Pedagogies of Indeterminacy

Abstract:

What might pedagogies of indeterminacy do? As researchers and educators, we ask that question, inspired by common worlds pedagogies, exploring pedagogies of indeterminacy. Drawing on pedagogical inquiries using charcoal and cardboard in an early childhood centre, we challenge early childhood narratives conformed by neoliberal-informed productivity models and choose to think with a pedagogy of indeterminacy. The larger concept of indeterminacy, for this work with charcoal and cardboard, encompasses working with boredom and contemplation to challenge dominant neoliberal constructs of productivity in early childhood education.

We begin by confronting the neoliberal-informed productivity concepts that continue to dominate practices in early childhood education. We then note three ways in which early childhood education conforms to these concepts. Then we trouble these three ways with the possibilities from indeterminacy, boredom, and contemplation.

What we propose with pedagogies of indeterminacy is an alternative narrative that challenges dominant
productivity logics.

Keywords:

pedagogy, common worlds, early childhood education, indeterminacy, boredom, contemplation

Hidden Messages: Barriers Toward Professional Recognition

Abstract:

The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) field faces many challenges. Poor compensation, difficult working conditions, and low professional recognition in particular have had a significant impact on the recruitment and retention of quality Early Childhood Educators (ECEs). This research considers how the language used in public discourse around the ECEC field contributes to knowledge, understanding, and, ultimately, the value placed on childcare professionals. A qualitative content analysis of two publicly available Ontario secondary school curriculum documents is used to gain insight into how the language used affects perceptions of ECE’s. Primary findings reveal a construct of ECEs characterized by a limited professional identity. The article argues that such a construct and its language undermine the professional status of educators and justifies the inequitable way ECEs are compensated for their work.

Keywords:

Professional recognition, professional identity, early childhood educators, content analysis

The (Not) Good Educator: Reconceptualizing the Image of the Educator

Abstract:

This article tells the story of an early childhood educator caught with an incomplete program plan during a Ministry inspection. The author situates the story within the grand narratives of neoliberalism and developmentalism. Then using reconceptualist theories, she deconstructs the discourse of the good educator and reconstructs a new subjectivity as an intentional (not) good educator. The author further discovers the discourse of the (not) good educator within How Does Learning Happen?’s positioning of the educator as a researcher with an invitation to challenge the status quo. The article ends with a retelling of the original story from a transformed perspective.

Keywords:

Early childhood educator, program planning, neoliberalism, developmentalism, How Does Learning
Happen?

Inclusion is an Experience, Not a Placement

Abstract:

Early education, care, and intervention programs are part of a complex system of services as experienced by children and their families. Based on a study of institutional processes and relationships from the standpoint of families with children who are thought of as disabled in the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project, this article highlights common components of inclusion as an experience rather than merely a placement in a class. Early childhood educators and childcare programs are encouraged to play a critical role as part of this system providing accessible, equitable and integrated services to children.

Keywords:

Inclusion, early years, childhood disability, early intervention system

Download in french here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z2Q1q3ARq8vgdy4kPKzEola58VtFnR8P/view

Deepening Collaboration with Children Through the Principles of Cooperative Learning

Abstract:

The educators’ and children’s co-construction of the early learning and care curriculum is of growing
importance in Ontario. Regretfully, this collaboration sometimes emerges in a tokenistic or superficial manner in practice. This article presents thoughts on the opportunity for early learning educators to consider another perspective that could deepen their collaboration with children during curriculum development. Drawing on the principles of cooperative learning, a pedagogical model often used in grade school and adult learning, early learning educators are encouraged to reflect on the decisions they are making and interactions they are having to ensure that they are supporting a view of co-construction.

Keywords:

Cooperative learning, early childhood education, co-construction, collaborative practices, emergent curriculum, pedagogical approaches.

Preservice Early Childhood Education Degree Students’ Career Aspirations: Examining Decisions to Enter the Field

Abstract:

This article summarizes a study that examined the intentions of Early Childhood Education degree students to work in early childhood education. Participants were recruited from nine institutions across Ontario, and 214 online surveys were completed. Independent t-tests indicated that there were significant differences between students who intend to enter the field and those who do not. Those not intending to enter the field perceived significantly more barriers to a successful career in the field. Results from thematic analyses provide further insight into students’ perceptions of their career choices and professional identities. The paper concludes with recommendations for stakeholders who are attempting to attract a highly qualified workforce.

Keywords:

Early Childhood Education; childcare; ECE training; ECE workforce

Decolonizing and Co-Constructing Contexts that Welcome Indigenous Practices and Knowledges in Early Childhood Education

Abstract:

Colonialism takes many forms. In early childhood education, the dominance of the normative gaze of developmentalism and the tendency to compartmentalize and sidestep spiritual aspects of life serves to marginalize other ways of knowing, distancing mainstream culture from opportunities to recognize and reconsider assumptions and established practices. In this article, Indigenous and settler educators draw on lived experience to critically reflect on perspectives and practices they have been taught and consider, with optimism, possibilities arising from the intersection of Indigenous knowledges with How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years.

Keywords:

Indigenous knowledges; colonialism; developmentalism; early childhood education

Dramatic Play in Northern Aboriginal Head Start Classrooms: Supporting Indigenous Children’s Learning of their Culture and Language

Abstract:

Three Aboriginal Head Start educators and a university professor report on a collaborative inquiry that examined video recordings of children’s dramatic play with Indigenous cultural materials to learn how children interacted with materials and see the role of the Ojibway language in their play. In their play, children imitated Indigenous cultural practices carried out in the home, at sacred ceremonies, and on the land. The children showed an understanding of Ojibway words but did not speak them in their dramatic play. We propose suggestions for non-Indigenous educators who wish to introduce children to Indigenous cultural practices and languages or to incorporate the cultural practices of children’s families into classroom dramatic play.

Keywords:

Aboriginal Head Start (AHS), Indigenous cultural practices, teaching Ojibway language and culture, play-based learning, pedagogical documentation

Gizhaawaso: Culture as a Protective Factor for Indigenous Children with Disabilities

Abstract:

This article examines Indigenous approaches to health and treatment in order to critique the current early intervention system for children with disabilities. Seeing disability as a social construct, this article suggests that disability as defined within the early intervention system is based on Eurocentric ideals that pathologize Indigenous ways of being. From this conceptualization, this article will illustrate the gaps within the current early childhood support service systems and offer suggestions for developing culturally appropriate support services for Indigenous children with disabilities.

Keywords:

Indigenous disability, Indigenous early childhood, early intervention, cultural healing