Judith K. Bernhard
Associate Director, Field Education
Professor
Faculty of Community Services
School of Early Childhood Studies
Toronto, Ontario
bernhard@torontomu.ca
Office:
(416) 979-5000 ext. 557507
Expert In
Bio/Research
I am a tenured full professor with over 25 years of university teaching and research experience in the areas of diverse children and families in early childhood education settings. I also serve as associate director of field education. Along with my colleagues at Toronto Metropolitan University, ...
Click to Expand >>
Click to Expand >>
Bio/Research
I am a tenured full professor with over 25 years of university teaching and research experience in the areas of diverse children and families in early childhood education settings. I also serve as associate director of field education. Along with my colleagues at Toronto Metropolitan University, we set up the MA program in Early Childhood Studies, and I am also affiliated with the MA program in Immigration and Settlement Studies.
Three of my interdisciplinary projects: The first is a critique of the view that the stages of child development described in standard text-books are universally (cross-culturally) valid. My work examines styles of parenting, degree of child dependence on the parents, methods of discipline, where common approaches assume Western norms are universally applicable, resulting in children being labelled as in need of remedial programs. My second research area explores migrant and refugee families with precarious legal status (e.g., a parent facing deportation) and how they may be empowered to deal successfully with the educational system. Finally, my third area is supporting bilingualism, helping parent and teacher groups with interventions inspired by methods from the Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Click to Shrink <<
Three of my interdisciplinary projects: The first is a critique of the view that the stages of child development described in standard text-books are universally (cross-culturally) valid. My work examines styles of parenting, degree of child dependence on the parents, methods of discipline, where common approaches assume Western norms are universally applicable, resulting in children being labelled as in need of remedial programs. My second research area explores migrant and refugee families with precarious legal status (e.g., a parent facing deportation) and how they may be empowered to deal successfully with the educational system. Finally, my third area is supporting bilingualism, helping parent and teacher groups with interventions inspired by methods from the Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Click to Shrink <<