The Black Man’s Experience as a Teacher in K-12: Examining the Insight, Education, and Challenges to Diversifying the Teaching Population

The K-12 teaching profession is dominated by White females, with only 2% of Black male K-12 teachers in the job. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the insight, education, and challenges Black males face to diversify the K-12 classroom. As the vital instrument of the study, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews, the researcher examined five New York State Black male K-12 educators to discover their perspectives and experiences regarding why Black male educators are underrepresented in the K-12 setting. Five formulated meanings emerged, representing the participants’ experience that included: (a) career motivation, (b) absence of diversity, (c) differing education experiences, (d) rewards of teaching, and (e) relationships make the experience. Five thematic clusters emerged: (a) motivational influences, (b) challenged in education, (c) different placed creates different experiences, (d) return on investment, and (e) connection through familiarity, and four themes (a) inspirational motivation, (b) individualized consideration, (c) intellectual stimulation, and (d) idealized influence. In this study, Black males were motivated to teach by teachers, counselors, and past work experiences. They felt supported in their education but felt underrepresented as a Black male, and they felt they had impacted their young Black male students. The recommendations for changes to federal, state, union, and school district practices discussed in this study can improve the diversity of the teaching workforce to include Black males contributing to the overall quality of K-12 education and student success