Promoting Racial Justice With Emotion and Culturally Focused Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms

• In Event: Toward Antiracist Practices and Possibilities in Early Childhood Contexts

Abstract

Purpose and Objectives

Creating early childhood settings that promote racial justice and equitable practices requires a classroom climate that promotes respect for children’s cultural practices and emotional expression. Teachers’ responses to young children’s emotion expressions and ability to communicate messages that teach young children how to label, recognize and modify emotions in socially desirable ways is referred to as emotion socialization (Catherine, 2019). This paper analyzes impacts of practice-based coaching (PBC) with classroom teachers, foregrounding nuanced interactions between Black teachers and Black boys.

The objectives of the study were to: (1) better understand early childhood (Black) teachers' responses to Black boys' emotion expressions in terms of intent and classroom practices; (2) assess the efficacy of a coaching model; and (3) use systematic observation to better understand the dynamics surrounding emotion expression and document changes in teachers' practices.

Theoretical framework

This topic is urgent due to the large numbers of preschoolers suspended and expelled each year, with Black boys over three times more likely to be suspended than white preschoolers (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016). Implicit bias is an unconscious belief or stereotype that is triggered unknowingly and impacts behaviors toward others (Banks et al., 2006; Meek et al., 2020; Staats, 2014). These biases are shown to influence how teachers and others perceive and address Black boy’s behavior (Meek & Gilliam, 2016).

We draw from research on emotionally supportive responses to negative emotion expressions of Black boys and the second author’s work in justice studies and anti-oppressive pedagogy and children’s rights in early childhood contexts. Nuanced responses of Black teachers to prepare boys of color for state-sanctioned anti-Black racism and encounters with police are analyzed and recommendations for mental health consultants and early childhood educators are discussed.

Modes of inquiry and data

The study utilized a single-subject design, to examine whether PBC enhances teachers’ use of emotionally supportive practices with Black boys. This coaching framework is a collaborative process in which coach and teacher work together in an ongoing process for supporting preschool teachers’ implementation of effective practices. The study included two Black preschool teachers and focal children were Black boys with limited emotional skills. Observations, frequent coaching sessions, and teacher reflections are analyzed and discussed in the context of averting the preschool to prison nexus. Teachers changed to more emotionally supportive classroom practices soon after the focused coaching began and reflected on why they were treating Black boys in ways intended to protect them from racism in the future.

Conclusions

Cultural and contextual factors such as a child's race/ethnicity, gender, social status influence differences in preschool caregiver’s emotion-socialization and classroom interactions. We argue that larger goals of racial justice in early childhood contexts cannot be achieved until pervasive patterns of disciplining young boys of color are addressed on multiple levels, including use of emotionally supportive educational praxis. We argue that enhancing coaching and changing teacher attitudes, knowledge and behavior contribute much to a classroom climate that promotes social justice, care, and respect.

Authors

• Evandra Catherine, Arizona State University

• Beth Blue Swadener, Arizona State University