Developing Practice: Toward a General Theory of Early Education

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Supporting Young Children's Learning and Development

Abstract

Teaching young children is a uniquely complicated practice. However, the field is fragmented by disparate disciplinary perspective, conceptual orientations, and political interests. Building off of recent transdisciplinary scholarship, this paper presentation advances a general educational theorizing as a disciplinary basis for studying and practicing early childhood education. This conception views ECE as having multi-dimensional purposes requiring psychological sophistication and organizational structures that support professional development. In addition, this paper illustrates the complexities of early childhood teachers’ daily practices by presenting the findings of six qualitative case studies. Findings suggest that the complexities of teaching are often underestimated in schools, and more systematic support is needed to develop people and organizations equipped to balance the multi-dimensional complexities of teaching young children.

Author

• Daniel J Castner, Indiana University