Contextually Appropriate Practice: Interrogating the Assumptions of White Western Early Childhood Educators in Nepal and Kenya

• In Event: Problematizing International Field Experiences: Do They Promote Intercultural Competence or Reinforce Euro-Western Privilege and Ethnocentrism?

Abstract

This research is taken from two long-term ethnographic research projects focused on international field experiences for Minority World early childhood educators in Kenya and Nepal. The term Minority World is used for educators who come from wealthier regions of the globe, which constitutes a small percentage of the world population, such as United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The term Majority World has replaced the terms “third world” or “developing world,” as these terms construct a discourse about these countries as being less developed or advanced (Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence, 2013). The history of marginalization, coupled with Euro-Western influences and domination, have silenced and oppressed local ways of caring for and educating young children in these two contexts. This paper first examines the professionalization of early care and education in Kenya and Nepal, and how this has informed the conception that developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) should be replaced with contextually appropriate practice (CAP) when working in Majority World classrooms. Next, data from the two research projects are used in a qualitative thematic analysis to examine how quality practices were defined through the lived experience of fifteen US early childhood pre-service teachers during two international field experiences in Kenya and Nepal. Data was also collected from Nepali and Kenyan teachers to gain an emic perspective of quality practices from local community members. The findings revealed that the US pre-service teachers were most likely to exert their privileged positions to communities who did not have power and privilege by assuming that social problems and poverty in Majority World countries could be eradicated not only by monetary support but also by adopting Euro-Western policies and pedagogies, thus perpetuating neo-colonialism. Pre-service teachers also positioned early childhood customs and norms, both in Kenya and Nepal, as deficient, outdated, and not child-centered, based on a Euro-Western discourse of developmentally appropriate practice. In conclusion, we argue that ECE practices must be informed by contemporary and contextual understanding of early care in diverse settings. The ethnographic approach used in this paper allowed researchers to scrutinize perceptions of US pre-service teachers about their views of "professionalism" and quality care in the Majority World using a global lens. It is critical for teacher education programs to provide pre-service and in-service teachers with opportunities to expand their global views of the early childhood professional.

Authors

• Samara Madrid Akpovo, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

• Lydiah Nganga, University of Wyoming