Teachers’ funds of knowledge: a challenge to evidence-based practice

Abstract

The spontaneous nature of much early childhood teaching makes it vital to understand the range of knowledge that teachers draw on in their curricular and pedagogical decision-making. Hammersley argued that teaching practice cannot be based directly on research evidence because it needs to be filtered through teachers’ experiences and understandings. Models of professional knowledge have rarely highlighted teachers’ personal knowledge. Drawing on an interpretivist study that investigated children’s interests as a foundation for curriculum and pedagogy in New Zealand, this paper supports Hammersley’s argument and proposes that the concept of teachers’ funds of knowledge has the potential to explain aspects of teachers’ knowledge. The paper argues that such informal knowledge, gained from life experience, is a primary influence and likely to be prioritised over theory and research in teachers’ pedagogical decision-making in early childhood education. Some implications of this argument for teacher education and teachers’ professional learning are suggested.

Keywords:

• funds of knowledge
• teacher knowledge
• evidence-based practice
• evidence-informed practice
• early childhood education

Acknowledgements

Heartfelt thanks to the teachers, parents and children of The No. 1 Kindy and Takapuna Kindergarten, January–December 2005, who participated in the study and to the project’s main supervisor Prof. Joy Cullen. The Massey University Human Ethics Committee reviewed and approved this project (PN Protocol 04/64). Ethical considerations occurred throughout, including at the end of the study when the principle of credit was applied – teachers’ real names are used to acknowledge their participation. Sincere appreciation is also noted to the two reviewers for their thoughtful and encouraging critiques of an earlier draft of this paper.