Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/hopes-and-dilemmas-the-future-of-equity-in-early-childhood-education/5027308/
The next generation of early childhood education leaders will likely continue the field’s legacy efforts to achieve its common goal of access, affordability, and quality for all young children and their families. As they build on the legacy, emerging leaders will also need to create a new consensus about how to best serve young children in a nation facing complex equity dilemmas.
Perhaps sidelined in previous eras, equity dilemmas are prominent, unavoidable challenges for leaders of young children today: Demographic trends definitively indicate that most young children are members of historically minoritized groups. Nevertheless, significant legislative and political action seeks to suppress recognition of racial inequities and diminish the representation of human diversity in educational settings. Altered historical narratives reframe our shared national heritage and deny children and educators access to information that might otherwise be used to promote critical thinking, empathy, and democracy.
Yet, unlike previous eras, the next generation of early childhood leaders face these dilemmas with a significant asset: a compelling endowment of research and resources is available to inform and inspire hopeful responses to injustice. Both NAEYC’s code of ethical conduct and collective statement on equity offer foundations of professional commitment to and responsibility for diversity, equity, inclusion, ...