Early Childhood Community Teacher Collaborative Initiative for Social Justice

• In Event: Disruption: Challenging Early Childhood Teacher Education

Abstract

It is necessary for the field of early childhood education to adopt a more explicit approach to inclusion which promotes conversations about race and prejudice in the classroom and ensures that young children gain accurate information about each other. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore early childhood teacher beliefs about race, gender, and equity and how these beliefs impact the approaches to scaffolding children to actively confront bias. Results show that early childhood teacher practices are influenced both by their own past experiences with diversity, as well as their self-awareness of racial-bias. Teachers with higher self-awareness of their racial biases depicted more diversity in their physical and pedagogical classroom environments, creating stronger relationships with families.

Authors

• Monica N. Molgaard, University of California - San Diego

• Alison G. Wishard Guerra, University of California - San Diego

• Thandeka K. Chapman, University of California - San Diego

• Kathryn Owen, University of California - San Diego

• Matthew Proctor, University of California - San Diego