Teachers' Negotiation Discourses

• In Event: Lives of Teachers Roundtable

Abstract

Teacher’s beliefs regarding their practices are shaped by many discourses, which are often hard to recognize. Teachers philosophy about teaching and children not only come from their post-secondary education but their folk pedagogy, cultural context, and previous experiences. Early childhood educators find themselves amidst pressures from various conflicting philosophies, such as federal, state, and local regulations, parents’ demands and Reggio Emilia inspiration. This qualitative case study investigates the experience of teachers as they negotiate many competing discourses in a preschool setting. Foucault’s theory helps us understand how power and knowledge relationship in the curriculum is entangled with teachers’ practices. The study indicates that teachers negotiate their practices from sometimes mediated and often conflicting discourses in relation to their sociocultural beliefs.

Author

• Tahmina Shayan, Capilano University