Education for transformation: What happens when early childhood educators engage in curriculum dialo

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Education for transformation What happens when
early childhood educators engage in curriculum
dialogues that have positive impacts on the
children of the world?

• Lydiah Nganga, Ph.D
• Assistant Professor, Elementary Early childhood
  Education
• University of Wyoming at Casper Center (UWCC)
• ACEI Conference May 2007
• Lnganga_at_uwyo.edu

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Introduction

• One of the critical roles of education is to
  educate our children to be global citizens.
  Educators can do this by reflecting on their
  practices, current curriculum and choice of
  childrens literature. Engaging in reflective
  curriculum dialogues allow educators to form
  democratic collaborative inquiry that leads to
  professional growth and enhances pedagogical
  practices through reflection. Such purposeful
  curriculum dialogues promote the development of
  collective strategies for achieving social
  justice.

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Introduction continued..

• These dialogues must include developing an
  anti-bias multicultural curriculum, exploring
  materials, teaching strategies and professional
  development opportunities. In this presentation,
  participants will learn about the value of
  engaging in multicultural curriculum dialogues as
  a form of professional growth and in promoting
  change in instruction, curriculum and pedagogy
  (Civic responsibility for promoting childrens
  well-being).

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Process

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Participants
• Methods
• Discussion conclusions
• Questions reflections

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The Study

• The goals of education for transformation
  (anti-biased education) are to help children
  develop positive self-identity, develop empathy
  towards others, develop critical thinking and to
  help children to speak out about biases
  (Derman-Sparks, 1992). An anti-bias curriculum
  is based on values that differences are good
  oppressive ideas and behaviors are not . It
  asks teachers and children to confront
  troublesome issues rather than covering them up
  and is integral of all aspects of daily classroom
  life (Derman-Sparks, 1998, p. X).
• I considered this study an opportunity to explore
  the issues that surface in an early childhood
  program when educators work on their approach to
  multicultural curriculum the meaning of
  anti-biased multicultural curriculum for
  Education Transformation.

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Theoretical framework

• An anti-bias curriculum is based on values that
  differences are good oppressive ideas and
  behaviors are not . It asks teachers and
  children to confront troublesome issues rather
  than covering them up and is integral of all
  aspects of daily classroom life (Derman-Sparks,
  1998, p. X).

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Theoretical flame work continued

• Derman-Sparks argues that for such a curriculum
  to be effective early childhood educators must
  provide activities that address gender
  differences, and physical differences, provide
  developmentally appropriate materials that help
  children construct positive self-identities, and
  consider the impact of prejudice to the
  development and interactions of children.
• Educators must create a diverse environment as a
  first step (Derman-Sparks, 1989).
• Childrens ways of seeing reality should be
  challenged.

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Literature

• Multicultural education can help children
  understand others (Banks, 1992, p.35).
• Culturally responsive early childhood curriculum
  is essential (Marshall, 2001 Klein Chen, 2001)
• Availability of professional development
  opportunities for educators is critical to the
  success of implementing multicultural curricula.
• Opportunities allow educators to access the
  latest skills in the craft (Ornisten
  Behar-Horensten,1999)

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Literature continued

• If early childhood teachers are going to
  sufficiently meet the needs of children from
  diverse cultural backgrounds, their teaching
  strategies must be appropriate for all children
  within their classrooms (Hart, Burtis,
  Charlesworth, 1997, p. 372).
• The curriculum must also equip children with
  skills and knowledge that will help them become
  responsible global citizens.

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Participants

• The participants are four educators in an early
  childhood setting with a predominantly White
  population of children, parents and staff.
• All White women, there are two lead teachers, a
  director, and an assistant teacher. The
  participants have worked in early childhood
  settings ranging from 2-15 years.
• All four participants took part in a curriculum
  committee for a period of three months.
• The goals of the curriculum committee were to
  revise the parent questionnaire and to change the
  existing curriculum goals from a tourist
  multicultural curriculum approach to an anti-bias
  approach following the guidelines from The
  National Association for the Education of Young
  Children (NAEYC).

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Methods

• Participant observation
• I conducted this three-month study in an Early
  Childhood setting for birth to five year old
  children in a community in the Rocky Mountain
  region.
• observed in two classrooms and attended and
  participated in meetings of the multicultural
  curriculum committee.
• As a participant observer, this opportunity
  helped me understand the dynamics of the group.
• Methods used to collect data were observations,
  interviewing, and collection of physical
  artifacts.

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Methods Benefits of being a participant observer

• Content Gets first hand information on what is
  being discussed in order to achieved the groups
  goals.
• Process able to observe the sequence of group
  members actions that take place over time and
  are aimed at achieving the groups goal.
• Interviews
• Direct observations
• Participation in the life of the group analysis
  of personal documents produced within the group
  (Bogdan Biklen, 1998).

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Research Questions

• What are the effects of a multicultural
  curriculum dialogue among early childhood
  educators?
• What are the struggles these teachers face in
  pursuing an anti-bias curriculum in their
  program? What sustains them in their work?
• How does their understanding of education for
  transformation anti-bias translate to
  curriculum, instruction, and teacher-child
  relations, etc.?

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Findings

• Emergent themes
• Importance of the image of the child
• Understanding the meaning of anti-bias curriculum
• The link between available resources and
  professional development
• The importance of parental involvement

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Findings The importance of the image of the child

• Importance of the image of the child
• The encouragement of positive self-identity or
  image of the child is a critical aspect in
  healthy development.
• This study revealed a number of ways children
  were validated in the setting. Data exemplars
  also illustrated areas/instances in which the
  center could better address image issues.

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Importance of the image of the child

• Positive Teacher-child interactions were observed
• Children were encouraged children to make their
  own choices for play at learning centers and
  facilitated their play at the centers
• Children were expected the children to show
  respect for others and to work as a team.
• Activities were provided to help children gain
  these skills.
• Teacher worked in collaboration guided the
  children by asking questions, listening,
  paraphrasing, helping problem solve, validating
  actions, and modeling.

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Validating the image of the child through
curriculum materials

• Curriculum materials. Several incidences were
  noted that showed understanding of the importance
  of validating the image of the child through
  curriculum materials. Other observations revealed
  an underutilization of curriculum resources
• childrens literature reflected a need to
  increase materials from diverse backgrounds,
  diversity of gender roles, differently abled
  people, different occupations and age

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Understanding the meaning of an anti-ibias
curriculum

• Early childhood participants in this study
  struggled with understanding the meaning of
  anti-bias curriculum and how it fits within the
  goals of multicultural curriculum..

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Meaning continued

• The teachers treated each child with respect, and
  provided guidance as needed. Children were given
  opportunities to explore their interests. Each
  child was given special attention.
• Other observations revealed missed teaching
  opportunities, that could have been used to
  discuss diversity race issues within the
  context of play.

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Meaning continued

• although a variety of multicultural curriculum
  materials were present, their use was not
  maximized.
• One staff member noted that there are many,
  many resources in the lounge, but they are not
  used to their potential (field notes).

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Meaning/dilemma

• Celebrating holidays. one of the dilemmas that
  the early childhood educators dealt with was how
  to include holidays in the curriculum.
• Celebrating holidays was considered as one way of
  connecting home and school.
• Activities should help children to develop an
  understanding of other cultures.
• One staff member expressed frustration when asked
  why a holiday theme indicated Reindeers and
  Music by stating that you will need to ask my
  co-teacher who was not available. For change to
  take place, commitment is important.

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Available resources and professional development

• The link between availability of resources and
  professional development is an important aspect
  of an anti-bias curriculum.
• It is crucial for early childhood educators to be
  able to evaluate curriculum materials. However
  such materials can only be helpful if they are
  used (Derman-Sparks, 1989).

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Available resources

• Program had a wealth of resources However their
  use was not maximized.
• Teachers checked out the materials on their own.
  I copy and discuss materials or suggest materials
  from what I read that really stands out. We also
  have discussions and or recommendations from the
  other teachers in our group. Parents and the
  community are welcome to use those. We check them
  out to anybody who wants to use the material)
  (field notes, p. 17, Director of program)

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A need for professional development

• Educators expressed a need for professional
  development in anti-bias curriculum development
  and implementation.
• One educator observed
• More training is definitely needed in order to
  get better understanding of what we should be
  doing and how to implement it. Many times I think
  teachers think they are offering an anti-bias
  curriculum because they have no intention of
  hurting the children. It is important for
  teachers to have researched information, talked
  with a diverse group of families, and attended
  training in order to provide the best culturally
  responsive elements (field notes, p. 36).

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Fear of change

• One Educator felt that the changes in curriculum
  were too confusing and might deny celebration
  of important holidays and other activities she
  was used to doing.
• Another educator felt like these changes were
  not necessary.
• two participants expressed fear of loosing
  control
• However, a staff member said
• I always see myself as someone who is not
  prejudiced. But I think that does not mean not
  taking part in anti-bias curriculum training. I
  have attended two such trainings in the last two
  years. I think we require more of such training
  (interview transcription, p. 31)

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The importance of parental involvement

• In these meetings, early childhood educators
  acknowledged the importance of encouraging parent
  participation in curriculum development
• These educators took part in revising a parents
  questionnaire to make it more parent friendly.

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Conclusions

• I think we had great discussions from different
  points of views. I think we all have the best
  interest of children and families in mind when we
  are trying to make changes. It has been very
  helpful to have you and .(name omitted) to get
  other perspectives but I also think we still need
  to hear from others and how they feel about their
  childs programs and what they would like to see.
  I think we still need to work on how to implement
  holidays and birthdays because that seems to be
  one of our biggest dilemmas. Especially when we
  dont want to leave anyone out (field notes,
  p.37). (director of program)

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Conclusion/Recommendations/Solutions

• Based on data from this study
• teachers must engage in reflective multicultural
  curriculum dialogues, have opportunities for
  professional development, have adequate
  resources, be knowledgeable of child development
  in the cultural context and receive
  administrative support.
• Provide culturally responsive classroom
  environments that promote education for change
• Importance of Curriculum dialogues
• Opportunities for professional development
• Importance of the outside expert

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Finally

• In conclusion multicultural education is
  particularly essential in the current society
  that is increasingly pluralistic (Banks, 1997a,
  Banks, 1997/98). Unfortunately, the culturally
  pluralistic nature of the American society is not
  adequately reflected in the public school (Banks,
  1993).
• To successfully transform education, early
  childhood educators should fully integrate
  anti-biased content in their curricula.
• Early childhood educators should also promote the
  wellbeing of the children they work with and
  create caring communities that validate the
  uniqueness of each child in their programs.
• Dialogues must continue Engaging in reflective
  curriculum dialogues allow educators to form
  democratic collaborative inquiry that leads to
  professional growth and enhances pedagogical
  practices through reflection.

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Questions/reflections

• Questions/reflections
• Thank you.
• Lydiah Nganga, Ph.D
• Assistant Professor, Elementary Early childhood
  Education
• University of Wyoming at Casper Center (UWCC)
• ACEI Conference May 2007
• Send emails to Lnganga_at_uwyo.edu