Creating Somebody’s Safe Space Now: Latina and Black Women ECE Educators Classroom Remedy Towards Repair

• In Event: Vamos a Placticar! Feminista Scholars Creating a Radical Refuge for Latina and Black Women ECE Educators

Abstract

Positionality: As a Brown-skinned Latina, veteran teacher, and researcher of teacher mental health and wellness, I have struggled to understand how Latina and Black women can be expected to teach children positive social-emotional practices, when they have only experienced toxic educational spaces.
I work to remedy and repair the damage imposed on these women educators by white, male-dominant education systems.
Support that validates lived experiences of Latina and Black women must consider how racialized and gendered physical space supports or hinders their ability to engage socially and emotionally within it.
Purpose: The purpose is to showcase the transformative impact of emotional, social and physical space on Latina and Black women Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers. The study presents findings of the socio-spatial experiences of systemic sexism and racism on these educators’, and its influence on their identity and positionality[1] throughout their education.
Theoretical Framework The research is grounded in Critical Race Spatial Analysis[2] and the Five Awarenesses of Teaching[3-5]. CRSA examines the intersection of race and education, considering emotional, social, and physical spaces. The Five Awarenesses framework emphasizes identity development through awareness of self, the learner, context, teaching practice, and interaction.
Methods: Critical race feminista methodology was employed through journey mapping[2], photovoice, and testimonios[6]. Teachers created journey maps to understand their lived experiences with racism and sexism in relation to their schooling. Photovoice involved teachers collecting pictures to reflect on their culturally relevant practices. Testimonios were teachers' spoken accounts of oppression in schooling and the remedy created in their classrooms for students.
Data was collected from nine Latina and Black women ECE educators’ from three distinct ECE programs across three NYC boroughs in winter/spring of 2024. Journey maps, photovoice artifacts, videos and transcripts during three virtual sessions (one per methodological tool) with each group were analyzed. Trustworthiness was established using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Table-1).
Findings: Themes of emotional, social and physical space of historical exploitation and erasure[7-8] were prominent. Journey maps demonstrated the emotional, often traumatic childhood experiences with schooling that impacted why and for whom the women became teachers. Photovoice descriptions highlighted the need for social spaces where teachers could be themselves. Testimonios revealed teachers’ need to create “somebody’s physical safe space.” Educators' experiences shaped the classroom spaces they created, with an emphasis on making them safe and inclusive.
Significance: The study suggests that teachers’ experiences and awareness of racism and sexism influence their teaching practices and the spaces they create for their students. It underscores the need for creating spaces that welcome teachers’ full selves. However, it recognizes a tension whereas teachers with deep self-awareness created classrooms for their “child-self.” Questions remain as to whether these spaces fit their current students’ needs. Findings highlight the need for further supporting teachers’ identity development in order to balance self-awareness and an awareness of the student’s needs. The study contributes to the understanding of the experiences of Latina and Black women educators in ECE and provides insights for developing supportive, inclusive, educational spaces[9].

Authors

• Vanessa Rodriguez, New York University

• Jessica Martell, Teachers College, Columbia University