Family/Community Contexts and the Problem of Half-Truths in Early Childhood Education: Learning from Barbara Bowman
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Barbara T. Bowman’s contributions to early childhood education over the course of seven decades have been felt at every level, including teacher education, professional development, public policy, and research. A long‑term concern for her was the need to prepare teachers whose practice is critically and positively informed by children’s experiences at home and in the community. Bowman long argued, however, that “[t]eacher education gives lip service to the importance of family/community contexts in high‑quality care and education and then ignores it in the field” (personal communication, 2022).
A manifestation of the problem is what she referred to as “half‑truths” about child development that dominate praxis with negative results. “All half‑truths,” Bowman contended, “have a germ of truth that causes them to get repeated and accepted.” But they also become fertile ground for teacher biases when family and community habits deviate from teachers’ assumptions about healthy families or acceptable behavior (personal communication, 2022).
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Patricia “Patsy” M. Cooper, PhD is an associate professor of early childhood education at Queens College, CUNY. She is the author of The Classrooms All Young Children Need: Lessons in Teaching from Vivian Paley and numerous articles and chapters on early childhood education. [email protected]