Learning from each other: The design and implementation of a cross-cultural research and professional development model in Italian and U.S. toddler classrooms

Abstract

A cross-cultural PD model for early childhood teachers in Italy and the U.S. included a cross-national exchange amongst two teacher communities within which teachers viewed practice in another context and engaged in dialogue about their own and others' practices. Teachers utilized multiple modes of encountering a “day in the life” video via video cues, micro-analyses, and recursive observations. Qualitative methods informed by sociocultural and expansive learning theories countered ethnocentric tendencies, ensured equivalency, and trustworthiness of data. Exchanges across sites revealed ways the process prompted critical inquiry and reflexive discourse and challenged teachers' taken-for-granted assumptions about teacher-child proximity, children's competencies, and autonomy.