Culture and Identity: A Portraiture-Based Study of Oromo Family Child Care Providers

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of Oromo family child care providers within Washington State’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) - Early Achievers. I conducted a portraiture-based study using qualitative methods to investigate how Oromo family child care providers narrate their stories and experiences. By exploring different parts of their trajectory, I examined how Oromo family child care providers view, experience, and engage with Oromo culture and values around early childhood education. Building on the Adair et al. (2012) analysis of what happens when educators do not draw on children’s funds of knowledge, I expanded this to explore the outcomes when Oromo family child care providers draw on both their own and children’s funds of knowledge, and what happens when they do not. Findings indicate that centering participants’ experiences revealed insights into values and beliefs of early learning, rooted in culture and faith (Islam). It highlighted their unique pathways and the experiences and people that positively supported their success and identity development as educators. Implications from this study offer insights into the needs of immigrant bilingual educators as participants within a Quality Rating and Improvement System for culturally relevant coaching, professional development, and higher education experiences that provide language supports. The contributions of this study broaden the use of the theoretical framework of funds of knowledge, arguing that there is untapped potential in the pool of knowledge, language skills, and lived experiences that could be drawn on by educators and children to create learning experiences that not only meet set thresholds of quality but also sustain culture, language, and values for Oromo immigrant educators and Oromo immigrant families and children.