Date

4-17-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Breck Perry

Keywords

equitable access, military families' needs, high-quality early childhood education and care, policy

Disciplines

Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand accessing early childhood education and care (ECEC) opportunities by military families using government and private programs. The study focused on 12 families who have children ages three to five years old enrolled in an ECEC program. The philosophical foundation used in this study is Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology. The theory provided an underlying construct and structure to understand the interconnectedness of ECEC stakeholders and the impact of government policies on ECEC access. The study explored the lived experiences of military families who seek access to high-quality equitable early childhood education opportunities. The lived experiences of military families were collected through interviews, focus groups, and journal prompts. Explication centered on synthesizing bracketed narratives into thick descriptions, identifying themes, and generating an essence appropriate to hermeneutic phenomenology. This study focused on the gap of unknown lived experiences of military families to understand the problem that military children in the United States do not have equitable access to high-quality early childhood education and care programs. The study found that navigating ECEC access is overwhelming due to an information gap that necessitates relying on a network to identify resources. Extensive waitlists, the COVID-19 pandemic, and distance from extended family create a daunting challenge for military families exacerbated with each relocation.

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