Early childhood inclusion: A postcolonial analysis of pre-service teachers' professional development and pedagogy in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to make the case for organizing teaching and learning in early childhood around the concept of inclusion rather than transmission of pedagogy through fear and domination. The study explored final-year early childhood pre-service teachers' curriculum planning and evaluation processes, professional education experiences and pedagogical practices, including teacher-child relationships in three kindergartens in Cape Coast, Ghana. A blend of critical postcolonial discursive and framework analysis of data produced three themes: 'curriculum visibility and invisibility', 'children as colonized bodies' and 'pre-service teachers as voiceless identities'. The article concludes that by clarifying and establishing a realistic postcolonial identity for teacher education, positive concepts of teaching and a new image of teachers and outcomes can emerge.