Early Childhood Education Journal

“It Will Be Hard, But It Will Be Worth the Fight”: Narratives of Preschool Teachers on
Teaching for Social Justice
--Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number: ECEJ-D-21-00332R1

Full Title: “It Will Be Hard, But It Will Be Worth the Fight”: Narratives of Preschool Teachers on
Teaching for Social Justice

Article Type: Original Research

Keywords: culturally relevant pedagogy, social justice, Montessori, early childhood, teachers'
narratives, teachers' beliefs

Abstract: Ladson-Billings (2014) asserts educators often fail to carry out a critical form of
culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) by neglecting the development of sociopolitical
consciousness and attending to limited understandings of “culture.” Using narrative
inquiry, this study explored preschool teachers’ narratives on various factors which
influenced their implementation of CRP with an emphasis on sociopolitical
consciousness development by engaging young children in lessons on racism and
racial justice. Our findings indicate that teachers’ beliefs and commitments, social
justice driven school culture, and a flexible Montessori curriculum contributed to their
implementation of CRP in order to teach for social justice.

Response to Reviewers: Comments from the reviewers:

Reviewer #1: This was a very interesting study. It is a subject that is on everybody's
mind in today's society. It would be interesting to explore generational gaps on social
justice and see how it affects the older preschool teachers as opposed to the younger
preschool teachers’ perspectives.

-Thank you for the suggestion. We will consider this topic for future publication.

Reviewer #2: This article addresses an important area of early childhood education.
The paper is clearly written (although there are a few small errors in the text - see copy
attached). There is a clear overview of the theoretical framework being used and the
context for the study. The literature is relevant to the study. The methodology is
explained clearly.

-Thank you for your insights. We have corrected the errors in the text.

It is not clear why Montessori classrooms were selected, rather than other early
childhood classrooms. There was a comparison made between Montessori and
traditional education. It was not clear if traditional education referred to traditional
elementary school. Early childhood education focuses on students' strengths and
interests, and is individualised so it was not clear why Montessori in particular was
selected as the focus.

-We further explained our project on pp. 6-7 in the revised version.

The description of what happened in the classrooms, based on observations, was fairly
general. The narratives provided richer data. The data reported focused on very
traditional, teacher-directed lessons using books to build students' cultural
consciousness and understandings of racism and social justice. It was not clear
whether the lessons were the only time that teachers addressed issues of social justice
with students, or if it was decided to only focus on this time. It is not clear if the
teachers used other, less teacher-directed approaches, such as teachers intervening in
students interactions and play to point out and talk about racist language and
behaviours, the use of personna dolls to explore issues of racism through narratives
drawing on classroom observations, dramatic play with teachers participating in the
play and having critical discussions with children, creating classroom books using
photographs of the children in the class and so on.

-We intended to provide an overview of how culturally relevant pedagogy was

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 implemented in these classrooms by using several examples gathered from our data.
We moved this part to the Methods section for this reason. We also extended this
section to provide more detail along with the dates the data were gathered.

Reviewer #3: In this paper, the author(s) share preschool teachers' narratives on
various factors that influenced their implementation of CRP, emphasizing sociopolitical
consciousness development by engaging young children in lessons on racism and
racial justice. Since preschool teachers' critical voices and practices about teaching
children race and racism are absent in the literature, this paper's results give us the
preschool teachers' effort to incorporate CRP and social justice into Montessori
Education. I think this study could make an essential contribution to the Early
Childhood Education Journal. However, some methodological and literature issues
need to be addressed before it would be ready for publication.
Literature Review:
1. The author(s) explained the needs of this study very well. But the author(s) needs
to provide more details about culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and why Montessori
education needs to be incorporated with the CRP. Moreover, theoretical background
and the importance of the preschool teachers' responses need to be addressed.
-CRP and its sociopolitical consciousness component along with relevant literature
were discussed in pp. 3-6. We specifically addressed why Montessori education needs
to incorporate CRP on p. 6. We could not further elaborate on this (we actually had to
cut down the size as compared to our original manuscript) due to the space limit.
Method:
1. Page 7, line 8-9: For the participant section, the author(s) mentioned the school
population, but the number of children in these two classrooms and their background
information is needed.
-Addressed on p. 7.
2. Page 7, line 31: "The focal teachers received Montessori training and
credentialing and worked as co-educators who collaborated to create and prepare for
lessons." Did they receive the training from the American Montessori Association, or
did one of the researchers train them?
-Addressed on p. 7.
3. In the method section, there is no information about whether the ethics review
committee approved the study, how the center, teachers, and parents were contacted,
and how/where the interviews were completed.
-Addressed on p. 9.
Data Sources and Analysis
1. Page 8, lines 24-34: The author(s) needs to describe the observation period
broadly. What time of the day did they observe the classrooms? Were these
observations participant observations or non-participant observations?
-Addressed on p. 8.
2. Page 8, line 31: The author(s) wrote about the implementation, but there was no
'process' section about how this implementation was taking place. The implementation
needs to be explained. What kind of activities are used in CRP? Two paragraphs
showed the examples, but I think the process section provides a better understanding
of how the implementation went.
-Addressed on p. 10 in the overview section.
3. Page8, line 41: Typo. The period is missing after "CRP."
-Resolved.
4. Some example items/questions of interviews can be meaningful for the readers.
-Addressed on p. 9.
Findings
1. Page 10, lines 7-14: The authors mentioned the curriculum with the materials.
Some lesson examples could be meaningful for the readers, too.
-We intended to provide an overview of how culturally relevant pedagogy was
implemented in these classrooms by using several examples gathered from our data.
We moved this part to the Methods section for this reason. We also extended this
section to provide more detail along with the dates the data were gathered.

Reviewer #4: There were no examples of dialogue between teachers and students.
The conclusion makes reference to interactions, but these were not discussed in the
findings. The were a few examples of children's language in the teacher's narratives,
but no examples of exchanges between teachers and students. It would have been
useful to see examples of dialogue to show how the teachers explored issues with

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 children, how they challenged children's thinking and how children responded. The
data indicating that some biracial children identified as white and some children made
racist comments was very interesting but was not explored in any detail. There was a
claim that children changed in their language and behaviour but no evidence was
provided. It would be useful to include the relevant data to support this claim. Some
implications for early childhood educators are included

-We intended to provide an overview of how culturally relevant pedagogy was

implemented in these classrooms by using several examples gathered from our data.
We moved this part to the Methods section for this reason. We also extended this
section to provide more detail along with the dates the data were gathered.

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Revised Blinded Manuscript Click here to view linked References

1 Running head: NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 1

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6 “It Will Be Hard, But It Will Be Worth the Fight”:
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8 Narratives of Preschool Teachers on Teaching for Social Justice
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12 Abstract
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14 Ladson-Billings (2014) asserts educators often fail to carry out a critical form of culturally
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17 relevant pedagogy (CRP) by neglecting the development of sociopolitical consciousness and
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19 attending to limited understandings of “culture.” Using narrative inquiry, this study explored
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21 preschool teachers’ narratives on various factors which influenced their implementation of CRP
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24 with an emphasis on sociopolitical consciousness development by engaging young children in
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26 lessons on racism and racial justice. Our findings indicate that teachers’ beliefs and
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29 commitments, social justice driven school culture, and a flexible Montessori curriculum
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31 contributed to their implementation of CRP in order to teach for social justice.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 2
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4 Introduction
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7 In early childhood classrooms, teachers often find bringing in critical conversations
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9 around race and racism (“race talk”) more difficult than “culture talk” because they perceive that
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12 their students are too young to understand issues around racism and other forms of social
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14 injustice (Doucet & Adair, 2013; Husband, 2010; Kelly & Brooks, 2009; Ramsey, 2004). Studies
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17 also indicate that early childhood teachers adopt a colorblind approach, where observers tend not
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19 to ‘see’ racial differences among students (Berman et al., 2017; Boutte et al., 2011; Farago et al.,
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21 2015; Husband, 2012; 2018). Although many teachers hold a misperception of children’s
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24 capacity to understand race and racism, researchers argue that children consciously and
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26 subconsciously develop racial knowledge through socialization as early as three years of age
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29 (Ausdale & Feagin, 2002; Dunham et al., 2013; Ramsey, 2004).
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31 While most studies focus on deficit practices and perceptions of early childhood teachers
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34 on teaching children race and racism, the critical voices and practices of teachers, especially
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36 those who work with preschool children, are largely absent in the literature. The purpose of this
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study is to bridge such a gap by capturing narratives of preschool teachers who implemented
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41 culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) with a specific focus on sociopolitical awareness. The
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43 implementation occurred as part of a larger series of studies and within the context of preschool,
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46 Montessori-infused classrooms within a culturally and linguistically diverse public elementary
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48 school located in a western U.S. urban city.
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51 This study analyzed the narratives of two teachers captured through interviews and
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53 conversations held during classroom visits to understand what factors influenced their
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implementation of CRP in their early childhood Montessori classrooms. The teachers in this
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58 study incorporated dynamic curriculum and instruction to develop sociopolitical consciousness
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 3
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4 among their students, while simultaneously emphasizing academic rigor and building cultural
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7 competence. These educators put effort into critically engaging their preschool students in
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9 conversations on race and racial justice, which are often perceived as too challenging for young
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12 children. Our findings indicate that teachers’ critical consciousness and commitments, social
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14 justice-infused school culture, and elements of Montessori education and curriculum influenced
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17 their implementation of CRP and diversification of existing curricula. In the following, we will
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19 discuss the theoretical framework and literature review that guide this study.
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Theoretical Framework and Literature Review
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24 This study is informed by the theory and practice of Ladson-Billings’s CRP. The
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26 classroom teachers in the study specifically identified their efforts as CRP due to their
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29 commitments to social justice education and the need to develop critical sociopolitical
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31 consciousness while fostering students’ academic excellence as well as cultural competence
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34 development. As researchers, we also identified elements of CRP, as evident in the teachers’
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36 classroom practices through observational data. The theoretical framework of this study is
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grounded in the literature on CRP and Montessori education.
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41 Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
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43 The theory of CRP was conceptualized by Ladson-Billings (1994) and is defined as “a
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46 pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically using
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48 cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp. 16-17). According to Ladson-
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51 Billings (1995), CRP is comprised of three underlying provisions: students’ academic success,
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53 cultural competence, and critical (sociopolitical) consciousness. She argued that in order for CRP
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to be successfully enacted in classrooms, all three tenets must manifest through the students.
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58 Ladson-Billings furthered that teachers must demand, reinforce, and ensure academic excellence
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 4
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4 for all students while supporting and responding to their academic needs. CRP emphasizes
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7 students’ development and maintenance of cultural competence, which is the ability to recognize
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9 and honor their own cultures while learning and being fluent in other cultures (Ladson-Billings,
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12 2014). As the last tenet of CRP, critical consciousness allows students to critically engage the
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14 world and others—questioning and critiquing injustices in society (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
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17 Sociopolitical Consciousness of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
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19 Sociopolitical consciousness (or awareness) is a critical element of CRP (Beauboeuf-
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21 Lafontant, 1999; Durden et al., 2016), which is also a central component of this study. Ladson-
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24 Billings (1995) asserted that “students must develop a broader sociopolitical consciousness that
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26 allows them to critique the cultural norms, values, mores, and institutions that produce and
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29 maintain social inequities” (p. 162). Raising sociopolitical consciousness requires students and
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31 teachers to perceive, criticize, and contest the contradictions and the injustices that persist in the
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34 educational system and are reflective of broad-based issues in society.
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36 However, researchers caution that CRP is often trivialized as a practice of exploring and
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learning cultures while the component of sociopolitical awareness is largely ignored (Durden et
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41 al., 2016; Milner, 2011). Ladson-Billings (2014) argues that educators often fail to carry out a
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43 critical and rigorous form of CRP by neglecting the development of sociopolitical consciousness
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46 and attending solely to “limited and superficial notions to culture” (p. 77). Similarly, studies
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48 illustrate how educators often avoid issues of racial oppression and discrimination while
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51 attending to the celebration of diversity and cultures, especially in early childhood classrooms
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53 (Boutte, 2008; Doucet & Adair, 2013). Placing CRP as the core of our study highlights the
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significance of cultivating critical consciousness and voice among students, early on, over time,
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58 and throughout students’ educational journeys.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 5
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4 Montessori Education
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7 Montessori education emerged in the early 20th century with Dr. Maria Montessori and
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9 her work with children from marginalized and oppressive environments in Rome (O’Donnell,
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12 2007). The North American Montessori Teachers’ Association (n.d.) estimates that there are
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14 approximately 4,500 Montessori schools in the United States and 20,000 worldwide. Montessori
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17 education is mainly known for its attention to multiage classrooms, Montessori-specific
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19 educational materials, student-centered approach, independent emphasis, uninterrupted work
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21 time, guided-choice of work activities, collaboration, and teacher training (Lillard & Else-Quest,
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24 2006).
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26 A significant difference between Montessori and traditional education is that Montessori
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29 education is designed for teachers to spend a significant amount of one-on-one time with
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31 students to respond to each child’s interests and needs, thereby allowing them to learn at their
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34 own pace and level (Lillard, 2008). Consequently, Montessori education affords a space and
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36 individualized learning experiences where students bring their knowledge and histories in ways
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that incorporate these assets into learning. These elements are particularly critical for students
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41 who are often silenced in many conventional classrooms.
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43 Montessori’s focus on peace education is a particularly compelling element of the
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46 program’s philosophy and is incorporated by including the implementation of a peace component
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48 within the context of each classroom. As an instructional tool, the peace rose, for example, is
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51 used as a respectful way to resolve conflicts. When conflicts arise students may pass the rose
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53 back and forth to express their feelings (Manzo, 2018). Such a method may help students to
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develop agency and voices to speak up for themselves and for others.
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58 Montessori Education and Culturally and Linguistically Minoritized Students
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 6
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4 As the number of public Montessori programs and schools grows and their student
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7 population becomes more racially diverse, researchers argue that Montessori education must
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9 incorporate culturally relevant pedagogies that specifically can bring in conversations around
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12 different forms of discrimination and bias (Banks & Maixner, 2016; Debs & Brown,
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14 2017). Brown and Steele (2015) stated, “Montessori is to be the force for peace and justice that
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17 its creator always intended” (p. 23). They pointed out the intersection between social justice and
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19 Montessori education. However, Debs and Brown (2017) argue, “While the Montessori method
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21 lends itself to cultural responsiveness, a perceived lack of cultural responsiveness can also
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24 dissuade families of color from enrolling in public Montessori programs” (p. 8). Specifically,
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26 Montessori education has the potential to bring in culturally relevant elements for work with
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29 marginalized populations. However, its curriculum and largely practiced pedagogies are not
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31 explicitly culturally relevant. Debs and Brown argued that its focus on individuals may
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34 contribute to perpetuating colorblindness, as teachers would send messages such as ‘your race
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36 does not matter.’
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Methods
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41 Context and Participants
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43 The qualitative study is one in a series initiated in 2016 to study the implementation of a
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46 Montessori program within two preschool classrooms at a public elementary school. The project
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48 evolved from a multilayered collaboration among a state university, school district, public
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51 elementary school, and private Montessori school in an urban city (Authors, 2020). As a result of
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53 this collaboration, the focal public school (Carnation Elementary, pseudonym) is located in a
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neighborhood that consists of a culturally and linguistically minoritized communities. The school
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58 population is comprised of 75.7% students of color and 56.3% “English Language Learners”
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 7
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4 (Western State Board of Education, pseudonym, 2018). A total of 46 students were enrolled in
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7 these two preschool classrooms (24 students in Olivia’s and 22 students in Lucia’s). Most of
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9 these 3 to 5-year-old students were Latinx. There were also a few white, black, Pacific Islander,
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12 and biracial students, where some of the students came from refugee and immigrant
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14 backgrounds. The main language of these classrooms was English; however, Spanish was also
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17 largely spoken by Latinx teachers and students.. The students in the Montessori classrooms were
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19 selected following an open invitation to neighborhood families. Starting the second year, a
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21 priority was given to students whose siblings were already in the program.
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24 In order to explore how Montessori education is being implemented in these preschool
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26 classrooms at Carnation Elementary, one of the authors conducted classroom observations. We
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29 then noticed the teachers’ interest and effort to incorporate culturally relevant and sustaining
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31 educational elements into the existing Montessori curriculum. For this specific study, we became
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34 interested in what factors influenced these teachers to infuse culturally relevant pedagogy into
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36 their teaching. The focal teachers obtained the Montessori Early Childhood credential from the
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American Montessori Society at a local 4-year college for this project. They worked as co-
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41 educators who collaborated to create and prepare for lessons.
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43 Olivia (pseudonym) is one of the two preschool classroom teachers. She is a white
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46 English speaker of Italian heritage. At the time of the study, she had worked for five years as an
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48 elementary school teacher at the same school after receiving her master’s in education. Lucia
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51 (pseudonym) is a Spanish/English bilingual teacher who identified as a Mexican-American. She
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53 is the primary teacher for the second preschool classroom. Her teaching position was her first
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assignment after graduating with a bachelor’s in education. Each classroom also had a
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58 Spanish/English bilingual paraprofessional.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 8
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4 Data Sources and Analysis
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7 This research is grounded in narrative inquiry, “an exploration of the social, cultural,
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9 familial, linguistic, and institutional narratives within which individual’s experiences were, and
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12 are constituted, shaped, expressed, and enacted” (Clandinin, 2013, p. 18). Clandinin and
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14 Connelly (2000) argued that narrative inquiry is a way of understanding and respecting people’s
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17 stories of experiences as a source of important knowledge through collaboration between
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19 researchers and participants. More recently, Caine et al. (2018) argued that narrative inquiry can
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21 be a practice when issues of social justice “are lived, understood, and told by participants and
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24 researchers” (p. 142). As researchers, we feel the responsibility to share these critical yet often
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26 marginalized voices of teachers working with minoritized students.
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29 To understand how CRP is incorporated and practiced within the focal classrooms, 120
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31 hours of classroom observations were conducted over a five-month period during the first year of
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34 program implementation. Both classrooms were observed every week by one of the researchers,
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36 usually during the morning and all day on Fridays. Over 55 pages of field notes were written
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during the observations. In the beginning, an ethnographic research approach was used to
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41 explore how the implementation was taking place, understand teaching and learning experiences
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43 in these classrooms, and observe general classroom teacher-student(s) and peer interactions. The
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46 researcher mainly observed classrooms without active participation during the class. However,
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48 the observation was not done in complete isolation, either. Occasionally, the researcher
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51 interacted with teachers and students to ask probing questions to deepen the understanding of
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53 certain situations.
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57 After months of observations, important themes emerged including teachers’
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59 incorporation of CRP. We became interested in what factors may have influenced their
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 9
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4 employment of CRP in curriculum and practice. We then identified broad themes by drawing out
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7 three a priori themes (Ryan & Bernard, 2003) in consideration of various characteristics of this
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9 work. Major themes included: teachers’ perspectives on social justice in education, the culture
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12 and curriculum of the school, and Montessori education and curriculum in relation to CRP.
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14 Subsequent to identifying themes, we developed general questions for semi-structured
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17 interviews with teachers guided by the themes and probing questions to further elaborate
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19 responses (Qu & Dumay, 2011). We interviewed each teacher individually to explore how these
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21 factors may or may not associate with their use of CRP, ultimately teaching for social justice.
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24 The interviews were held at the school after dismissal. A follow-up group interview with the
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26 teachers and one of the researchers was conducted when the researcher was invited to discuss
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29 CRP with the teachers at the school. While we focus on the main interviews, conversations with
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31 teachers during recess as well as before and after school as part of the class observations were
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34 also used as part of the data. Some of the interview questions include: How would you define the
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36 culture of the school? How do you define social justice? In what ways does the school support or
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fail to support its focus in the ways you have described? What aspects of Montessori contribute
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41 or fail to contribute to the integration of a social justice curriculum?
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45 The teachers’ narratives were first transcribed, then organized and analyzed based upon
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47 the established themes utilizing an in vivo coding system to “prioritize and honor the
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participant’s voice” (Saldaña, 2013, p. 91). To capture each teacher’s voice and experience,
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52 narratives were individually listed under each theme rather than being synthesized. Hence, we
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54 used the teachers’ own language as codes rather than generating our own words and phrases. To
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57 note, this study was approved by the university’s institutional review board (IRB). We followed
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59 all IRB policies and procedures for this study.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 10
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4 Overview of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the Montessori Classrooms
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7 While we focus on teachers’ narratives in this study, it is necessary to provide the
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9 following overview to help understand how CRP was incorporated in these classrooms. Both
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12 teachers worked tirelessly to incorporate culturally relevant components into their curriculum
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14 and instruction through collaboration. While they brought in culturally and linguistically relevant
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17 materials to enhance the existing curriculum, they also created new lessons together to enable
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19 discussions on issues related to social injustice as a way of raising critical awareness among
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21 students. Lessons were usually delivered during group time where they read books and held
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24 discussions. While CRP was mainly incorporated through book discussions, the teachers also
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26 incorporated persona dolls in lessons by making dolls that represent different ethnicities and
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29 races to share stories. In the following, we will give some examples of how the teachers used
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31 CRP in their classrooms and how students responded to it.
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34 The children’s books are grounded in social justice themes, often bilingual, as a
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36 supplement to the English Montessori curriculum. The teachers delivered lessons through the use
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of CRP within the existing Montessori curriculum in areas such as introducing artists and authors
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41 of the month. They added these elements because the traditional curriculum includes artists and
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43 authors who are only white. Teachers then selected additional paintings drawn by artists of color
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46 including artists such as Frida Kahlo, Shonto Begay, and Jean-Michel Basquiat and read books
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48 written about them. The teachers also introduced books written by authors of color such as
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51 Duncan Tonatiuh. As books and artists were introduced, the teachers provided opportunities for
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53 students to engage in conversations about racism and racial justice.
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The books that the teachers chose to enable critical conversations often were not the right
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58 level for preschool students in terms of vocabulary and abstract content. For this reason, teachers
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 11
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4 paraphrased content to help students understand the stories. During one classroom visit, Olivia
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7 read the book Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for
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9 Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh to discuss racism and school segregation. This was the first
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12 book that the teacher read to the students to discuss racism and the civil rights movement in the
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14 United States. As the lesson unfolded, the topics prompted several students who are biracial or
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17 Latinx to claim that they are white, reflecting internalized whiteness and racial hierarchies. In
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19 one conversation with the researcher, a five-year-old biracial (black/white) student said that she
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21 sees herself as white. She noted, “Black people are bad…I don’t want to drink water from the
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24 colored fountain. That’s dirty. Ugh, my head hurts now! (fieldnotes, January 17, 2017)” In
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26 addition to these reactions, the teachers were concerned that some students excluded black
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29 students during play. One mother of two Latinx sisters in Olivia’s class shared her concern that
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31 her daughters told her that they try to stay away from a Black Muslim girl because her skin is
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34 dark, she wears weird clothes, and she is “dirty” (fieldnotes, January 13, 2017).
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36 The teachers’ awareness of the racial tensions experienced by students and families
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prompted the integration of lessons and texts to address issues head-on. In Separate Is Never
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41 Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, a depiction includes a public
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43 swimming pool with a sign that says, “No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed.” The content definitely
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46 upset students, especially those who identified themselves as Mexicans, possibly because they
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48 thought racism was just directed towards black people. To address students’ discomfort, the class
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51 talked about how we need to understand our differences and should not make fun of each other
52
53 or bully based upon our skin colors, the way we look, our ethnicity or nationality. They also
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learned how to speak up and reject racism when they encounter it (fieldnotes, January 17, 2017).
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58 As the students engaged in more conversations on race and racism, many were eager to share
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 12
2
3
4 their own racialized experiences in relation to the stories. For example, during the conversation
5
6
7 after reading the book The skin I’m in, one biracial student said that white people are better
8
9 because their skins is lighter. Another student then interrupted and said, “Everyone is equal!”
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12 Their teacher intervened and asked her students to be proud of who they are. During this lesson,
13
14 one black student also shared his experience of nobody playing with him. The class then
15
16
17 discussed how to be allies and reject racism by saying “stop” when they encounter someone
18
19 bullying others based on their skin color and appearance (fieldnotes, February 21, 2017).
20
21
Findings
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23
24 Our findings explore teachers’ narratives on the factors that influenced their
25
26 implementation of CRP in classrooms. Findings highlight how teachers’ critical consciousness
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29 and commitments, social justice driven school culture, and the elements of a Montessori
30
31 curriculum influenced the implementation of CRP in pursuit of an equitable and just education
32
33
34 for all students.
35
36 Teachers’ Critical Consciousness and Commitments
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39
Teachers’ critical consciousness and commitments were the most decisive factors leading
40
41 to the incorporation of CRP within the Montessori curriculum. Both teachers were concerned
42
43 with social justice in education in large part because most of their students are from racially and
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46 ethnically minoritized groups. Teachers were concerned about interaction patterns among
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48 students including ostracizing black students. The teachers also reflected on their own identities
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51 in relation to their classroom practices toward social justice.
52
53 Olivia. When asked to define social justice in education, Olivia emphasized, “education
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[that] is equitable.” She explained, “It’s not that everybody is treated the same, but everyone is
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58 treated fairly and they have their needs met.” Olivia was particularly alarmed by racial conflicts
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 13
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4 within her classroom, citing students’ poor treatment of an African Muslim student from a
5
6
7 refugee background. Olivia explained:
8
9 I have one little girl who is African and so she has the darkest skin in the class and she's
10
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12 also Muslim, so she wears a hijab and I think she's definitely singled out because she
13
14 looks different. Like, she's very, she looks visibly different than most of the kids in the
15
16
17 class, and I think that that was really hard for her, and it's hard for me as a teacher to see.
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19 But she definitely gets left out a lot, or if something breaks, the kids would say that she
20
21 did it, or, and so it's really just talking about like how that's racism and just how you
22
23
24 know just because she looks different than us or her skin is darker or her clothes are
25
26 different. You know, she still needs to be treated, the way you would like to be treated.
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29 Class observations also indicated that students described a darker student as “dirty” and often left
30
31 them out or ignored them in class. During the interview, Olivia expressed a concern with the
32
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34 tendency of internalized whiteness (Pinder, 2012) among some Latinx children for wanting to be
35
36 recognized as white while distancing themselves from characters of color in the books at the
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39
beginning.
40
41 Instead of overlooking such situations, Olivia recognized the importance of incorporating
42
43 lessons on racism to help students recognize how racism exists in various forms in our daily
44
45
46 lives. She also highlighted the history of racist practices and the need for students to develop an
47
48 anti-racism stance by becoming allies and rejecting racism by calling it out when it occurs. She
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51 directly engaged in conversations with students around race and racism and strategically planned
52
53 lessons with appropriate materials such as critical children’s books. Olivia invited Muslim girls
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in upper grades to visit the classroom to talk about “what it means to be Muslim and why they
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58 wear the hijab…so they can see a large group and so it's not so single, singular, and other.”
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3
4 Likewise, Olivia valued the importance of representation.
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7 Olivia respected children’s home cultures and languages and incorporated them in
8
9 various ways into her practice. She specifically mentioned that being bilingual and maintaining
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12 their home languages is important. Although she is not bilingual, she put effort into learning
13
14 Spanish, the language of most of her students. She recalls the experience: “It takes me a really
15
16
17 long time to listen to a song over and over and over again to be able to teach them in Spanish…I
18
19 think I was able to teach them like two and a half songs in Spanish this year because it’s hard for
20
21 me.” For this reason, she appreciated her paraprofessional educator who is fluent in Spanish and
22
23
24 supportive of her leading groups and teaching students Spanish songs.
25
26 Olivia possesses a critical consciousness and continuously sought ways to make her
27
28
29 student’s educational experiences more equitable and critical. Within her own reflections, she
30
31 maintained a modest stance by stating she lacks expertise in social justice education, needs to
32
33
34 learn more about it, and is committed to continuing the work. She stated:
35
36 I feel like I am not an expert in social justice, and I'm just learning. And so I feel like we
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39
just barely started to talk about it this year and we didn't go into a ton of depth and this
40
41 summer… I'm reading more about it and researching more articles and finding more kid-
42
43 friendly resources.
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45
46 Olivia’s CRP practices grew stronger over time. During a teaching episode she discussed her
47
48 frustration with the lack of age-appropriate materials to discuss racism and ones that tend to
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51 “sugarcoat everything and make everything like about having honeybun colored skin.” She felt
52
53 the need to incorporate critical materials that enable discussions on racism more explicitly. In
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this effort, she continuously researched children’s books and materials that could facilitate
57
58 discussions to raise critical consciousness among her students.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 15
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4 Lucia. For Lucia, social justice in education means opportunity and willingness to fight
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6
7 against “a system of beliefs that has been installed for many, many, many years” despite
8
9 difficulties. She affirmed, “It will be hard, but it will be worth the fight.” As for opportunities,
10
11
12 she referred to how “everybody has the right to obtain a free education” regardless of their
13
14 immigration status. She also stated her commitment to stand up for her undocumented students.
15
16
17 Lucia said, “If you don’t stand up for what you believe as an educator, or even as a person, I
18
19 think it speaks of who you are, but not in a positive way.” For Lucia, social justice is also about
20
21 “standing up and speaking up for things that you believe.” As an example, she put a sign on her
22
23
24 classroom door stating “I’m here for undocumented students.” By making this statement, she
25
26 believed she is making it public and acknowledging where she stands. She hoped others would
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29 view her stance positively, but at the same time she understood her beliefs might lead to conflicts
30
31 with others who interpret her beliefs negatively. She stated that although she cannot force people
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34 to change what they believe, she is willing to have a civilized conversation. She expressed her
35
36 commitment to fight for social justice even if she “hit[s] various walls” as she continues to
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39
pursue her goal.
40
41 Lucia’s narrative also illustrates the relationship between her personal beliefs and
42
43 practices. She explained, “I take pride in my labels, along with, like, I mean, one label, ‘I'm a
44
45
46 teacher,’ one label is ‘I’m a woman,’ one label is ‘I’m Mexican-American.’ I take pride in those
47
48 labels.” She also wanted her students to take pride in who they are and emphasized the need for
49
50
51 the curriculum to enable positive identity formation and conversations on race. She described:
52
53 I feel we shouldn't have to remove those from the children as well so within the
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curriculum when the children are able to look at books that portray that, and even if they
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2
3
4 can’t understand, just like, look into the pictures, when they see the authors [of color] or
5
6
7 we can have like conversations [on race].
8
9 Lucia used herself as an example to show racial diversity and affirmation. She said, “Being a
10
11
12 little bit darker and being a minority my entire life, […] I tend to use myself as an example. I
13
14 have curly hair, and my skin is brown.” She told her students, “We don’t look all the same, but
15
16
17 it’s okay. We can all be friends.” Lucia openly discussed different skin color and body features
18
19 with her students and affirms racial diversity while being a representation for darker students
20
21 whom she noticed are sometimes left out.
22
23
24 While Lucia enjoyed the freedom of the Montessori philosophy to implement culturally
25
26 relevant components in her classroom, she felt that it is up to individual educators to initiate such
27
28
29 effort. Lucia explained:
30
31 We do have the freedom to implement the social justice component to it, however, I feel
32
33
34 like it's up to us as the educators to see how we want to integrate that and how we want to
35
36 bring it, present to our students because, I mean, I, while I was given the training, […] it's
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38
39
been more like self-learning.
40
41 Lucia believed that educators’ commitments are a decisive factor for social justice components
42
43 to be implemented in the curriculum. At the same time, she criticized institutional practices that
44
45
46 fail to address social justice education and fail to prepare pre-service teachers for its enactment.
47
48 As was the case for Olivia, Lucia criticized approaches that talk about race only in a scientific
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51 way with limited attention to the sociopolitical impacts of racism on people of color. She
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53 described, “a book on melanin and color of our skin how we get it, like, that's very scientific.
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Now if we’re reading a book on racism, it's like why were people that didn't look like me not
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 17
2
3
4 allowed to do this or why were people treated like this....” Such an approach to race and racism
5
6
7 demonstrates Lucia’s level of critical consciousness as she recognized race as a social construct.
8
9 During the interview, Lucia shared her previously held belief in colorblindness, but now
10
11
12 has realized that children are aware of racial differences. She explained:
13
14 I always felt, oh, children don't see color, children don’t see this, children don't see
15
16
17 problems, and it's like, no, they are very aware and we've learned that, we learned in our
18
19 training, like, we shouldn't dismiss children just because we think that they're young and
20
21 they don't understand.
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23
24 Lucia described her previous colorblind approach as “trying to sugarcoat” things as if children do
25
26 not need to know about race because they are too young to understand. Such a critical reflection
27
28
29 on her own consciousness is significant in that it demonstrates how becoming a culturally
30
31 relevant and critically conscious teacher requires a process that does not take place overnight.
32
33
34 Lucia also expressed her commitment to deliberately integrate more social justice throughout her
35
36 curriculum and seek ways to have “a genuine conversation” with her students.
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38
39
Social Justice Infused School Culture
40
41 Both teachers reported that the school culture reflects the diversity of the community and
42
43 supports their work in providing educational opportunities and resources for students and
44
45
46 families. These actions are critical and affirmative for their students’ well-being. Overall, the
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48 teachers had positive views of the school culture and believed the environment afforded a space
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50
51 for education that reflects the diversity of the community.
52
53 Olivia. Olivia described the school as “a positive and supportive place for students and
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families.” She believed that the school “does a really good job” in its support of equitable
57
58 education for their students. She proudly stated:
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3
4 We really focus on honoring students’ cultures and identities… Our whole school values
5
6
7 are focused around social justice. And I know that some teachers definitely talk about
8
9 that a lot in the classroom, and I'm sure some don't at all. But we've definitely had several
10
11
12 professional developments this year about social justice and I think it's definitely on the
13
14 agenda and I like that it’s being acknowledged, you know, because I'm sure in some
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17 schools it's not.
18
19 Olivia discussed how the school’s emphasis on social justice does a good job making their
20
21 agenda visible through opportunities such as professional development on social justice. This
22
23
24 implies that the school encourages teachers to incorporate social justice elements into their
25
26 teaching; however, it is not required, as Lucia’s narrative in the previous section indicated.
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29 Olivia was so pleased with how supportive the school has been to give them “the
30
31 flexibility to follow Montessori curriculum instead of the district curriculum.” This practice was
32
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34 most effective where teachers have more curricular flexibility for younger students. Older
35
36 students are not free from testing, thus impacting time and variance in the curriculum. While the
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39
school is supportive of the social justice initiatives that the teachers pursue, Olivia felt that the
40
41 school does not have enough resources for the age group. She stated:
42
43 We've talked about this in meetings, it's just like there aren't like a ton of, I think, like a
44
45
46 read aloud is that the easiest way to access the topic with kids this little. And there's not a
47
48 lot out there… I have been looking and I'm really excited to have time this summer to
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51 really start researching like more literature that’s appropriate for kids their age because,
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53 Duncan Tonatiuh, he has a lot of books but they are definitely geared at the higher age
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level and so…
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 19
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4 She continued, “I feel like there has to be more out there… How do you really have these
5
6
7 conversations with such little people? So yes, I mean, we need more resources, to do that.”
8
9 Olivia was frustrated at how age appropriate resources for her to talk about race and racism are
10
11
12 not available at school or even elsewhere. She also felt the need to have materials such as
13
14 children’s books as an outlet to bring in critical conversations around race and racism instead of
15
16
17 approaching them in rather abstract ways.
18
19 Lucia. When asked about the culture of the school, Lucia described it as “welcoming and
20
21 open minded.” She also stated, “The staff here is wonderful. The students are amazing.” She
22
23
24 emphasized the friendly environment at the school where teachers and students greet each other
25
26 with smiles even if they do not know each other. She also felt that the school is open-minded
27
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29 because people are there to help each other. She noted, “If I ever have any questions, I have
30
31 various people that I can approach and get advice and obtain information how I can help my
32
33
34 students.”
35
36 Lucia described that the school is unique because it allows “teachers to be themselves.”
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She further explained, “[The school] allows me to be a little bit more of myself, and like I said,
40
41 and express more of myself and it allows me to see how the children take that in.” She reported
42
43 that this is important because she would not enjoy what she is doing if she worked at a school
44
45
46 where she has to be a rigid and strict person. She also noted that the school is unique due to its
47
48 diversity. She stated, “Our school is very diverse with various options and unique because, I
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50
51 mean, we have multiple cultures and identities and opportunities that are offered here for
52
53 students.” One of the educational options for the students is their Montessori program, which is
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the only public Montessori program that exists in the city. Lucia said, “Not only is that unique
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58 within itself, but it was a great opportunity and it’s been interesting to see how the community
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 20
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4 has [received] that.” She expressed her excitement to have such an opportunity available for
5
6
7 students in the community through the school.
8
9 Like Olivia, Lucia also asserted that the school is “doing a very good job” in pursuit of
10
11
12 their social justice initiative. She recalled how many children were fearful after the result of the
13
14 presidential election in 2016. She said, “Overall, the people that I felt were, of course, were
15
16
17 mostly impacted, were the children with what was going on, I mean, most of the impact was
18
19 negative which makes me very sad, and a lot of the children, they just didn't know how to react.”
20
21 The school then sent out e-mails and links to certain articles, mentioning “if anybody needed
22
23
24 support, who they could go talk to, not only within us as adults, but for the children.” They also
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26 distributed the ‘I’m an unafraid educator’ signs for teachers to post on their classroom doors.
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29 Lucia further described such effort as follows:
30
31 I felt like, the administration here again with the culture, with the school… Once those
32
33
34 children walk in through those doors in through the front of the school, this is the culture
35
36 that we want them to feel, like “it’s safe here, you don't need to worry, we're here to help
37
38
39
you and we have your back.”
40
41 In summary, Lucia felt that such a welcoming and safe school environment contributes to its
42
43 students’ well-being and their positive educational experiences, which ultimately contributes to
44
45
46 the school’s commitment to social justice education.
47
48 Affordances and Limitations of Montessori Education
49
50
51 During the interviews, teachers mentioned both the affordances and limitations of
52
53 Montessori education in support of CRP. They argued that the flexibility and freedom that
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56
Montessori curriculum affords allows them to implement CRP without having to worry about
57
58 curricular mandates. Both teachers responded positively toward Montessori education because it
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 21
2
3
4 allows teachers to meet the needs of individual children. Although the teachers are cognizant of
5
6
7 the potential of Montessori education to incorporate culturally relevant and social justice content,
8
9 they criticized Montessori education and training as being predominantly designed for white
10
11
12 students and silencing multiculturalism. For this reason, the teachers created lessons to help
13
14 students develop cultural competence and sociopolitical consciousness using the Montessori
15
16
17 curriculum framework.
18
19 Olivia. Olivia viewed the Montessori education as a means of providing opportunities for
20
21 teachers “to meet the needs of each child individually instead of having to do blanket, whole
22
23
24 group instruction.” She further described, “It wasn't just one education for all.” In other words,
25
26 individual lessons can be tailored to meet each student’s needs. This also means that teachers can
27
28
29 carry out CRP based on students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds through individual
30
31 sessions. Such individual time also affords teachers and students the chance to get to know one
32
33
34 another better.
35
36 Olivia cited the importance of the flexibility within the Montessori curriculum to bring in
37
38
39
content that is important for their students (e.g., social justice components) instead of being
40
41 concerned with following the district pacing map for different subjects. She described the assets
42
43 as follows:
44
45
46 I think the fact that it is individualized, and, and we are we're kind of like you don’t have
47
48 to follow like a pacing map from the district so, so we're able to bring, discussions about
49
50
51 social justice into the classroom so I think yeah that our curriculum is open.
52
53 Olivia recognized the peace component of the Montessori curriculum “[as] a nice segue into a
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discussion of social justice.” While Montessori curriculum does not explicitly discuss social
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 22
2
3
4 justice and diversity, she argued that its focus on peace education can be an outlet to bring in
5
6
7 social justice components.
8
9 Olivia highlighted unique factors of Montessori, including attention to individuals,
10
11
12 flexibility, and the peace component. She also noted limitations with the curriculum not being
13
14 culturally relevant to her students’ backgrounds and experiences and felt the need to support and
15
16
17 expand the curriculum to bring in more culturally relevant content. Such concerns with the lack
18
19 of diversity within Montessori trainings were expressed in Debs’s (2016) study. Debs argued that
20
21 such deficiency has consequences because Montessori teachers may not have the competency to
22
23
24 work with students from diverse backgrounds. Although the teachers of this study did not learn
25
26 CRP during their Montessori training, they studied and figured out a way to work with students
27
28
29 from culturally and linguistically minoritized backgrounds by making the existing Montessori
30
31 curriculum culturally relevant to their students. Olivia described how the students loved the
32
33
34 lesson because many students were able to identify with Frida Kahlo from Mexico and a lot of
35
36 the students have family from Mexico. When describing the lessons on artists and authors of
37
38
39
color, Olivia stated, “that’s a project that I think we’ll do forever,” indicating her long-term
40
41 commitment to CRP.
42
43 Lucia. Lucia spoke about how the freedom that Montessori curriculum allows along with
44
45
46 the culture of the school help her to bring in social justice components. She explained:
47
48 We have a lot of freedom to do as we please, like, for example, in the art section, the
49
50
51 language art sections, and whole lessons and history sections, and social studies and
52
53 science, what we present, I feel in that aspect, we do have the freedom to implement the
54
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56
social justice component to it… I feel that through the Montessori curriculum and
57
58 through like the culture of the school, it's able to be embedded.
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 23
2
3
4 She also described freedom from the perspective of students: “Children have the freedom to
5
6
7 choose what they want to do, and I’m there to guide them and aid them. But if I need to step in
8
9 and tell them this isn’t safe or you will get hurt or it’s just something that will not benefit them,
10
11
12 then that's where I will step in as well.” As Lucia explained, Montessori education allows
13
14 children to freely choose what they want to do and learn in their classrooms, which is different
15
16
17 from traditional school where teachers choose what students learn. However, Montessori
18
19 teachers also have the responsibility to set boundaries and intervene to assist their students as
20
21 Lucia described.
22
23
24 Conclusion
25
26 This qualitative study captured the voices and experiences of preschool Montessori
27
28
29 teachers who work with students from culturally and linguistically minoritized communities. Our
30
31 findings identify the factors that had an impact on teachers’ efforts to implement a critical form
32
33
34 of CRP, which involved providing opportunities for students to develop sociopolitical
35
36 consciousness of race. As past research suggests, addressing race and racism in early childhood
37
38
39
classrooms is daunting for many educators. Teachers who take up CRP often ignore the
40
41 sociopolitical consciousness development component while focusing only on celebrating
42
43 students’ cultures (Durden et al., 2015). For instance, educators tend to focus on “culture talk”
44
45
46 while avoiding “race talk” when integrating CRP into their practice. However, Ladson-Billings
47
48 (1994) argued, “Culturally relevant teaching is about questioning (and preparing students to
49
50
51 question) the structural inequality, the racism, and the injustice that exist in society” (p. 128). In
52
53 other words, addressing such issues lies at the heart of CRP.
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56
The teachers proactively incorporated CRP that focuses on sociopolitical consciousness
57
58 components into their existing Montessori curriculum to help raise critical consciousness
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 24
2
3
4 development and positive cultural and ethnic identity formation among their students. The
5
6
7 narrative of the teachers revealed that teachers’ critical consciousness and commitments, social
8
9 justice infused school culture, and the flexibility of Montessori curriculum contributed to the
10
11
12 implementation of CRP in their practice. These findings are similar to the study of Priest et al.
13
14 (2016) where discussions of race took place depending on “teachers’ personal and professional
15
16
17 capability; awareness of racism and its perceived relevance based on student and community
18
19 experiences; and whether they felt supported in the broader school and community context” (p.
20
21 808).
22
23
24 Witnessing the racial conflicts and biases that exist in their own classrooms contributed
25
26 to the teachers developing lessons that help raise a critical awareness among their students. They
27
28
29 also valued students’ identities, cultures, and languages, and sought ways to incorporate these
30
31 elements into their practices. While the Montessori program provided a vehicle for teachers to
32
33
34 meet their goals of addressing social justice and conversations that explore racism, the school
35
36 culture also had a positive impact on their implementation of CRP in their classrooms because of
37
38
39
its infusion with social justice, which closely aligns with the teachers’ beliefs and commitments.
40
41 Montessori education and curriculum also advanced their effort by providing flexibility and
42
43 freedom to incorporate CRP and social justice.
44
45
46 While the teachers’ narratives highlight various factors (e.g., teachers’ critical
47
48 consciousness and commitments, social justice-infused school culture, and the flexibility of
49
50
51 Montessori curriculum) that influenced CRP, we argue that teachers’ critical consciousness and
52
53 commitments to social justice were critical factors and had a significant impact on their
54
55
56
practices. Our study also suggests that early childhood teachers can facilitate opportunities that
57
58 allow for the development of sociopolitical consciousness among students starting at a young age
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 1 NARRATIVES OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 25
2
3
4 (Durden et al., 2015). Educators, at all levels, must create teaching and learning experiences that
5
6
7 allow for the development of a critical consciousness and take a pedagogical stance to advocate
8
9 for justice and equity in order to challenge and reverse the perpetuated injustices in our students’
10
11
12 lives. At the same time, support and validation from school, community, and society must also
13
14 coin with teachers’ effort to do such critical work.
15
16
17 References
18
19 Authors. (2020).
20
21 Banks, K., & Maixner, R. A. (2016). Social Justice Education in an Urban Charter Montessori
22
23
24 School. Journal of Montessori Research, 2(1), 1-14.
25
26 Beauboeuf-Lafontant, T. (1999). A movement against and beyond boundaries: ‘Politically
27
28
29 relevant teaching’ among African American teachers.” Teachers College Record, 100(4):
30
31 702–723.
32
33
34 Berman, R., Daniel, B. J., Butler, A., MacNevin, M., & Royer, N. (2017). Nothing, or almost
35
36 nothing, to report: Early childhood educators and discursive constructions of
37
38
39
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