ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on the interplay between insider and outsider relationships in terms of gaining access to each research site, establishing researcher roles, negotiating differences in languages and translating, as well as interpreting, early childhood concepts from varied cultural perspectives. The tension between "insider–outsider perspectives," as it has recently been recognized, is central to contemporary comparative and international education. The authors provide held privileged insider access to the dominant discourse being taught, they were situated as outsiders trying to access the participants' emic, cultural perspectives on childrearing. The field of comparative education is particularly concerned with the study of education-related issues worldwide, rather than simply comparing educational systems. However, in spite of our own transformation through the research process, the transformation that was happening in the classroom is yet to lead to radical reconstruction and democratization of early childhood teacher education.
