Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 32, Issue 4, 2011, p. 355-366
The goal of this paper is to propose performance as a creative instructional strategy to convey complex competencies related to understanding and working effectively with families in early childhood education.
Performance derives from performance ethnography, and its application enables students and in-service participants to hear the voices of families as well as to experience them through performance.
The authors describe the advantages and disadvantages of performance as an approach to professional development and illustrates the development and application of an example performance.
Authors also discuss how faculty, researchers, and those responsible for professional development can use performance to bridge the gap between research and practice and to move early childhood educators towards greater family-centered competencies when serving diverse families and children.