These aren’t the kids I signed up for: the lived experience of general education, early childhood preservice teachers in classrooms for children with special needs

Counteracting Dysconscious Racism and Ableism Through Fieldwork: Applying DisCrit Classroom Ecology in Early Childhood Personnel Preparation

“…We applied DisCrit Classroom Ecology (Annamma & Morrison, 2018a) in early childhood contexts, offering a means to counteract dysconscious racism and ableism through personnel preparation. More research is needed to better understand effective fieldwork for preservice early educators (Hanline, 2010; Stites et al, 2020), as well as further investigate how teacher educators can draw on DisCrit in program and course design (Migliarini & Annamma, 2020). Early childhood personnel preparation programs and teacher educators must use a strong conceptual framework to establish quality fieldwork experiences (Macy et al, 2009).…”

“…While coursework is critical to such learning, fieldwork deepens personnel preparation and is recognized for its potential to prepare future educators for diverse classrooms (Nagro & deBettencourt, 2017; Stites et al, 2020). We broadly define fieldwork as applied learning opportunities for preservice early educators set in real preschools.…”

“…For example, preservice educators often struggle to acknowledge ways in which racism continues to be present in educational settings and institutional structures (Haviland, 2008). Early educators’ attitudes play an essential role in the implementation of inclusive practices (Barton & Smith, 2015; Stites et al, 2020), and researchers have found that preservice educators’ beliefs about the value and feasibility of inclusive education are mediated by their own schooling experiences (Beneke et al, 2020). Furthermore, beliefs and attitudes are context-dependent; preservice educators may indicate that they have more progressive views but still demonstrate hesitation when confronted with instances of racism (Garrett & Segall, 2013).…”

“…Despite the critical nature of fieldwork, researchers have also identified understanding the impact and structural features of effective fieldwork as a gap in special education (Brownell et al, 2020; Nagro & deBettencourt, 2017) and early childhood personnel preparation research (Hanline, 2010; Macy et al, 2009; Stites et al, 2020). In addition to methodological challenges to investigating fieldwork, researchers have identified barriers to actualizing innovative fieldwork approaches.…”

“…Thus, preservice early educators often experience disconnects between coursework and the realities of schools, such as dissonance between a preparation program’s child-centered philosophy and fieldwork sites that emphasized teacher-led direct instruction and behavioral control (Recchia & Puig, 2011). However, when coupled with assignments and discussions that facilitate engagement with disconnects, these experiences can deepen early educators’ learning (Recchia & Puig, 2011; Stites et al, 2020).…”