Making Space for Intersecting Worldviews in Teacher Education Programs in Canada, Namibia, and Colombia

This presentation draws upon the findings in a study of early childhood teacher education (ECTE) programs in three social contexts: a workplace-embedded program for immigrant/refugee educators in Canada, a university-based ECTE program in Namibia, and a partnership between a Colombian Misak indigenous community and a local university to deliver community-based courses for educators. Framed by critical pedagogy, the study considered the extent to which teacher educators and their students adhered to aspects of the dominant Euro-American global view, as reflected in their country’s ECE policy and practice, or integrated that knowledge with indigenous views stemming from their home cultures. The study used ethnographic methods to undertake fieldwork in teacher education classrooms and early childhood programs at the three sites. Qualitative data were collected in the form of documents, field notes, semi-structured interviews, focus groups/meetings, emails, and informal conversations. The findings illumine various tensions between the local understandings and global ideas, such as understandings of early socialization, curriculum content, pedagogical approaches and tools, and language.