Global south approaches to bilingual and early childhood teacher education: Disrupting global north neoliberalism

Abstract

Global south onto-epistemologies are rarely part of bilingual and early childhood teacher education programs. Most university courses, even those that are critically oriented, remain embedded in global north conceptualizations of theory and practice. In this paper, we offer critical examinations of how global north colonialism and its latest reiteration, neoliberalism, have produced hegemonic discourses which have shaped the education of teachers in the fields of bilingual and early childhood education. We then share our pláticas about our global south approaches to teacher education. In doing so, we offer ways in which to make sense of our role as teacher educators in challenging and navigating dynamic, and often all-encompassing neoliberal systems of oppression within bilingual and early childhood teacher/education.