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practice with the chance to attend workshops, conferences, seminars, and to visit other
classrooms, they appeared to have more success with the implementation. Mary’s
struggles may have been alleviated had it been recognized that professional development
support is a fundamental factor to a successful emergent curriculum practice.
The balancing act.
Mary needed support from her work place to develop professionally. The issue of
balance between work and family responsibility is a defining characteristic of practice for
Mary. By the end of the research period, Mary had stopped working because the demands
of family, especially her special needs daughter had become overwhelming. The scale
metaphor, employed by Mary in Chapter Five, to describe her image of teaching, visually
depicts the balance of two separate and competing elements. All of the participants
experienced issues with balance which may be due to the fact that early childhood
education is a female-dominated field. The need to balance various life roles is a common
thread running through all four case studies. Layla describes a time when she “was
putting a lot more weight on my work, wanting to learn more and become more
professional.” This occurred when Layla was at the beginning of the implementation of
an emergent curriculum when she recognized that it was “affecting the balance between
family and work.”
The data collected revealed that while Rose and Felicia, both unmarried, shared
comparable views, Rose related balance to the lack of preparation time. Without the
benefit of compensation for preparation, “you would have to do this on your own time.
The lack of preparation time will affect how you feel about your job because you would
have to bring too much work home.” Rose juggled a part-time job with her involvement