Conforming to reform: Teaching pre-kindergarten in a neoliberal early education system

Policymakers’ neoliberal education reforms have altered the landscape of publicly funded early education in the United States and across the globe. Practically speaking, these reforms expect early childhood teachers to prepare their students for success in elementary school and later life by providi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of early childhood research : ECR 2015-10, Vol.13 (3), p.236-251
Main Author: Brown, Christopher P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Case Studies
Cultural Background
Culturally Relevant Education
Educational Change
Educational Practices
Governance
High Stakes Tests
Neoliberalism
Preschool Education
Preschool Teachers
Qualitative Research
School Districts
School Readiness
Student Diversity
Student Needs
Teacher Attitudes
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Policymakers’ neoliberal education reforms have altered the landscape of publicly funded early education in the United States and across the globe. Practically speaking, these reforms expect early childhood teachers to prepare their students for success in elementary school and later life by providing them with a specific set of knowledge and skills. This creates a new set of challenges for early educators who strive to prepare their culturally and linguistically diverse students for school in a manner that addresses their individual, cultural, and sociopolitical needs. The study discussed in this article set out to examine how teachers who were identified as meeting their students’ various needs prepared them for success in elementary school. In doing so, it became apparent that these teachers struggled to define their practices as well as the construct of effective teaching in ways that went beyond policymakers’ neoliberal conception of the early education process. This article examines this tension and considers what is possible for teachers and the field of publicly funded early education in these highly structured neoliberal systems of governance.
ISSN:1476-718X
1741-2927
DOI:10.1177/1476718X14538602