Reading Tyrone Howard’s article “Capitalizing on Culture: Engaging Young Learners in Diverse Classrooms,” I was struck by his assertion that “it is vital for early childhood educators to develop a firm grasp of how students’ cultural capital influences the ways students think, speak, process, and make meaning of school situations and circumstances.” This statement brought to mind a teacher preparation program I attended in the late ’60s, where we were specifically trained and expected to become teacher ethnographers.

The concept of teacher as ethnographer has its roots in the critical pedagogy movement. For more than five decades, this movement has claimed that the key to a successful multicultural classroom is a teacher who engages in self-reflection while getting to know children as individuals whose cultural capital emanates from the context of their social, cultural, political, and economic circumstances (Freire 1968; hooks 1989; Gay & Kirkland 2003).

Ethnographers can take two different perspectives: outsider or insider. When taking the outsider perspective (which is referred to as etic), the ethnographer seeks to be an impartial observer; when taking the insider perspective (which is referred to as emic), the ethnographer seeks to understand the meaning and beliefs behind local customs. The teacher-training program that I participated in took the insider approach, including the expectation that teachers would live in the communities where they taught.

An overarching goal of the teacher-training program was to develop a positive view of the rich cultural capital and individual agency that children of color, including those from under-resourced communities, bring to the teaching and learning enterprise. Subsumed in this goal was the belief that teachers’ knowledge of self (their own cultural capital) would enable them to invest themselves affectively and effectively in efforts to improve children’s achievement.

Investment of self refers to teaching in a way that ensures that high-quality learning experiences occur on a daily basis. Investment of self refers to focusing on developing caring relationships with children, modeling enthusiasm and persistence, and exhibiting special care in personal interactions with each child (Sutherland, Lee, & Trapp-Dukes 1989).

The preparation program’s conceptual framework regarding teacher as ethnographer was organized around four essential questions:

1. How do race, class, and gender intersect to create oppressive conditions in society?

2. How do schools serve to reproduce social inequality?

3. How can teachers and students resist oppression?

4. How can teachers and students improve students’ social and academic trajectories?

Fast-forward to 2018. It is sad but not surprising that these same questions from the late ’60s still have agency. And yet, there is reason for hope. Substantial progress has been made in understanding the causes of achievement gaps and the most effective means of addressing them. For young children of color, the achievement gap is real; it starts early, it is persistent, and it is reversible.

As the national debate rages on regarding the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of an excellent early childhood professional, perhaps it would be worthwhile to explore the notion of teacher as ethnographer: What teacher cultural capital is needed for reducing the achievement gap? What would that look like in the context of a 21st century urban school?

A good starting point would be what Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, referred to as the “image of the child” (1994). He stated that the teacher’s image of the child is where teaching begins. Therefore, believing in the power of the child as a capable, competent, resourceful learner is the first dimension of the cultural capital that the early childhood professional should bring to the teaching and learning process. This vision requires the capacity to see a child not by the skin color, gender, disability, surname, zip code, or home language, but rather by the promise and possibilities that reside within each child’s hopes, dreams, aspirations, and unrealized potential.

The second dimension of the teacher’s cultural capital is the capacity to understand the importance of quality relationships: the ability to establish authentic relationships by taking a personal interest in each of the children and conveying to them that they are valued and respected for their cultural agency and that their experiences outside of the classroom are equally as important as their experiences inside the classroom.

The third dimension of the teacher’s cultural capital is the capacity to understand the importance of quality conversations: the ability to engage children in meaningful, reciprocal conversations with an appropriate balance of back-and-forth dialogue that models classroom discourse, deepens concept development, builds vocabulary, and promotes accountable talk (Resnick 1999).

The fourth dimension of the teacher’s cultural capital is the capacity to understand the quality of experiences: the ability to design and implement a dynamic, robust learning program that is rich in print and conversations that are intellectually stimulating; and where there is a wide range of hands-on, minds-on learning opportunities that build the knowledge and skills that lead to success in school and in life.

The concept of teacher as ethnographer and the four dimensions of teacher cultural capital could serve as key strategies toward improving the social and academic outcomes for children of color. They could also serve as a point of reference as we consider options for developing 21st century early childhood professionals.

References

Freire, P. 1968. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury.

Gay, G., & K. Kirkland. 2003. “Developing Cultural Critical Consciousness and Self-Reflection in Preservice Teacher Education.” Theory into Practice 42 (3): 181–87.

hooks, b. 1989. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Toronto: Between the Lines.

Malaguzzi, L. 1994. “Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching Begins.” Trans. and adapted by B. Rankin, L. Morrow, & L. Gandini. From a seminar in Reggio Emilia, Italy, June 1993. www.reggioalliance.org/downloads/malaguzzi:ccie:1994.pdf.

Resnick, L.B. 1999. “Making America Smarter: A Century’s Assumptions About Innate Ability Give Way to a Belief in the Power of Effort.” Commentary. Education Week, June 16, 38–40.

Sutherland, I.R., M.W. Lee, & R. Trapp-Dukes. 1989. “Teachers’ Social Capital: Giving of Oneself.” Early Child Development and Care 53 (1): 29–35.