms. The microaggressions present unexpected challenges and consequences for the teacher educator. Interpretative lines of inquiry regarding the digital revolution's flattened organizational chart, and how informal bantering on texting and social media have adjusted communication and language norms are explored with an eye to establishing parameters that advance and strengthen teacher education in the 21st century. The chapter concludes with recommendations for recognition and response to microaggressions by teacher candidates with specific guidelines and protocols to identify warning signs, repattern interactions, and reset communication practices in teacher education.
