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Affiliation(s)

University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This research casts an academic literacies gaze on early childhood preservice teacher engagement with critical policy analysis. Engaging critically with policy analysis, involves attending to macro and micro political and practice ramifications. It is acknowledged that critical thinking and critical analysis do not come easily to students and the use of frameworks can assist in scaffolding such complex literacies practices. This case study examines the application of the Affirmative Discourse Intervention model as a guiding framework to inform early childhood pre-service teacher engagement with critical policy analysis. A content analysis methodology was used involving the thematic analysis of secondary data in the form of student-completed ADI frameworks. The findings show the framework helped students to move past an initial “glance” over the document to a more sustained engagement with it. This sustained engagement supports the notion of critical policy analysis requiring a reading and (re)reading, which is more than just reading multiple times but looking at what is presented or being said from multiple standpoints. This research is important as policy analysis within professional discourse is a call for action, for agency and autonomy to question, challenge, and an opportunity to exert influence. Uncritical engagement with policy is the opposite. It is a form of inaction, passivity, a taking what is given as true and the way things should and will be.

KEYWORDS

affirmative discourse intervention, early childhood education, academic literacies, policy analysis, pre-service teachers

Cite this paper

Nicola Dunham. (2022). Preservice Teacher Engagement With Critical Policy Analysis. US-China Education Review A, Sep.-Oct. 2022, Vol. 12, No. 5, 156-165.

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