Decriminalizing Children of Color: Critical Counternarratives from Preschool Teachers of Color

• In Event: Critical Counter-Narratives as Transformative Praxis in Urban Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Objectives
Access to equitable preschool education for communities of color is a well-recognized problem in U.S. education (Souto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018); when children of color do attend preschool, they are rejected to play (Souto-Manning, 2017) and disciplined and criminalized at disproportionate rates (Annamma et al., 2019; Basile, et al., 2019; Bryan, 2020). This criminalization extends the school-to-prison pipeline to the youngest children, and marks disrupting the intergenerational violence (Bryan, 2017) of criminalization—decriminalizing children of color—a vital task. Teachers of color play a critical role in decriminalizing education for preschool children of color, drawing upon their lived experiences to surmount the barriers to their teaching and their students’ learning (Bryan, 2021). This ethnographic study first elicited the racialized experiences of preschool teachers of color to understand their motivation to demineralize education; it then explored how they implemented transformative actions in their practice.

Theoretical Framework
We adopted Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) to frame our study, taking advantage of its affordances to analyze race-based educational inequities and to counteract racism through a commitment to social justice and counter-narrative (Delgado, 1995; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). We also adopted the theoretical frameworks of critical reflection for transformative learning (Author, 2015; 2020) and generative change (Author, 2009; 2012) to focus on how teachers reflected on their racialized experiences, thereby transforming their racialized experiences into generative pedagogies in implementing a decriminalizing praxis in their daily teaching.

Method and Data Sources
We used critical counter-narrative as our methodology to guide our study, understanding the articulation of counter-narrative as an emancipatory act aimed at transforming the educational system in order to provide equitable education for people of color (Author et al., 2020). This study focuses on two female teachers of color working in an urban preschool in the U.S. Southwest. Data sources include two semi-structured interviews with each participant, and two semesters of field observations in the classroom and on the playground.

Results
Participants’ counter-narratives demonstrated regular encounters with racial violence, typically organized via deficit stereotypes, such as the dangerous, dirty, and defiant Black girl (Tiana), and the quiet, obedient, Asian immigrant (Hyeong). Their experiences motivated them to commit to a decriminalizing pedagogy featuring actions such as modeling for inclusivity, honoring social and emotional needs of children of color, providing physical proximity and care, acknowledging and rewarding excellence, and enacting equitable treatment during conflicts. This transformative praxis embraced the cultural practices and identities of their students of color, and worked to restore the humanity of the children and families of color. As Tiana reflected in one interview, “I don’t want my students to experience the racial violence as I did.”

Significance
This research points to the importance of recruiting, supporting, and retaining preschool teachers of color and supporting their decriminalizing praxis in order to begin dismantling the multigenerational violence against children of color. This study also reinforces the importance of critical counter-narrative as a fundamental praxis for critical reflection and generative change in service to educational equity.

Authors

• Katrina Liu, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Richard C. Miller, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Arnetha F. Ball, Stanford University

• Claire Therese Tredwell, University of Nevada - Las Vegas