Chapter 5: Teaching Through Social Democratic Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms: Lessons Learned From In-Service Teachers

Many schools in the United States and internationally have implemented outcome-based curricula, resulting in an emphasis on structured academic teaching in hopes of meeting the demands of high-stakes standardized testing (Jorgenson, 2012). Consequently, holistic learning, traditionally valued in early childhood education, particularly the social and emotional aspects, have been insufficiently valued in daily classroom interaction; yet early childhood research shows that positive interactions in the classroom support academic learning (OECD, 2017; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004; Tomlinson 2014). These positive relationships nurture and support students’ social and emotional development and implores the question, how do teachers foster and sustain positive classroom practices and preserve academic integrity while being dominated by concern for conformity with externally determined outcomes?