Centering Equity in Teacher Education Research Through Pláticas Con Maestras

The Capital Area North Doctorate in Educational Leadership (CANDEL) program is committed to educational equity and supports, amongst others, K-12 schoolteachers, administrators, and teacher educators who are committed to bridging the worlds of theory and practice. As teacher educators, we advocate for those in doctoral programs to consider pláticas as a methodology that positions researchers and educators as equal collaborators, each with a wealth of experience to share. The historical roots as well as the five principles of plática methodology (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) are considered. We discuss our positionality as Latinas and first-generation college graduates, as researchers and as platicadoras engaged in teacher education research. Furthermore, we provide examples of how each has used pláticas methodology to understand the experiences of teachers. We conclude by providing advice for doctoral students interested in using pláticas in their own research.