Exploring Socially Just and Contextually Appropriate Professional Development for Early Childhood Teachers Using Qualitative Methodologies

Dear Colleagues,

For this Special Issue, we seek manuscripts that utilize exemplar qualitative methodologies which examine various aspects, nuances and ways for understanding teacher professional development (PD). We argue that PD should be specific to early childhood and the level of expertise of the teachers, as well as addressing current issues around social justice, anti-biases, cultural competence, globalization and inclusivity. It also must be intentional or situated in the cultural context, with the aim of acquiring knowledge, skills and activities that ensure all children’s success in school and life. While PD can be captured and reported using different research methodologies, we select qualitative methodologies because this paradigm allows the researcher(s) or community of teacher researchers to use a wide range of data collection methods and analysis procedures (Gopaldas 2016). Creswell (2009) argues that qualitative research is an effective method for research because it occurs in a natural setting and enables the researcher to develop a level of detail that is attained through in-depth, emic and frequent involvement in the actual lived experiences of the participants or teacher researchers. Thus, exploring PD using various qualitative research designs can lead to a broader and more precise understanding of the topic being studied. Lastly, qualitative studies are used for change or action leading to transformation, which aligns with the social justice theme of the Special Issue.

We seek manuscripts that explore socially just and contextually appropriate professional development for early childhood teachers using qualitative designs such as narrative inquiry, ethnography, collaborative ethnography, grounded theory, action/participatory, case studies, interpretive practices and phenomenology (Creswell et al.2007; Denzin and Lincoln 2005; Moustakas 1994; Lassiter 2005; Strauss and Corbin 1990; Stake 1995).

We are particularly interested in PD research that promotes or examines the following:

• Social justice and equity in early childhood programs;
• The importance of social cultural context, place and history in the education of young children;
• Anti-bias teaching practices in early childhood;
• Working with children from diverse background (racial backgrounds, languages, religions and abilities in one classroom)/superdiversity;
• Global citizenship and cultural competence in early childhood teachers;
• Job-embedded professional development to improve practice;
• Professional learning opportunities that enhance collaboration, interactions and the equity of voice in early childhood programs;
• Early childhood teachers’ ability/skills to support the social emotional and psychological well-being of children.

We look forward to your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Lydiah Nganga
Dr. Samara Madrid Akpovo
Prof. Dr. John Kambutu
Dr. Jamie Sisson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• teachers’ (job-embedded) professional development (PD)
• teachers’ professional learning opportunities
• teachers’ global and cultural competence
• anti-bias teaching practices
• social justice and equity in education
• superdiversity of sociocultural contexts in education
• contextually appropriate teaching approaches
• early childhood programs
• qualitative methodologies/approaches