Excerpted from prelude
Moving Beyond False Choices for Early Childhood Educators—A Compendium is the culmination of an 18-month blog series that engaged diverse viewpoints about disentangling early childhood education’s (ECE) long-standing thorny knot which is comprised of three of its most challenging issues: preparation and education, compensation and status, and diversity and inclusivity.
Launched in January 2018, the 32 pieces in the series spotlighted the ECE field’s diverse perspectives regarding the entwined relationships among the knot’s three strands. Laura Bornfreund and I strove to incorporate a range of perspectives and voices, including those too often not at the table. We sought to invite new possibilities for unraveling a knot increasingly resistant to being loosened so new options could emerge.
The series was well received, and as it drew to a close, it became evident that the exploration of ECE’s thorny knot had yet to run its course. The conversation kindled by the series clearly warranted further encouragement. As a result, the compendium’s format and its new content is intended to foster continuing discussion, deepen understanding of the knot’s underpinnings, lift up unexamined presumptions, and cultivate the level of consensus necessary for formulating next steps to move the field beyond false choices for early childhood educators.