Welcome to The Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Education (CPECE) SIG's website. I am glad that you are part of our intellectually vibrant, critically conscious, social justice-minded, and equity-driven educational research community. We are a special interest group (SIG) of AERA which has a strong commitment to disrupting, challenging, and dismantling racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, and other forms of oppression to transform schools and society so all children can thrive.
As social justice minded and equity driven SIG, we find ourselves at critical moment as we see vulnerable people, places, and communities under attack. We are even finding that our ability to be critical in our work as educational researchers is under siege. Nevertheless, our SIG remains unapologetically committed to its long standing purpose: "to foster research on and critical analyses of issues in early childhood education and childhood studies and to encourage the development of alternative perspectives and curriculum in early childhood education."
Please take time to explore our website in order to learn more about our SIG. Our website provides information about our Leadership Team/Officers, Membership and Bylaws, Awards, and Mentoring Circle. I hope that resources we provide here offer helpful guidance to inform your ongoing academic and professional development. Please feel free to reach out me at any time if more information is needed.
We are always looking to grow our critical early childhood community! Please encourage your critical early childhood, childhood studies, and child development colleagues and those in related areas/disciplines to become active members of our SIG. We value the diverse theoretical tools, research methodologies, disciplinary perspectives, interests, and professional experiences that our members bring to their work. Being a member of our community means that you will receive our weekly email newsletter with relevant events, publication opportunities, critical early childhood news, and much more.
Lastly, I encourage you to become a reviewer of conference proposal submissions, submit a conference proposal, attend sessions and roundtables, and our business meeting and reception during AERA's Annual Meeting.
Warm Regards,
Oona Fontanella-Nothom, CPECE-SIG Chair
The CPECE SIG became official in 1998, having struggled to find openings in the dialogue for reconceptualist and marginalized educational researchers and practitioners in the AERA context. The SIG is robust and energized in its membership, forging ahead and disrupting the status quo in early childhood, teacher education, and our field's research and praxis.