A message from SIG Chair Nathaniel Bryan

Welcome to the Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Education (CPECE) SIG!

Greeting to new and returning CPECE SIG members. My name is Dr. Nathaniel Bryan (Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education), and it is a profound honor to serve as the Chair of the Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Special Interest Group.

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 a social justice-minded and equity-driven SIG, we find ourselves at a 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.

As I step into this role, I find myself returning to the words of James Baldwin from his 1963 address, A Talk to Teachers. He said:

“To any citizen of this country who figures himself as responsible – and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of young people – must be prepared to 'go for broke.' Or to put it another way, you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty... you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance.”

Baldwin’s words are not just a relic of the past; they are a mirror to our present. We are living through a period of “bad faith”—a racialized phenomenon where truth is often intentionally ignored or distorted to maintain systems of inequity. Today, we see this through legislative efforts to restrict conversations about race and the overhauling of equity-based ideologies in our schools. For many of us, this has created a climate of fear. But as early childhood educators and scholars, we know that our children enter our classrooms with a deep, innate sense of fairness. They are already talking about race; they are already noticing the world’s complexities. When we remain silent, we leave their questions unanswered. When we teach with “good faith,” we provide them the tools to understand their world.

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.”

Our responsibility is a moral and ethical one: to be “nation builders.” By prioritizing anti-racist teaching, we aren’t just following a curriculum; we are fostering a new generation that can examine, interrupt, and promote liberation. We are creating what Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz calls “pathways where there were none before.” The work ahead of us—including the vital contributions found in our scholarship and praxis and the collective wisdom in our community—is about asserting anti-oppression as the norm, rather than the exception, in early childhood education. In these contentious times, the resistance may be determined, but so are we. I am excited to serve you, to learn from you, and to “go for broke” alongside you as we fight for the hearts and minds of the youngest members of our society.

Please take time to explore our website 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 to 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 join our business meeting and reception during AERA's Annual Meeting.

Thank you, and let’s get to work.

Nathaniel Bryan, Ph.D.

CPECE SIG Chair (2026-2027)