Chapter 7: Developing New Early Childhood Advocates Through Photovoice: Reflections From a Semester-Long Project

Advocacy efforts in early childhood education are greatly needed as the field continues to struggle with equity and accessibility issues, poor compensation for the workforce, and a general lack of respect for professionals. Photovoice methodology was incorporated into a graduate-level early childhood policy and advocacy class to strengthen students’ advocacy skills. This chapter details how photovoice methodology was used as a tool to empower early childhood graduate students in an asynchronous learning environment over the course of a semester. Because photovoice methodology is participant action research, students learned how to use photographs as an advocacy tool and were able to take an active role as a researcher. The project centered on photographs and online discussions around the following prompts: the impact of COVID-19 on the early childhood field, the impact of poor compensation on the workforce, and perceptions of being marginalized in the early childhood field. This chapter discusses how the project was conducted in an asynchronous learning environment and provides photographs and narrations for each issue. Furthermore, this chapter provides an instructor’s reflection on successes and challenges to the project and offers insight and suggestions to other instructors interested in conducting a photovoice project in asynchronous settings.