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testimonies of practice. These testimonies document the empowering aspects of using an
emergent curriculum and demonstrate changing perspectives.
Wien, Stacey, Hubley Keating, Rowlings, and Cameron (2002) describe a project
that began when teachers noticed that the two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half year old
children in their classrooms “were charmed with babies and frequently took out
classroom dolls for washing, feeding, combing, carrying about and putting to sleep” (p.
33). What followed was an investigation into eyes, hair, noses, and mouths. The teachers
involved went from trepidation to transformation. From the perspective of those outside
the classroom, as the doll project progressed month by month the teachers’ decisionmaking
became more assured, creative, and inspired. The teachers’ images of themselves
as teachers were altered during the project (Wien et al.).
There is growing documentation supporting the evolution of early childhood
education programs from teacher-directed, traditionally structured, and academically-
oriented to those that are emergent. The story of one centre is described in Clouds Come
from New Hampshire: Confronting the Challenge of Philosophical Change in Early
Childhood Programs (Dodge et al., 2001):
Few things in life have such a power to immobilize, energize, divide, or
unite, as the process of change. The ease and content that can come from
doing something because ‘that’s how it has always been done’ is
undeniable. However, for a growing number of early childhood educators,
this perceived comfort is being replaced with a sense of boredom,
obsolescence, and feebleness. No longer are the traditional teaching
practices involving academics, units, and themes seen as the best ways to
reach and empower the children with whom we work. Instead, an
approach that values emergent ideas, cultures and creativity of young
children is being embraced by a growing number of teachers as the best
practice in the early childhood classroom. (p. 1)