Early Childhood Teacher Narratives on Constructivism

ABSTRACT This study presents early childhood teachers’ beliefs and practices about constructivist education. The teachers’ beliefs and practices included three components of constructivism: their professional identity, classroom practices, and negotiations with children’s communities. Despite differences in individual teachers’ descriptions of their identities, all the teachers shared the conviction that construction of knowledge requires a safe classroom environment, considering classroom as a community, pursuing children’s interests, and flexible teacher guidance calibrated according to the children’s needs. The teachers also converged on the belief that construction of knowledge as community practice requires establishing shared understandings with the children’s own communities and school administration.