Introduction
This text has explored the diverse ways that children think and learn, emphasizing the importance of viewing these processes through a relativistic lens.
My aim has not been to catalogue all cultures but rather to ensure that culture is not erased in our approach. It underscores the fact that there is no single “best” way to support children’s learning.
All tools — whether a book, an abacus, an assessment checklist, or even a pedagogical model — have cultural origins. We should not view them as neutral or objective, or even “good” or “bad” for that matter. Rather, we should strive to inform our practice with knowledge that grows daily through interactions with cultures through such tools and through the ever-central relationships we build with children, families, and colleagues with cultural perspectives that may be different from our own.
In this chapter, I focus on pedagogical models actively used in early childhood education and primary education in Ontario. They are reflected in our provincial guidelines and are taught in our schools of education, including in early childhood studies at TMU.
Some scholars of pedagogy have raised critiques of some of these models. I am not a scholar of pedagogy and lack formal knowledge in pedagogical models, so my perspective is restricted to cultural perspectives that I see embedded in the models and how they view thinking.
All pedagogy is culturally situated, so in this chapter, I wish to explore the cultural links and applications I have encountered in my own collaborations with RECEs, anthropologists, or beyond to represent voices outside of my own work. In this chapter, you will hear within-culture voices in the form of videos that share insights on childhood, childcare, and education that relate very strongly to how we live and what we are learning in all of educator training, which is a formal component of the ECS program at TMU.
This chapter is an opportunity to make links. Like you, I am a student of both pedagogy and culture, so the learning is part of a larger and ongoing conversation. I look forward to what you will bring to it!
Before we proceed, let’s take a moment to reflect and look back.
Reflection Journal
Re-read your answer to Reflection 2.3 when you were asked to provide three values you would bring to practice to support children’s thinking and learning.
Do you have the same three values, or have they changed? What are they now?
Explain, in a few sentences, why they are the same or different, with a reflection back on your learning in the course.
A note on decolonization:
If we in the West wish to decolonize education, we will have difficulty doing so if most of the minds coming to the task are still Western.
My mind has shifted in unchangeable ways from seeing early learning practice in different cultures outside of the Western world. Yet, more Western pedagogies continue to emerge — many of which will even state that they are post-colonial. But the deep cultural experience of being taken over by a Western country that devalued your traditions, values, and language is still there, and one that Westerners (such as myself) do not have access to.
Thus, we must not purport to have the best theoretical orientation around childhood and learning for children. The more we reflect in our heads about models and theories, the less relevant they become. The more we look for “best,” the farther removed we are from people’s lived experiences.
So, what is my vision of how to engage around the topic of children’s thinking and learning?
It is to listen. Listen widely, listen broadly, and be wary — very wary — of anyone who has the answers or rejects others’ approaches because it is in dialogue and openness that we can work towards early learning approaches that truly respect diversity.
This may mean that we move away from models entirely; if I have any bias at all, this is precisely it. Just as I opened the book by stating my agnostic attitude toward theory, I, too, have such an attitude toward pedagogical models.
