This inquiry is about genuine practice in Early Childhood Education and the
value of trusting relationships among child care practitioners as they converse about
their practice. This participatory research project outlines the processes and describes
the meaning that sustained, stmctured conversation about genuine practice had on four
Vancouver area child care practitioners over a six month period.
Conversation was used as both a method of collecting data and a process to
undertake to improve practice. Conversation provided us with a way to reconstruct
and reinterpret our experiences, improve our understanding of ourselves as teachers
and our understanding of children, and restructure our personal knowledge of teaching
and children.
The participants understood being genuine as "being me" and "being
connected" to children and themselves. They also spoke of it as acts of resistance
against ways of being that can oppress children. I explain why genuine practice is an
important concept for educators to discuss and should be used to supplement the
current focus on curriculum planning in child care training.
Feniinist epistemology, curriculum theory and autobiography have influenced
this work. It is also informed by my 20 years of child care practice. This research stems
from my desire to know my role as teacher better and to add to the growing
knowledge about the value of conversation and genuine practice.
Sustained, structured conversation can be a valuable tool for professional
development. It can help practitioners become more reflective by providing contexts
where they are able to achieve a sense of trust, and listen well to one another.
Sustained, structured conversation can also support the improvement of practice when
participants refrain from giving advice but ask genuine questions and share stories of
their practice.
The participants reported that they became more reflective in their work with
children as they became reacquainted with their beliefs and values. They showed a
greater propensity toward self-questioning as the conversations advanced. The
participants also reported that the conversations provided emotional support needed
during times of work-related stress and that building relationships outside of the work
place was an important feature of the research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10665 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | McCabe, Kathleen Mary |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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