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Teaching children at-risk

An American preschool teacher’s folk psychology and folk pedagogy

University of Georgia, USA, kyunghwa{at}uga.edu

Daniel J. Walsh

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA correspondence

This article examines how an American preschool teacher’s practice and her views of her practice for children considered at-risk for later academic failure are constrained by her cultural contexts. The research is framed by a cultural psychology and draws on an 18-month ethnographic and interpretive biographic study of Anita, an experienced preschool teacher. Anita emphasized: providing a controlled and predictable environment; helping children succeed in kindergarten; and promoting children’s ability to take care of themselves. Her practice and her discussion on her practice reflected European-American cultural beliefs about the independent self. We discuss how these cultural beliefs both enhance and restrict the teacher’s views of children from underprivileged families and of their development.

Key Words: at-risk • cultural context • curriculum • early childhood • teacher education

Journal of Early Childhood Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, 229-246 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1476718X04046647


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