Reflect on Your History: An Early Childhood Education Teacher Examines Her Biases

Autor/in	Lee, Seungyoun
Titel	Reflect on Your History: An Early Childhood Education Teacher Examines Her Biases
Quelle	In: Multicultural Education, 17 (2010) 4, S. 25-30Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1068-3844
Schlagwörter	Forschungsbericht; Multicultural Education; Early Childhood Education; Teaching Methods; Beliefs; Teacher Attitudes; Cultural Differences; Social Attitudes; Social Bias; Reflective Teaching; Transformative Learning; Interviews; Phenomenology; Teaching Experience; Educational Practices + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Multikulturelle Erziehung; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Belief; Glaube; Lehrerverhalten; Kultureller Unterschied; Social attidude; Soziale Einstellung; Pädagogische Transformation; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Phenomenological psychology; Phänomenologie; Psychologie; Bildungspraxis
Abstract	Diversity does not simply mean differences of race or ethnicity but includes the cultural experiences that children bring to school, including language, beliefs, values, norms, family configuration, socioeconomic status, gender, special needs, home and community backgrounds, and learning styles. Yet while the population of children in schools is becoming more diverse, the demographics of teachers continue to be less diverse, maintaining the prototypes of White, middle class, and female with sociocultural beliefs, expectations, and experiences that differ markedly from the diversity of children in their classrooms. Considering that teachers teach children on the basis of the teachers' beliefs and interpretive frameworks, there is an urgent need for teachers to reflect on multicultural education and to confront their biases and prejudices. Teachers have to reflect on what beliefs and values they have, what personal experiences have figured into their views about themselves, others, and the world, what kind of attitudes, biases, and prejudices they hold about diversity and culture, and the nature of their relationships with others. Since teachers' personal and professional beliefs, values, and knowledge are closely connected to their practice regarding diversity and multicultural education, this study provides the opportunity for an early childhood teacher to critically analyze and reflect on her understanding about the beliefs and teaching on diversity and multicultural education. This study is geared to provide this early childhood teacher with a chance to confront her personal beliefs and biases on diversity issues by reflecting on her multicultural experiences throughout her life. In order to better understand early childhood teachers' multicultural preparation, this study addresses the question: "How does an early childhood teacher's cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes effect her teaching practice?" In this article, the author discusses the research findings. (ERIC).
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Begutachtung	Peer reviewed
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10