Providing consistency in care: a case study of bilingual and bicultural early childhood education for farmworker children in rural midwestern United States

ABSTRACT

In the United States, migrant and seasonal farmworkers mostly of Latino origin work seasonal jobs on large scale farms. Because many of these jobs are temporary, farmworkers often move frequently across state lines and international borders to follow the work in agriculture. Many farmworkers travel with families including young children and one challenge of this population is stable child care and access to education services for their children. Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program (MSHS), a branch of Head Start, provides seasonal childcare and early childhood education services to young children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers ages birth through 5. This case study explored how MSHS operates seasonal programs for farmworkers children and examines the ways in which educators provide consistency in care for farmworker children. Specifically, the study focused on bilingual and bicultural programing, mobility of teachers, consistency in care, and teachers’ knowledge of the program and farmworker community.

KEYWORDS:

• Childcare
• early childhood education
• teachers
• migrant families
• bilingual
• bicultural

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Purdue University Fort Wayne Office of Scholarship and Creative Endeavors.

Notes on contributors

Julia Smith

Julia Smith is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She has worked with the migrant farmworker community in the Great Lakes region for many years.

Jens Clegg

Jens Clegg is an Associate Professor of Spanish at Purdue University Fort Wayne. He studied in New Mexico where he worked for many years with the Southwestern Hispanic community.