Crean, Margaret (2024) “This is Where the Care Can Step Up”: A Typology of Nurturing Pedagogies in Primary Schools Serving Low-Income Communities During COVID-19 Closures. Early Childhood Education Journal. ISSN 1082-3301

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Abstract

All schools possess a duty of care towards their students. However, this duty of care falls unevenly across schools, with those serving low-income communities often responding to the material and psychological effects of poverty as a priority. This duty of care for such schools was placed into stark relief during the period of COVID-19 school closures, when structural inequalities in society became particularly pronounced. Previous research has drawn distinctions between different forms of caring enacted in schools serving low-income communities. These range from practices centred on children’s academic learning to those more concerned with children’s welfare and well-being—which, for the purposes of this paper, we term as academic nurturing and affective nurturing respectively. Others recognise the need for schools in low-income communities to perform a dual role and engage in both forms of nurturing simultaneously—which we term as critical nurturing. This paper presents findings based on case studies from three designated disadvantaged primary schools in Ireland during pandemic-related closures. It draws on interviews from the Children’s School Lives longitudinal study with the teachers, principals, and families of four Junior Infant children (typically aged four to five years). Our findings suggest a typology of nurturing pedagogies, with academic and affective nurturing emphasised to varying degrees across our three schools during this period. Narratives from interviewees also demonstrate the central role of school culture and leadership in achieving critical nurturing, with significant social justice implications for the education of children in schools serving low-income communities.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Care; Nurturing pedagogies; Educational disadvantage; Socio-economic disadvantage; COVID-19;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Applied Social Studies
Item ID:	19025
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01636-6
Depositing User:	Dr Margaret Crean
Date Deposited:	15 Oct 2024 14:42
Journal or Publication Title:	Early Childhood Education Journal
Publisher:	Springer
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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