Talking about teaching: unmasking ‘pedactivist’ pedagogy in university-based English early childhood initial teacher educators’ narratives

This thesis has been researched and written from the insider perspective of an English university-based Early Childhood Initial Teacher Educator. It addresses a gap in early childhood initial teacher education pedagogical research, adding to the base of knowledge about this distinctive educational phase. A novel carnivalesque approach inspired by Bakhtin (1984a: 1984b) was used to playfully explore narratives co-constructed in conversation with four English early childhood initial teacher educators (ECITEs) over the course of a year. This approach created new knowledge about the ECITE’s experiences and values in relation to their teaching, showing that they positioned their students as inquirers of dichotomous philosophies of practice. ‘Pedactivism’ describes the pedagogical activism infused throughout the Early Childhood Initial Teacher Educators’ narratives of teaching. They navigated instrumental, pervasive, and dominant discourses juxtaposed with play-based, child-centred values and principles aligned with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DfE, 2017a) as a result of the positioning of the EYFS (2017a) with compulsory education.

The research indicates that a broader consideration of pedagogical approaches that embrace conceptualisations of teaching in early childhood initial teacher education are required. More opportunities for conversations between ECITEs to talk about teaching pedagogies need to be found and including the playful spirit of carnivalesque in these conversations can support the elucidation of tacit pedagogical beliefs.