Radhika Viruru

Colonized through Language: The Case of Early Childhood Education

In this article, the privilege accorded to language as the ‘natural’ way of human expression and communication is problematized. Drawing upon multiple post-colonial sources, the author suggests that this is yet another of the ways in which dominant Western ways of viewing the world are imposed upon diverse groups of people, including young children. Questions are asked about whose interests are best served when language is privileged over other modes of communication. Acquiring language is often perceived as a crucial tool in the growth of young children; however, the question is rarely asked, what is lost when language is gained. The article also provides examples from an ethnographic study done in India that suggests that children can engage in complex forms of communication that do not involve language. Finally, the article addresses the common assumption that using language mostly means using one language. Dominant Western discourses about language are almost overwhelmingly unilingual; however, most of the worlds children use and live in multilingual environments.

Postcolonial Theory and the Practice of Teacher Education

What does a body of work that arose originally from looking at literary works written in formerly colonized societies have to do with the education of those who would teach children? In this chapter I argue that there are several similarities between the concerns that many postcolonial scholars have raised and those of critical teacher educators. After defining postcolonial theory, I explore why this set of ideas is an important theoretical lens for those who prepare teachers of young children. I then explore some of the themes raised by a postcolonial critique of teacher preparation, relating each to my own practices as a teacher educator. In doing so I aim to show how postcolonial scholarship can serve as a vital resource for those engaged in educating educators.

A Classroom Observational Study of Qatar's Independent Schools: Instruction and School Reform.

ABSTRACT Qatar initiated a K–12 national educational reform in 2001. However, there is limited information on the instructional practices of the teachers in the reform schools. This project was an observational study of classrooms with a stratified random sample of the first six cohorts of reform schools. Specifically, 156 classrooms were observed in 29 reform schools. Instructional differences were noted in schools with different gender of students and were moderated by school level. Implications of findings were discussed pertaining to implementation of the Qatar national reform and professional development needs of teachers.

Wa’allah, the woman she should go direct to Paradise: Perceptions of motherhood in Qatar:

Recent scholarship on motherhood has tried to trouble the idea that mothering is a set of instinctive “natural” behaviors that all women are born knowing, positing it rather as a set of fundamentally cultural practices, enacted within social and political contexts and intimately related to thinking about citizenship, responsibility, and human development. In this article, the authors draw from a yearlong study of motherhood in the Arabian Gulf nation of Qatar to support those efforts. Approximately, 280 women completed a survey regarding their perceptions of motherhood and follow-up in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 participants. A large number of respondents indicated that they employed domestic helpers to help with their children. Although domestic help was common, most of the “intimate” tasks involved in raising children, such as bathing, toileting, and putting children to bed were carried out by the mothers themselves. As many participants had large families (about half of the women surveyed had at least four children living with them), mothers often expressed a strong sense of being overwhelmed, but at the same time, welcoming their responsibilities as God-given. The authors suggest that as the nation of Qatar reconstructs itself, notions of families are also being reconstructed; however, women are being disproportionately being charged with the responsibility to create the “perfect” family.

Childhood Labor in India: issues and complexities

It is estimated that more than 12 million children in India under the age of 14 engage in paid labor at least part time, due mostly to economic reasons. Dominant discourses about childhood however conceptualize childhood labor not only as unethical but as exploitation. This article explored will the tensions between Western notions of childhood (within which paid labor is considered taboo) and the realities of childrens lives in India, arguing that childhood labor must be contextualized and understood not only as a colonial legacy but also as part of its socio-cultural context. The author argues that separating children from the world of work fosters a culture of childhood that emphasizes entitlement over participation and privileges the rights of the consumer over childrens rights as citizens.

Technology Integration and Preservice Teachers

Technology is ever-present, touching almost every part of our lives, communities, and homes. Learning modes have changed greatly as to the sources of information, how we exchange and interact with information and how information shapes and informs us but schools have been slower to change in regard to using the internet and mobile technologies in this participatory learning (Davidson & Goldberg, 2009).