Beyond the physical: an "ethic of care" in early childhood education

Abstract

This thesis presents an exploratory study of early childhood educators' philosophies and practices as they dealt with difficult situations in their centre contexts. Data used in the study were drawn from a postal survey of early childhood educators' ethical concerns undertaken with respondents from kindergarten, childcare, playcentre and te kohanga reo settings. Respondents' descriptions of difficult situations that they had faced, and their considerations of how to deal with these situations, were analysed using an analysis of narrative approach (Polkinghorne, 1995). Four significant themes emerged from the analysis. The first three themes: notions of professionalism; advocating on behalf of children; and educators' perspectives on relationships with parents are argued to reside within the overarching theme of caring: a philosophy of early childhood education. Key results from the project include an articulation of what early childhood educators in this study identified as constituting professional behaviour, and the widening of traditional views of caring in early childhood education as a physical activity to include the concept of an ethic of caring (Noddings, 1984). The thesis concludes with a discussion on the issues and implications arising from this study.