Promoting Equity in Early Childhood Education – A Personal and Professional Journey

Promoting Equity in Early Childhood Education – A Personal and Professional Journey

Personal statement

My decision to pursue a doctorate in early childhood education came from an intrinsic heart desire to make a positive difference in children’s lives, fight discrimination in education, and encourage diversity in early learning. I believe that the vital child-related voluntary activities I have partaken in and the success I have enjoyed during my master’s and undergraduate studies, such as engagement in research work and continued informal research in early childhood, have given me a solid foundation for my success. I have had a high affinity for kids and an overall understanding of the considerable significance of early childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior. It is also my passion to continue studying child-centered psychology because I need to understand better whether discrimination triggers various emotional, psychological, and social reactions in young learners, such as repeatedly throwing objects on the floor. Therefore, I desire to become a leader in early childhood education so I can impact, mentor, educate, advocate for necessary changes or reforms, and provide solutions to specific problems within early childhood education.

Describe a significant Problem of Practice relevant to your current context of professional practice.

The one significant problem of practice relevant to my current context of professional practice is discrimination and prejudice within the early childhood learning system. For example, I once conducted a vocabulary assessment where children were shown household materials such as a lawn mower, which is very common when one lives in a middle-class house. However, my 3-year-old learners living in an apartment building or from less privileged families were unfamiliar with the material. Consequently, the learners received a lower score, but their vocabulary was exceptional, full of terminologies reflecting household objects in their lived experiences. From this scenario, I think that the early childhood education system and curriculum are discriminative from its structure, assessments, standard behaviors, and standardized tests, as they were all developed with middle-class white kids in mind.

Why is this problem important?

The problem stated above is vital because, to date, we have not managed to fight injustice in education. This is because everything about early childhood education, from the standard tests, curriculum, and assessments, is discriminative (Findling et al., 2019). First, there is personal racism and bias. There is systematic racism that exists within the processes and structures that have come into place over time. This has allowed one group a greater opportunity to succeed than other groups. Therefore, the assessments or tests in early childhood education need to be revised to reflect the learner’s experiences. This is because the test outcomes can influence how parents, educators, and children view their potential and the probability of success.

Discuss the potential underlying causes.

The potential underlying causes of the problem of discrimination are the superiority complex and the unreadiness or inflexibility to change or reform the educational curriculum, assessments, and systems of early childhood learning. As stated earlier, early childhood education is still battling discrimination and bias. It is because several early childhood education and care elements were designed with middle-class white children in mind. The current curriculum, the standard of behavior being taught, and the assessments or evaluations we use all might have been developed with middle-class white children in mind. There has been reluctance and unwillingness for educational leaders to make reformations and changes so that all aspects of early learning fit all learners’ not just middle-class white children. Secondly, the superiority complex in white society has continued discrimination within early childhood education (Davidson & Fouts, 2022). Some white Americans believe they are the superior race and of a higher class. Therefore, their children must get a standard education higher than other races, which has led to continued discrimination in early learning.

Discuss the ways in which this problem aligns with your chosen area of specialization.

Discrimination and bias problems align with my chosen area of specialization, early childhood psychology research. My primary aim is to see and determine how this rooted discrimination within the early childhood system results in psychological issues among early learners because institutions have personal and systematic biases. Secondly, the problem aligns with my chosen specialization because it emphasizes the need for early childhood leaders or leadership to raise, educate, and work on transforming early childhood learning to be diversified and unbiased to encourage learners’ physical, psychological, emotional, and social development. Shonkoff, Slopen & Williams (2021) affirm that discrimination against young learners is a risk factor for poor mental health because young learners who experience discrimination negatively affect their academic trajectories and personal development and restrain their emotional well-being.

 References

Davidson, K., & Fouts, H. N. (2022). Fostering children’s racialized identities in early childhood education. Early Years, 1-16.

Findling, M. G., Casey, L. S., Fryberg, S. A., Hafner, S., Blendon, R. J., Benson, J. M., & Miller, C. (2019). Discrimination in the United States: experiences of Native Americans. Health Services Research, 54, 1431-1441.

Shonkoff, J. P., Slopen, N., & Williams, D. R. (2021). Early childhood adversity, toxic stress, and the impacts of racism on the foundations of health. Annual Review of Public Health, 42, 115-134.

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Promoting Equity in Early Childhood Education

I need a personal statement to start the beginning of the paper, then answer the following:
-Describe a significant Problem of Practice relevant to your current context of professional practice.
– Why is this problem important?
– Discuss the potential underlying causes.
– Discuss the ways in which this problem aligns with your chosen area of specialization.