Generative text sets: Tools for negotiating critically inclusive early childhood teacher education pedagogical practices

ABSTRACT

Through a case study, this article sheds light onto generative text sets as tools for developing and enacting critically inclusive early childhood teacher education pedagogies. In doing so, it positions teaching and learning processes as sociocultural, historical, and political acts as it inquires into the use of generative text sets in one early childhood teacher education setting. Drawing on critical pedagogy and critical literacy as frameworks, this article seeks to shed light onto the affordances of such tools for preparing early childhood teachers to work in diverse settings in critically inclusive and culturally relevant ways.

Notes

1. Funds of knowledge “refer to… historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being” (Moll et al., 1992, p. 133).

2. “Developmentally appropriate practice” is the standard of “best practice” upheld by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Although conceptualized as applicable to all realms, it has been criticized for not centrally considering the experiences, learning and development of young children from nondominant and minoritized backgrounds.

3. Coreflection (Waff, 2009) means collaborative reflection; reflection within the context of a collaborative learning community. It centers on teacher inquiry and involves acknowledging assumptions, considering social contexts and discourses, as well as dialoguing about pedagogical actions. Coreflection allows for unique vantage points to be considered, shaped by multiple sociocultural environments and experiences. It is a process that facilitates the critical sharing of multiple perspectives, dialogically.