Examining the Challenges Early Childhood Teacher Candidates Face in Figuring Their Roles as Early Educators
Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Vol. 31, No. 4, pages 286-306. (2010).
Federal, state, and local policy makers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms are transforming the early childhood teacher education process. These reforms affect how early education teacher candidates figure their role as teachers.
The current paper examines how three early childhood teacher candidates' figured conceptions of themselves as early educators evolve in high-stakes classrooms and teacher education environments.
The article also explores how these candidates see themselves addressing these reforms in their own classrooms.
The study details the impact reforms have on preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching, and it also provides a chance for early childhood teacher educators to consider strategies they might employ to assist their candidates in developing a figured conception of teaching that addresses these reforms in an developmentally appropriate manner.