Situated in School Scripts: Contextual Early Childhood Teaching

Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 25, Issue 2, February 2009. P. 251-258.

The paper presents findings from a qualitative case study of a public Montessori magnet school in the United States. It focuses on two teachers' experiences, identifying how their teaching is situated in school scripts, that is; ways of speaking about teaching and learning within particular school micro-cultures. Those teachers utilized contradicting school scripts for a variety of purposes and to incorporate diverse practices. The paper describes the teachers' experiences of and responses to contradicting scripts. Findings suggest that teaching is contextualized in particular school micro-cultures. Furthermore, the results suggest that school scripts present contradictions that have the potential to be both indoctrinating and transformative forces for teacher preparation and professional growth.