Disposition and Early Childhood Education Preservice Teachers

2019 ◽  
pp. 1322-1338
Author(s):  
Ursula Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Field Placement ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
Cultural Fluency ◽  
Prekindergarten Students ◽  
Case Study Methods

This study sought to investigate the development of social justice dispositions in early childhood preservice teachers. The participants of the study included two preservice teachers assigned to a four-week prekindergarten field experience, one Black and the other White, both female. This was a qualitative study utilizing observational case study methods and open coding. Data were collected using the Cultural Fluency Survey, the annotated lesson plans of the preservice teachers, and the reflective journal the kept; as well as the recorded responses of the prekindergarten students during the literature lesson in pictorial form. The researchers found the early childhood preservice teachers who participated in this study exhibited strong social justice dispositions in development. The current study may help teacher educators consider what areas of the early childhood program could be changed to equip relevant preservice teachers with multiple opportunities and field placement.

Disposition and Early Childhood Education Preservice Teachers

2017 ◽  
pp. 253-269
Author(s):  
Ursula Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Field Placement ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
Cultural Fluency ◽  
Prekindergarten Students ◽  
Case Study Methods

This study sought to investigate the development of social justice dispositions in early childhood preservice teachers. The participants of the study included two preservice teachers assigned to a four-week prekindergarten field experience, one Black and the other White, both female. This was a qualitative study utilizing observational case study methods and open coding. Data were collected using the Cultural Fluency Survey, the annotated lesson plans of the preservice teachers, and the reflective journal the kept; as well as the recorded responses of the prekindergarten students during the literature lesson in pictorial form. The researchers found the early childhood preservice teachers who participated in this study exhibited strong social justice dispositions in development. The current study may help teacher educators consider what areas of the early childhood program could be changed to equip relevant preservice teachers with multiple opportunities and field placement.

From salvation to inquiry: Preservice teachers’ conceptions of race

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-384
Author(s):  
Lucinda Grace Heimer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Future Teacher ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Impact

Race is a marker hiding more complex narratives. Children identify the social cues that continue to segregate based on race, yet too often teachers fail to provide support for making sense of these worlds. Current critical scholarship highlights the importance of addressing issues of race, culture, and social justice with future teachers. The timing of this work is urgent as health, social and civil unrest due to systemic racism in the U.S. raise critiques and also open possibilities to reimagine early childhood education. Classroom teachers feel pressure to standardize pedagogy and outcomes yet meet myriad student needs and talents in complex settings. This study builds on the current literature as it uses one case study to explore institutional messages and student perceptions in a future teacher education program that centers race, culture, identity, and social justice. Teaching as a caring profession is explored to illuminate the impact authentic, aesthetic, and rhetorical care may have in classrooms. Using key tenets of Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool enhanced the case study process by focusing the inquiry on identity within a racist society. Four themes are highlighted related to institutional values, rigorous coursework, white privilege, and connecting individual racial and cultural understanding with classroom practice. With consideration of ethical relationality, teacher education programs begin to address the impact of racist histories. This work calls for individualized critical inquiry regarding future teacher understanding of “self” in new contexts as well as an investigation of how teacher education programs fit into larger institutional philosophies.

Confronting the Contradictions: A Case Study of Early Childhood Teacher Development in Neoliberal Times

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Early Childhood Teacher ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Instrumental Case Study ◽  
The Impact

As neoliberal polices that emphasize governing the modern state through market-based principles expand across the globe, they are altering the training of early childhood teacher candidates. This creates a range of challenges for those teacher educators who are critical of this reform process. This article presents an instrumental case study that examined the impact of neoliberal education reforms on the development of a sample of early education teacher candidates. Analyzing this case of teacher development offers teacher educators the opportunity to consider the practical and critical steps they might take to better prepare their candidates for these reforms. Doing so will help teacher candidates develop early learning experiences for their children that teach them to become engaged democratic citizens rather than compliant consumers within the neoliberal state.

Incorporating Social Justice Into Science Teacher Education Courses

2020 ◽  
pp. 208-224
Author(s):  
Seema Rivera ◽  
Amal Ibourk
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching For Social Justice ◽  
Education Courses

In this chapter, the authors cover the importance and challenges of incorporating teaching for social justice in science teacher education courses. The chapter starts by providing an overview of the literature on social justice, specifically in science education, and define the terms social justice, equity, and diversity. Then, the authors, who are teacher educators from under-represented groups, share their own experiences about what led them to do social justice work. In addition, the authors present examples from their courses with their preservice teachers and instructional strategies they used. The chapter concludes with recommendations of ways in which we might consider implementing social justice practices in teacher preparation courses.

Exploring Access, Intersectionality, and Privilege in Undergraduate Music Education Courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Samuel Escalante
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Basic Qualitative Study ◽  
Education Courses

Music teacher educators often work to prepare preservice music teachers to be socially conscious and adopt dispositions toward teaching in socially just ways. Preservice teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions toward social justice issues may not be sufficiently challenged, however, unless coursework is appropriately conceived. I designed a three-part workshop to introduce and explore the concepts of access, intersectionality, and privilege, and then conducted a basic qualitative study to examine undergraduate music education students’ understandings of and attitudes toward sensitive social justice issues, as well as their experiences with the workshop. I found that exploring sociological concepts related to social justice through interactive activities and allowing students safe methods for expressing themselves, such as journaling, may facilitate the adoption of positive dispositions among preservice teachers toward toward social justice issues.

scholarly journals The linguistics in othering: Teacher educators’ talk about cultural diversity

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Birgitta Nilsen ◽  
Sandra Fylkesnes ◽  
Sølvi Mausethagen
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Awareness ◽  
Binary Oppositions

‘Othering’ can be conceptually defined as the manner in which social group dichotomies are represented in language via binary oppositions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. The article aims to contribute to a methodological approach for differentiating the concept of othering in educational settings. We will introduce new ways of conceptualising othering based on findings from an empirical critical discourse analytical study of how teacher educators talk about the term ‘cultural diversity’. The study is based on transcriptions of interviews with Norwegian teacher educators. The findings illustrate that teacher educators talk about cultural diversity using seven different ways of othering. These ways of othering are important because teacher educators’ discourses influence preservice teachers, in turn, influencing their future teaching in schools. We argue that a critical linguistic awareness of the ways in which pupils are ‘othered’ is an important tool in counteracting social exclusion and promoting social justice and equity.

Early Childhood Open-Mindedness: An Investigation Into Preservice Teachers’ Capacity to Address Controversial Issues

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazan Bautista ◽  
Thomas Misco ◽  
Stephen John Quaye
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Thinking Dispositions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Common

We investigated the characteristics of early childhood education (ECE) preservice teachers (PSTs) who were identified as closed minded and their capacity to deal with controversial issues. We define open-mindedness as the willingness to consider experiences, beliefs, values, and perspectives that differ from one’s own. First, we used quantitative surveys to identify PSTs with less open-minded thinking dispositions among those who responded ( n = 84). Then, we selected and ultimately interviewed five participants who indicated that their religious views played a significant role in the way they developed their epistemological and ontological views. Interviews suggested that concepts of social justice and the common good were seen as inimical to their core religious beliefs. As such, some respondents avoided these ideas without sufficiently entertaining the complexity involved with their religious beliefs and democratic ideals. This study has numerous implications for the macrocurriculum of teacher education.

scholarly journals Kindergarten Teachers’ Understanding on Social Justice: Stories From Indonesia

SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401773934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Solehuddin ◽  
Vina Adriany
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Kindergarten Teachers ◽  
Reform Curriculum ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Teacher Training Programs

The notion of social justice has often been overlooked in the field of early childhood education because many teachers think that it is too early to introduce the concept to young children. Using multicultural theories, this article attempts to explore kindergarten teachers’ perceptions on the issue of social justice. The method adopted in this research is case study. Thirteen kindergarten teachers from five different schools in three different cities in West Java, Indonesia, are selected as participants. Data are collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using a grounded approach. Findings of this study highlight the extent to which kindergarten teachers understand issues of social justice in terms of equality of treatment. The findings also illuminate complexities faced by the teachers in negotiating social justice in their teaching. The findings also indicate the need to reform curriculum for teacher training programs to include matters like social justice.

scholarly journals The Effects of Children’s Literature on Preservice Early Childhood Mathematics Teachers’ Thinking

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Jett
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Majors ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Mathematics Teaching And Learning

In this article, the author shares an intervention of using children’s literature as a pedagogical frame for an undergraduate mathematics content course with early childhood education majors to influence their thinking about mathematics teaching and learning. With this case study of 29 preservice teachers, the author found that literature increased preservice elementary teachers’ excitement about mathematics, heightened their self-efficacy in mathematics, and motivated them to design innovative mathematics lessons. By elaborating on these findings, the author makes a case for the continued need for mathematically competent teachers in elementary classroom spaces, and the author advocates for the incorporation of literature as a means to do this work. Finally, the author provides implications for future research and practice with other SoTL-related projects involving children’s literature.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document