Imagining Career Pathway Remedies: Black High School Youths as Aspiring Early Childhood Education Professionals

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Working Toward Remedy and Repair in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation and Professional Development (Table 8)

Abstract

This paper examines the viability of high school career pathway programs to address the present crisis of ECE teacher diversity. Specifically, this paper presents findings from the first year of a two-year investigation of fifteen Black youths enrolled in high school early childhood career pathway programs in three separate school districts. Utilizing critical race grounded theory and the research describing the cultural-pedagogical model of Black teachers, findings reveal that Black high school youths share starkly similar motivations for why they enroll and what they seek to gain through their participation in these programs and Black high school students’ rate of enrollment disproportionately exceeds the enrollment of other racial/ethnic groups. The paper concludes with implications for ECE policy and teacher education.

Author

• Morgan Faison, University of Georgia