"El relajo con orden": Troubling the Control of Latinx Children's Bodies in Early Childhood Education Classrooms

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Caring and Equitable Approaches to Learning Through Culturally Relevant Teaching (Table 16)

Abstract

Young children of color exist at the intersection of racialization that aims to maintain a second-class educational experience and deficit views of young children used to justify extreme control of their bodies, voices, and minds in schools. In this presentation, we explore Latinx immigrant parents’ and early childhood teachers’ rationales for their shared belief that young children need to be controlled in the classroom. Latinx immigrant parents emphasized the importance of children’s learning while teachers focused on personal preferences and pressure around accountability measures. These findings highlight the need to support teachers in reflecting on and deepening their practice to counter racism and deficit thinking, center children’s learning and children’s agency, and deemphasize the desire to control children’s bodies.

Authors

• Molly E. McManus, San Francisco State University
  Presenting Author

• Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove, Texas State University
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Keys Adair, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author