Exploring the role of Black feminist thought in pre-service early childhood education: On the possibilities of embedded transformative change

Abstract

As a Black feminist scholar who teaches in an early childhood studies program, the author has witnessed how dominant theories and methods used for pre-service early childhood education and care disconnect students from their lived experiences. The detachment of social location in theoretical text, and particularly in developmental discourse, is not isolated to the field; it is instead a result of the fragmentation of knowledge, which is central in the modern colonial project. The author explores what the possibilities are for Black feminist scholarship in pre-service early childhood education and care while unpacking the many racial and intersecting injustices in the field. The dominant research and pedagogy practices in early childhood education and care have limitations, with omissions of the nuances of the critical engagement of students, families and community more broadly through lived experience. When assumptions of detached and ‘objective’ knowledge are centred, then ideas that challenge norms and the status quo are omitted or peripheralized, when they are included. The article explores the possibilities of what the author calls ‘embedded transformative change’ – a change that is central to pedagogy and research in the field of early childhood education and care as opposed to being placed at the margins. Through embedded transformative change, members of pre-service early childhood education and care programs can think of themselves as active agents in change and liberation.

Unpacking power: The role of critical reflection in preschool internship

“…To address this concern, we plan to engage teacher candidates in critical selfreflection and more explicitly model our own criticality when considering the privileges and constraints that our identities and positionalities play in teaching and learning, as well as take up the wisdom of scholars, teachers, and activists who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. Sealey-Ruiz's (2021, 2022) "archeology of the self" is a powerful framework that engages teachers in unpacking how their experiences have come to shape their beliefs. The more that we understand these influences, the more able we are to understand how, for white people, "you have been raised to be racist in this country, and if you are a person of color you may have internalized racism" (Sealey-Ruiz, 2022).…”

“…Black feminist perspectives provide a language for understanding systems of hierarchy and oppression, birthed from the embodied, intergenerational knowledges and practices of Black women engaged in cultural and communal thriving (Cooper, 2009;Salazar Pérez, 2017). We draw on Patricia Hill Collins' (2000) Black feminist thought, which has been taken up by teacher educators who are interested in increasing awareness of power dynamics (Salazar Pérez et al, 2016;Salazar Pérez and Saavedra, 2017), understanding the lived experiences of in-service teachers (Black, 2018), and developing opportunities for embedded transformation (Brady, 2022).…”