How Education Stakeholders Made Sense of School Readiness in and Beyond Kindergarten

Policy Justice Through Critical Qualitative Inquiry: Examining the Issue of School Readiness

“…While I have argued elsewhere about disrupting U.S. policymakers' dominant neoliberal framing of school readiness (e.g., C. P. Brown et al, 2021b), my goal in this piece is to consider how critical qualitative policy research (CQPR) can become an integral part of the policy knowledge being generated and employed to address educational issues (Dumas & Anderson, 2014). I do so because there have been (e.g., Graue et al, 2002) and continue to be a range of critical qualitative studies (e.g., C. P. Brown et al, 2021a) that offer a variety of suggestions for policy change, but, as Cannella (2015) noted, such work does not often lead to "transformation that would increase justice socially" around this issue (p. 22). This is disconcerting because the policy problem of school readiness reflects "a complex set of interconnected interests, phenomena, and challenges" that requires innovative research so that policymakers can create a schooling designed to support and respect children and their families in becoming the human beings they want to be (Dumas & Anderson, 2014, p. 9).…”

“…Doing so ignores the institutional structures and systemic deficits that are "baked" into the neoliberal system of education, and as a result, those children who fall outside the monied, male, White image of the ready child are deemed in deficit (Baldridge, 2014;Pérez, 2019;Valencia, 1997). Such neoliberal policies tend to lead stakeholders to ignoring the immediate needs and hopes of the children, and instead, they center their gaze on the future-whether it be the ability of children to read by first grade or ensuring they are prepared for the academic achievement tests that begin in third grade (C. P. Brown et al, 2021a). By engaging in CQPR, it becomes apparent (e.g., C. P. Brown & Barry, 2021) that this neoliberal monological framing of school readiness, in which "each successive stage of the system is .…”

“…P. Brown et al, 2021b), my goal in this piece is to consider how critical qualitative policy research (CQPR) can become an integral part of the policy knowledge being generated and employed to address educational issues (Dumas & Anderson, 2014). I do so because there have been (e.g., Graue et al, 2002) and continue to be a range of critical qualitative studies (e.g., C. P. Brown et al, 2021a) that offer a variety of suggestions for policy change, but, as Cannella (2015) noted, such work does not often lead to “transformation that would increase justice socially” around this issue (p. 22).…”

Everyday literacy practices: Normalising the school literate child

“…Notwithstanding, framing ECCE as an instrument for school readiness has become a universal feature for literacy practices, both in South Africa and internationally (Brown 2015;Brown, Barry & Ku 2021;Lemphane & Prinsloo 2014;Martin & Ebrahim 2016;Moss 2019;Sims et al 2018). Within the South African context, an example of this is the National Early Learning Development Standards (NELDS), a curriculum related policy initiative which focuses on the educational needs of children from birth-to-4 year of age and contains validated age-specific indicators focusing on what children should know and be able to do within a specific developmental domain (Department of Basic Education 2009).…”

“…As such literacy practices operate as disciplinary technologies measuring and assessing children against the norm of school readiness. Additionally, there are evidence-based arguments that a curriculum that focuses on formal skills in preparation for the next stage of education is misinformed, developmentally inappropriate and potentially damaging (Brown et al 2021;Moss 2019;Neaum 2016).…”