A Phenomenological Study of Disciplinary Alternative Education Program “Enforcers” on the U.S-Mexico Border: Administrators, Teachers, Coaches, Substitutes, and Campus Patrols
Abstract
Stemmed from zero-tolerance policies, Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs/Classrooms (DAEPs) in Texas are disciplinary spaces designed to house students deemed at risk, while schools continue to serve students’ educational needs of (Aron 2006, Tajalli & Garba, 2014). Once there, students are stereotyped with analogous carceral-framed personas that taint who they are, how they are perceived, and/or how they are treated in alternative classrooms (Dunning-Lozano, 2015; 2018). As a result, the programs/classrooms are fundamental bastions of the school-to-prison-nexus involving a culmination of practices, and policies, along with institutional enforcements that push youths from school to the legal system (Fernandez, Kirshner & Lewis, 2016; Hartnett, 2011). Situated on the U.S.-Mexico Borderland in a post-COVID era, in this study I explored the experiences of key enforcers in these disciplinary classrooms—teachers, administrators, and campus patrols. Utilizing phenomenology and semi-structured interviews (Harrell & Bradley, 2009), I explored their understanding of the dynamics of disciplining, student infractions, and disciplinary exclusion in DAEP classrooms. Data were analyzed through Foucault’s (1977) disciplinary technologies’ lens and Bourdieu’s (1977) symbolic violence where participants conceptualized how alternative classrooms or spaces are framed as carceral spaces within educational institutions (Dunning-Lozano, 2015). Further, I elaborated on how enforcers view alternative students, their infractions, and themselves. Lastly, I discuss the implications for further research.
Subject Area
Teacher education|Educational sociology|Educational evaluation
Recommended Citation
Muñoz, Jair, "A Phenomenological Study of Disciplinary Alternative Education Program “Enforcers” on the U.S-Mexico Border: Administrators, Teachers, Coaches, Substitutes, and Campus Patrols" (2023). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI30816417.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI30816417