How Education Stakeholders Made Sense of the Types of Learning Experiences Children are and Should be Having in Kindergarten and Why

Beginning to Dismantle the Binaries that Frame the Neoliberal Kindergarten

“…Similar to my other work (e.g., Brown, Barry, Ku, and Englehardt, 2021), I analysed the data that helped produce this article using traditional qualitative analytic methods as defined by Erickson (1986) and others (e.g., Graue & Walsh, 1998). This deductive and inductive process included the uploading of transcribed artifacts, interviews, field notes, and memos to Dedoose, a cross-platform data analysis software, coding the data using Dedoose, and analysing the coded data using the constant-comparative method to develop themes that emerged in relation to my research question (Erickson, 1986;Miles et al, 2014).…”

“…Through examining the findings from a larger exploratory VCME research study (Adair et al, 2018;Brown, 2021;Tobin et al, 2009) that sought to understand how a set of stakeholders in Texas (n=62) and West Virginia (n=26) made sense of the types of learning experiences kindergarteners are and should be having in school and why (Brown, Englehardt, Barry, & Ku, 2019a;Brown, Englehardt, Barry, & Ku, 2019b;Brown, Englehardt, Ku, & Barry 2019c;Brown, Barry, Ku, & Englehardt, 2021), I, in this article, seek to identify and dismantle some of the binaries that frame the changed kindergarten. I do so by examining the following research question: How did education stakeholders in this study appear to use binary logic, which privileges policymaker's neoliberal reforms, to make sense of the changed kindergarten?…”

“…While there appeared to be a desire by these stakeholders for balance in the learning experiences that could provide children with more student-led instruction (Brown, Barry, Ku, & Englehardt, 2021), Ms. Atwell, the principal of the school in my video, noted that finding balance within teachers' instruction is difficult because there is so much pressure on children to perform academically. This principal stated, It's a constant struggle for teachers to balance their instruction because the pressure to perform.…”

“…Another binary that appeared to emerge from these stakeholders' statements about how learning should unfold on a daily basis in the kindergarten classroom (Brown. Englehardt, Barry, & Ku, 2019a;Brown, Barry, Ku, & Englehardt, 2021). For example, Ms. Carter, a parent of a kindergartener in WVSD1, stated, "There needs to be a balance in instructional opportunities where children are taking the lead and adults are supporting them and other experiences where teachers are taking the lead, but the children aren't passive."…”

“…Combined, these administrators, teachers, and parents are framing what it means to be a kindergartener for those who 'have not' through Ball's (2003) notion of double alienation, particularly when viewing their framing of the 'have nots' through the binary of 'teacher-led vs. student-led learning.' In these stakeholders' statements, the students who 'have not' are alienated from being seen as worthy of the learning experiences that many of these stakeholders would like them to have in kindergarten because they have to catch up to policymakers' academic achievement expectations (e.g., Brown, Barry, Ku, & Englehardt, 2021). Thus, most kindergarteners across these two states are or will be viewed as lacking.…”