Toward New Discourse: Connectedness, Joy, and Emotional Capital in Early Childhood Education

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting the Status Quo: Equity and Inclusion in Early Childhood (Table 4)

Abstract

Guided by the philosophical underpinnings of critical qualitative inquiry, this paper reports findings from a larger narrative inquiry aimed at learning about the experiences of early childhood educators working in undervalued, underfunded spaces. This study adds to a small body of resistance and desire-based research in early childhood education (ECE) through sharing the individual and collective narratives of eight early childhood educators in Michigan. Study findings add necessary dimension to existing research in centering the joy, connectedness, and emotional capital in ECE amidst the neoliberal cascade.
Keywords: early childhood education, narrative inquiry, neoliberalism, emotional capital

Author

• Katie Sloan, Oakland University