Early Childhood Professional Development: Teacher Inquiry and Reflection as a Professional Right

• In Event: Early Childhood Education for a New Age: Centering Equity and Social Justice

Abstract

Early childhood educators benefit from systematic teacher inquiry and reflection for in service professional development (Kroll, 2012; Perry, Henderson, & Meier, 2012). Inquiry and reflection for professional transformation enables early childhood educators to address the “rights, contributions, and aspirations” (Kukutai, McIntosh, Barnes, & McCreanor, 2020, p. 13) for themselves as professionals, and for children and families in early childhood settings. The process of teacher inquiry and reflection provide a critical professional growth pathway for creating more “just relationships” in the workplace, and for teachers “to work together as equals” (p. 13). The creation and nurturing of long-term teacher inquiry groups is the foundational structure for promoting professional dialogue and collaboration around curricular and assessment issues (Given, Kuh, LeeKeenan, Mardell, Reddit, & Twombly, 2010). Inquiry groups provide a trusted public forum for educators to present and share pedagogical insights and assessment data, and to critique dominant curricular and assessment approaches from a social justice and equity stance (Souto-Manning & Hanson Mitchell, 2009). These opportunities for professional solidarity and communal dialogue take hold most effectively when teachers themselves take the initiative of establishing and nurturing inquiry groups (Kroll & Meier, 2017).

Author

• Daniel Meier, San Francisco State University