Poster #122 - Teaching and Learning About Race in Early Childhood: Undergraduate Students' Learning of Anti-Racist Pedagogy

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Research has increasingly demonstrated that children’s experiences with race and racism begin early in their development. White children, as young as 3 years old, demonstrate racial biases in affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains (see Raabe & Beelmann, 2011 for a review), and young children of color experience the consequences of racism both through interpersonal interactions with peers and adults and from the oppressive systems within which they are embedded (Gilliam & Shahar, 2006). When children reach preschool age and enter early childhood classrooms, teachers and non-familial caregivers become important socializing agents in children’s lives. Yet, many early childhood educators do not feel confident talking to young children about race, racism, and ethnicity due to their own belief systems, inadequate professional development, and perceived lack of support from parents and administrators (Priest et al., 2016; Walton et al., 2001). Early childhood teachers may inadvertently impede the development of young children’s racial and ethnic identities, and the development of critical consciousness and anti-racist beliefs, through silence about race and adoption of colorblind ideologies. Colorblind ideologies espoused by many early childhood teachers have potentially negative effects via dismissing the salience of race and ethnicity in the lives of children of color (Boutte, 2008; Castro Atwater, 2016; Farago, Sanders, & Gaias, 2015) and thus have the potential to cause harm in the lives of BIPOC children.

To interrupt and interrogate the trend of early childhood educators adopting colorblind or color-silent ideologies, teacher preparation programs must instill in their pre-service education students the following: 1) knowledge of children’s developing racial awareness, racial biases, and racial identities, 2) impacts of racism on children’s development, 3) recognition and reflection to address implicit bias, and 4) anti-racist pedagogies. Utilizing undergraduate student-level data from a newly-developed and instituted university course—Teaching and Learning about Race in Early Childhood—the proposed study will qualitatively analyze undergraduate student learning in the above-mentioned areas. The study is guided by frameworks presented in Miriam Tager’s recent book Anti-Racist Pedagogy in the Early Childhood Classroom (2022) and the edited volume Keeping up with the Times: Diversity and Inclusion in Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs (Riojas-Cortez, 2021).

Data have been collected from 10 sections of the course or from approximately 200 undergraduate pre-service teachers. The study will focus analysis on college students in early childhood degree programs, including birth-kindergarten programs and pre-kindergarten to third-grade certification programs. The study will examine student learning on the topics of racial awareness in early childhood, impacts of racism on development, implicit bias, and anti-racist pedagogies in early childhood as demonstrated in reflective journals, discussion board posts, exam essay questions, and self-assessments.

Themes are expected to emerge around students’ understanding (or lack thereof) of the impacts of race and racism in young children’s lives and student self-reflection regarding the impact of one’s own identity and lived experiences around race on one’s pedagogical practices. The results will have implications for teacher training programs, teacher professional development, and anti-racist pedagogies in early childhood settings.

Authors

• Kimberly Davidson, Central Michigan University
  Presenting Author

• Flora Farago, Stephen F. Autstin University