Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.5
W. Boyd, Linda Mahony, Jane Warren, S. Wong
Provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports children’s learning with strong agreement that early childhood teachers (ECTs) are central to quality provision. In many countries, it is mandatory that ECEC services employ ECTs. However, Australian ECT employers report that early childhood graduates are not always well-prepared to work in ECEC settings. This may be because what constitutes optimal early childhood initial teacher education programs (EC ITE) is unclear. To investigate the design of EC ITE programs this research reports on (i) design of EC ITE programs across international contexts; and (ii) 19 Australian ECT employers’ perspectives on EC ITE program design. Findings indicate little consensus on the design of EC ITE programs, with inconsistencies across and within countries. Australian employers identified shortcomings in graduates knowledge. This research highlights recommendations to understand how programs prepare ECTs, by conducting research tracking preservice teachers from EC ITE programs into ECEC teaching.
{"title":"The Design of Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs: Australian Employer Perspectives with International Program Comparisons","authors":"W. Boyd, Linda Mahony, Jane Warren, S. Wong","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.5","url":null,"abstract":"Provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports children’s learning with strong agreement that early childhood teachers (ECTs) are central to quality provision. In many countries, it is mandatory that ECEC services employ ECTs. However, Australian ECT employers report that early childhood graduates are not always well-prepared to work in ECEC settings. This may be because what constitutes optimal early childhood initial teacher education programs (EC ITE) is unclear. To investigate the design of EC ITE programs this research reports on (i) design of EC ITE programs across international contexts; and (ii) 19 Australian ECT employers’ perspectives on EC ITE program design. Findings indicate little consensus on the design of EC ITE programs, with inconsistencies across and within countries. Australian employers identified shortcomings in graduates knowledge. This research highlights recommendations to understand how programs prepare ECTs, by conducting research tracking preservice teachers from EC ITE programs into ECEC teaching.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86578504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.4
M. Cronqvist
In this study, academic freedom in teacher education is related to preservice teachers’ possibilities to develop critical and autonomous thinking in teaching practice. Self-awareness and self-confidence provide certainty to deal with the uncertain situation in teaching where creativity and judgment must be given priority over an instrumental teaching based on authorities, effective methods or ready-made solutions. Teacher educators thus need to promote academic freedom as both certainty and uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to provide enhanced understanding of the meanings and implications for teacher education of academic freedom, in the tension between certainty and uncertainty, based on a phenomenological study about preservice teachers’ experiences of professional ethics. The results show that teacher educators’ function as role models is crucial for preservice teachers’ academic freedom in developing their teaching. A consensus on fundamental values provides openness in discussions that promote the student's critical attitude.
{"title":"Academic Freedom in Teacher Education; Between Certainty and Uncertainty","authors":"M. Cronqvist","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.4","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, academic freedom in teacher education is related to preservice teachers’ possibilities to develop critical and autonomous thinking in teaching practice. Self-awareness and self-confidence provide certainty to deal with the uncertain situation in teaching where creativity and judgment must be given priority over an instrumental teaching based on authorities, effective methods or ready-made solutions. Teacher educators thus need to promote academic freedom as both certainty and uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to provide enhanced understanding of the meanings and implications for teacher education of academic freedom, in the tension between certainty and uncertainty, based on a phenomenological study about preservice teachers’ experiences of professional ethics. The results show that teacher educators’ function as role models is crucial for preservice teachers’ academic freedom in developing their teaching. A consensus on fundamental values provides openness in discussions that promote the student's critical attitude.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83741201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.3
R. Bernay, C. Jenkin, T. Utumapu-Mcbride, Adrian Schoone, A. Gibbons
Calls for enhancing the digital interface for teaching and learning within tertiary institutions have played out in one School of Education, with variable results. Online learning tasks were added in 2018 to regular classes to provide more flexibility for student engagement. A team of lecturers developed a questionnaire for students to be completed after the first semester pilot. Data and findings indicated that one-third of students identified online learning as an enhancement to their learning. A second survey was conducted one year later to assess changes made and analyse the longer-term impacts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, fully online pedagogy was required; anecdotal observation indicated an improvement in satisfaction and engagement, but perhaps only because online was the only way possible to complete assessments. The conclusion contains recommendations and a cautionary tale, when introducing online learning across existing courses.
{"title":"A Review of Undergraduate Education Student Responses to the Online Component of Blended Learning: A Cautionary Tale","authors":"R. Bernay, C. Jenkin, T. Utumapu-Mcbride, Adrian Schoone, A. Gibbons","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.3","url":null,"abstract":"Calls for enhancing the digital interface for teaching and learning within tertiary institutions have played out in one School of Education, with variable results. Online learning tasks were added in 2018 to regular classes to provide more flexibility for student engagement. A team of lecturers developed a questionnaire for students to be completed after the first semester pilot. Data and findings indicated that one-third of students identified online learning as an enhancement to their learning. A second survey was conducted one year later to assess changes made and analyse the longer-term impacts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, fully online pedagogy was required; anecdotal observation indicated an improvement in satisfaction and engagement, but perhaps only because online was the only way possible to complete assessments. The conclusion contains recommendations and a cautionary tale, when introducing online learning across existing courses.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89936034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.6
Gillian Kirk, Marianne Knaus, Shane Rogers
The National Quality Framework is used across Australia to drive quality improvement in early childhood settings. Unique to Western Australia, the National Quality Standard is also used in schools to improve quality in classrooms up to Year two (seven to eight years). However, the literature suggests the National Quality Standard is too broad with an emphasis on quantifiable program features (structural quality). As the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS™) instrument was designed to measure classroom interactions (process quality), the purpose of this current study was to examine its efficacy in Pre-primary (five-year-old) classrooms. A mixed-method research approach was employed to appraise the CLASS instrument as an observational measurement tool for evaluation of quality student and teacher interactions in schools. The quantitative methods involved a statistical analysis of the CLASS instrument ratings and observations and interviews provided a qualitative perspective. Study conclusions suggest that while CLASS offered useful descriptions of quality in Emotional Support and Classroom Organisation, the Instructional Support scores were not consistent with other indicators of quality, and this score was not representative of the instructional quality in some classrooms.
{"title":"An Appraisal of the CLASS Instrument as an Observational Measurement Tool for Evaluation of Student and Teacher Interactions in Western Australian Classrooms","authors":"Gillian Kirk, Marianne Knaus, Shane Rogers","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.6","url":null,"abstract":"The National Quality Framework is used across Australia to drive quality improvement in early childhood settings. Unique to Western Australia, the National Quality Standard is also used in schools to improve quality in classrooms up to Year two (seven to eight years). However, the literature suggests the National Quality Standard is too broad with an emphasis on quantifiable program features (structural quality). As the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS™) instrument was designed to measure classroom interactions (process quality), the purpose of this current study was to examine its efficacy in Pre-primary (five-year-old) classrooms. A mixed-method research approach was employed to appraise the CLASS instrument as an observational measurement tool for evaluation of quality student and teacher interactions in schools. The quantitative methods involved a statistical analysis of the CLASS instrument ratings and observations and interviews provided a qualitative perspective. Study conclusions suggest that while CLASS offered useful descriptions of quality in Emotional Support and Classroom Organisation, the Instructional Support scores were not consistent with other indicators of quality, and this score was not representative of the instructional quality in some classrooms.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77598795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.2
Julie del Valle
Teacher authority is culturally valued among Filipinos. This authority however poses a threat to the fundamental principles of learner-centred education as it arguably perpetuates ‘teacher-centered’ instruction and obstructs positive student-teacher relationships which are necessary for student learning. This problematic role of teacher authority is examined in this study by investigating what constitutes good pedagogy in one class within a rural school in the Philippines. With this research problem, this study used ethnographic research approach to examine what students and teachers understand about ‘classroom authority’ and its perceived value in good pedagogy within a specific and cultural place. Ethnographic data in this study suggest that teacher authority is central in understanding good teaching within specific classroom contexts as this cultural valuing of teachers as ‘authorities’ may support student engagement and foster student-teacher relationships which are built on ‘academic care’. This ‘academic care’ could offer a practice which bridges the presumed binary between teacher-centered and learner-centered pedagogies.
{"title":"Tough Teachers Actually Care: An Ethnographic Look into the ‘Problematic’ Role of Teachers as Figures of Authority Under Learner-Centered Education","authors":"Julie del Valle","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.2","url":null,"abstract":"Teacher authority is culturally valued among Filipinos. This authority however poses a threat to the fundamental principles of learner-centred education as it arguably perpetuates ‘teacher-centered’ instruction and obstructs positive student-teacher relationships which are necessary for student learning. This problematic role of teacher authority is examined in this study by investigating what constitutes good pedagogy in one class within a rural school in the Philippines. With this research problem, this study used ethnographic research approach to examine what students and teachers understand about ‘classroom authority’ and its perceived value in good pedagogy within a specific and cultural place. Ethnographic data in this study suggest that teacher authority is central in understanding good teaching within specific classroom contexts as this cultural valuing of teachers as ‘authorities’ may support student engagement and foster student-teacher relationships which are built on ‘academic care’. This ‘academic care’ could offer a practice which bridges the presumed binary between teacher-centered and learner-centered pedagogies.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85473430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.1
J. Milinga, Ezelina Kibonde, V. Mallya, M. Mwakifuna
Recent developments of higher teacher education in Tanzania have witnessed high student enrolments necessitating change of an emphasis from individual assessment to group-based assessment practices. In this context, informed by the constructivist philosophical perspective, this article reports on the pre-service teachers’ voices regarding the prevalence, impacts and counteractive strategies of social loafing. The pre-service teachers are drawn from one higher education institution in Tanzania that serves as a case study. It draws on qualitative data collected from a sample of purposively selected undergraduate pre-service teachers. The study found social loafing tendencies to be commonplace and with far-reaching consequences amongst students as they engaged in group-based assessment tasks, hence calling for measures to redress them. Addressing social loafing in higher teacher education is crucial to avoid compromising the quality of assessment practices in the contexts of ever-rising student enrolments in many lower income countries
{"title":"Addressing the Social Loafing Problem in Assessment Practices from the Perspectives of Tanzania’s Pre-service Teachers","authors":"J. Milinga, Ezelina Kibonde, V. Mallya, M. Mwakifuna","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n6.1","url":null,"abstract":"Recent developments of higher teacher education in Tanzania have witnessed high student enrolments necessitating change of an emphasis from individual assessment to group-based assessment practices. In this context, informed by the constructivist philosophical perspective, this article reports on the pre-service teachers’ voices regarding the prevalence, impacts and counteractive strategies of social loafing. The pre-service teachers are drawn from one higher education institution in Tanzania that serves as a case study. It draws on qualitative data collected from a sample of purposively selected undergraduate pre-service teachers. The study found social loafing tendencies to be commonplace and with far-reaching consequences amongst students as they engaged in group-based assessment tasks, hence calling for measures to redress them. Addressing social loafing in higher teacher education is crucial to avoid compromising the quality of assessment practices in the contexts of ever-rising student enrolments in many lower income countries","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82905349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.3
Kassahun Weldemariam
The dominant sustainability ethos and discourse within early childhood education pursue a normative ontological and epistemological direction aimed at empowering children’s agency and thus, building certain predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills. Likewise, mainstream early childhood teacher education programmes strive to build early childhood pre-service teachers’ sustainability knowledge and skills, especially to enhance their capacity to be transformative agents and motivators for change to engage children with sustainability challenges. In this conceptual article, drawing on posthuman concepts, I highlight the limits of such orthodox assumptions in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) teacher education and invite broader ontological and epistemic possibilities. I interrogate the human-centric assumptions that unintentionally perpetuate the deep-rooted binary thinking that separates humans from non-humans and other species. In doing so, I offer an expanded understanding of the underlying ontological and epistemic assumptions within teacher education for ECEfS. I conclude by indicating how posthuman theories serve as an impetus for epistemological and ontological multiplicities in early childhood teacher education for sustainability.
{"title":"Broadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability","authors":"Kassahun Weldemariam","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.3","url":null,"abstract":"The dominant sustainability ethos and discourse within early childhood education pursue a normative ontological and epistemological direction aimed at empowering children’s agency and thus, building certain predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills. Likewise, mainstream early childhood teacher education programmes strive to build early childhood pre-service teachers’ sustainability knowledge and skills, especially to enhance their capacity to be transformative agents and motivators for change to engage children with sustainability challenges. In this conceptual article, drawing on posthuman concepts, I highlight the limits of such orthodox assumptions in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) teacher education and invite broader ontological and epistemic possibilities. I interrogate the human-centric assumptions that unintentionally perpetuate the deep-rooted binary thinking that separates humans from non-humans and other species. In doing so, I offer an expanded understanding of the underlying ontological and epistemic assumptions within teacher education for ECEfS. I conclude by indicating how posthuman theories serve as an impetus for epistemological and ontological multiplicities in early childhood teacher education for sustainability.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77167760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.1
N. Evans, Debra Harwood, Anna Furu, Şule Alici
This editorial essay introduces a special issue on education for sustainability, early childhood education and initial teacher education. We adopt a duoethnographic approach to first provide an overview of the issues, gaps, tensions and challenges in past and current trends in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) in initial teacher education (ITE). Then, from our perspectives as four teacher educators located in disparate regions of the world: Finland, Turkiye, Canada, and Australia, we invite readers into our own stories as a starting place to explore the papers within the special issue. Through this dynamic interplay of four critically questioning minds and five papers, we aim to transform, create, and expand understanding of the interplay between ECEfS and ITE. We acknowledge that readers will derive their own understandings and responses from the papers, hence, our interpretations are not prescriptive, but rather aim to provoke further contributions to an emerging and developing field.
{"title":"Challenges in Reorienting Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education: Transforming, Creating and Expanding","authors":"N. Evans, Debra Harwood, Anna Furu, Şule Alici","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.1","url":null,"abstract":"This editorial essay introduces a special issue on education for sustainability, early childhood education and initial teacher education. We adopt a duoethnographic approach to first provide an overview of the issues, gaps, tensions and challenges in past and current trends in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) in initial teacher education (ITE). Then, from our perspectives as four teacher educators located in disparate regions of the world: Finland, Turkiye, Canada, and Australia, we invite readers into our own stories as a starting place to explore the papers within the special issue. Through this dynamic interplay of four critically questioning minds and five papers, we aim to transform, create, and expand understanding of the interplay between ECEfS and ITE. We acknowledge that readers will derive their own understandings and responses from the papers, hence, our interpretations are not prescriptive, but rather aim to provoke further contributions to an emerging and developing field.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76450718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.4
Jane Spiteri
Early childhood teachers’ environmental perceptions can influence young children’s learning about environmental issues. Yet, to date, there is minimal research focusing on the perceptions of environmental sustainability held by early childhood teachers. This qualitative phenomenographic study collected data via individual semi-structured interviews with five early childhood teachers and one head teacher, in Malta. Preliminary findings revealed that the participants perceived environmental sustainability in terms of environmental concerns; environmental responsibility; and environmental protection. A mismatch between the participants’ environmental concerns and their pro-environmental behaviour emerged. The data also show that any environmental activities at school were done so uncritically. These findings hold importance for the reorientation of in-service and pre-service early childhood teacher education programs towards sustainability to ensure that systems thinking around critical environmental issues are introduced in the early years by addressing gaps in knowledge and supporting educators' development at the earliest stage (i.e., pre-service).
{"title":"Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions of Environmental Sustainability: A Phenomenographic Investigation","authors":"Jane Spiteri","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.4","url":null,"abstract":"Early childhood teachers’ environmental perceptions can influence young children’s learning about environmental issues. Yet, to date, there is minimal research focusing on the perceptions of environmental sustainability held by early childhood teachers. This qualitative phenomenographic study collected data via individual semi-structured interviews with five early childhood teachers and one head teacher, in Malta. Preliminary findings revealed that the participants perceived environmental sustainability in terms of environmental concerns; environmental responsibility; and environmental protection. A mismatch between the participants’ environmental concerns and their pro-environmental behaviour emerged. The data also show that any environmental activities at school were done so uncritically. These findings hold importance for the reorientation of in-service and pre-service early childhood teacher education programs towards sustainability to ensure that systems thinking around critical environmental issues are introduced in the early years by addressing gaps in knowledge and supporting educators' development at the earliest stage (i.e., pre-service).","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73138827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.6
Alex Berry
In a small village in the Ecuadorian Andes called Racar, plastics are intimately woven into social and ecological structures. These entanglements move beyond human control and generate toxic dependencies between humans, plastics, and others. This requires a pedagogical shift in how early childhood educators understand and respond to plastics. Drawing on field research with educators in Racar, this paper attempts to interrupt human-centric discourses of the child as separate from Andean ecologies and resituates childhoods as differentially embedded in complex place relations.
{"title":"Weaving Child-Plastic Relations with Early Childhood Educators in the Ecuadorian Andes","authors":"Alex Berry","doi":"10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.6","url":null,"abstract":"In a small village in the Ecuadorian Andes called Racar, plastics are intimately woven into social and ecological structures. These entanglements move beyond human control and generate toxic dependencies between humans, plastics, and others. This requires a pedagogical shift in how early childhood educators understand and respond to plastics. Drawing on field research with educators in Racar, this paper attempts to interrupt human-centric discourses of the child as separate from Andean ecologies and resituates childhoods as differentially embedded in complex place relations.","PeriodicalId":47550,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Teacher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82376547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}