Identifying Stakeholders
As we learned in Chapter 1, all early childhood teachers must be aware that the decisions they make about curriculum affect not only the children in their classrooms but also the immediate and larger community (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Stakeholders are those people who have a vested interest in or can be affected by the decisions we make about what and how we teach. In your classroom, primary stakeholders will be teachers, children, and families (Henderson & Kesson, 2004; MacPherson & Brooker, 2000). Other important but secondary stakeholders could include other teachers in your school or program who will teach your students at a later time, your director or principal, and families of students you will have in the future who may develop an image of you based on what they hear from your current students’ parents.Indirect stakeholders might include future employers of your students, their communities, and society in general, since the quality of what you do in the classroom has long-lasting effects.
When curriculum development is an inclusive process, we actively seek out the views and needs of stakeholders, creating a sense of shared ownership and investment. When curriculum development is an exclusive process, we may find it much more difficult to engage and gain support for our efforts. For instance, “quality standards should reflect local values and concerns and not be imposed across cultural divides. In a heterogeneous society such as the U.S., notions of quality should arise out of conversations in local communities among early childhood educators and parents” (Tobin, 2005, p. 424).
Some of the questions to ask yourself when implementing a curriculum include:
- Who will be affected by the decisions I make about curriculum?
- What is the spectrum of needs and interests across the population I serve?
- Who is available to participate in discussing decisions about curriculum choices?
- How can the children’s ideas and interests be respected?