VIRTUAL New Schools of Thought

Abstract

As Singapore’s early childhood educators learn to feed young children, they are taught by both mentor teachers (at their workplaces) and lecturers (at universities). Neither colleagues’ vernacular wisdom nor instructors’ textbook knowledge can be adopted wholesale. After all, local feeding traditions—taught by more experienced practitioners—can be overly controlling. Simultaneously, teaching by university instructors may be misaligned with the local context as it is based on—predominantly Western—extant literature. Thus, pre- and in-service educators must be critical of both sources of teaching to develop an integrated view of preschool mealtimes. To investigate how educators develop these critical thinking skills, I draw on findings from a larger action research study designed to investigate and enhance child-feeding professional learning opportunities—targeted at preschool teachers working with young children (aged 1 to 6 years)—at a university in Singapore. Analysis of two cycles of qualitative data yielded a conceptual “Sifter Model” of preschool teachers’ critical thinking process regarding mealtime issues. Findings suggest that early childhood educators learn to think critically by using their own values, attitudes and beliefs as a “sifter” to evaluate the past teachings, which inform their feeding decisions. This process helps bridge dissonance between the extant research and educators’ local child-feeding experiences. Further, it can narrow power distance between preschool teachers and their mentors, emboldening them to challenge heretofore unquestioned feeding traditions. Moving forward, teacher-educators may leverage the “Sifter Model” to creatively design professional learning opportunities while preschool teachers may use it as a tool facilitating peer-to-peer learning.