In this paper, I address a perceived gap in the lifelong learning literature. There is very little research which addresses how learning should be construed, when individuals transition across a longitudinal span of their working life. This transition which could be viewed as a process of "becoming somebody", often oversimplifies the…

The racial mismatch between teachers and students has become a salient issue in efforts to counter the historical failure of children of Color in American (pre)schools. To address this mismatch, scholars have argued for the critical need to recruit and retain teachers of Color. In this article, we propose that to successfully prepare teachers of…

School can be inhospitable for any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) parents with children in pre-K-12 classrooms (Kosciw & Diaz, 2008). Some LGBTQ parents feel they must be silent and discreet so their children will not endure any discrimination at school (Fakhrid-Deen & COLAGE, 2010). Some reasons for this silence…

Teacher education programs in the US, recognizing the mismatch that exists in preschool provision between mostly white teachers and a very diverse intake of young children, have begun to explore ways of raising racial awareness among pre-service teachers, with the aim of improving non-white children's classroom experiences and outcomes. This paper…

This article analyses how the teaching profession takes shape when policy demands on increased documentation in preschool is interpreted and enacted by teachers. The profession and professional identities take shape in the tension between two forms of professionalism: occupational professionalism, based on collegial authority, and organizational…

The current study investigated the influence of a play-based curriculum on the development of pretend play skills and oral language in children attending their first year of formal schooling. In this quasi-experimental design, two groups of children were followed longitudinally across the first 6 months of their first year at school. The children…

Drawing on the life histories of nine women who were trained at Froebel College in the 1950s and 1960s, this paper examines the women's narratives as Froebelian student teachers and explores their remembered constructions of their experiences. Using an analytical framework underpinned by theories of identity and language their stories are shown to…

This paper is centered around 106 tellings of personal experiences during shared readings of picture books in kindergarten classrooms. It is shown that teachers orient to different interactional storytelling competences of their pupils. Teachers are found to contribute to pupils' tellings by inviting them, by showing recipiency, by asking…

Researchers have suggested that a paucity of research exists on refugee youth in early childhood education settings. Arguing that children's stories provide educators a valuable resource for understanding the meaning children make of initial cross-cultural experiences, this article presents a narrative inquiry into the stories and artwork of three…

Since its birth in the 1960s in Latin America, testimonio has emerged as a genre of literature that gives a "voice to the voiceless" and acts as a medium for marginalized individuals to communicate their experiences. Described as a form of resistance literature, it has been defined as "an authentic narrative, told by a witness who…

The narrative of one ethnic minority early childhood student teacher tells of her journey as she (re)constructs her identities as a Cook Island woman and as a pre-service teacher, during a teacher education course in New Zealand. This story conveys her experiences of learning across different pedagogical paradigms. Findings show that teacher…

This study addresses the role of artistic practice as it exists in the lives of young children. Viewing children as unified learners (Dewey, 1902; Franklin, 1994), the role of artistic practice is reconceptualized as a tool which children employ fluidly throughout their daily experiences, rather than as belonging to a discreet subject. The…

Case studies provide numerous opportunities for professional development and can be particularly helpful in transdiciplinary training. This article offers suggestions for how to use the "Zero to Three" Journal's "Stories From the Field" series of articles across a variety of settings and roles such as clinical practice, program…

Inspired by Joshua Fishman's lifetime dedication to the revitalisation of minority languages, especially Yiddish, this paper presents my personal story of the loss of the Maori language in my family in New Zealand/Aotearoa and our attempts to reverse this decline over several generations. The paper includes a description of several policy reforms…

Communication is a multidimensional process. No matter what the field of the interaction is, there is always a crucial point in terms of the negotiation of social roles. This becomes more apparent in the field of education where institutional norms influence not only the children's behaviour, but at the same time the shaping of their…