Week 12: Summary of unit

Throughout this semester I greatly enjoyed learning about ethics within early childhood and I certainly opened up to my own beleifs and values of children. My main beleif as a future educator comes from John Walls beleif that all children are interdependant and most importantly are equal to adults. I beleive that children should not be seen or treated through adult assumptions, rather children should be seen as equal human beings that are capable of expressing themselves just like adults only in their own way. These ways include the one hundred languages of children. Children can express their beleifs and feelings through many different forms such as: art, science, voice, play, maths and many more. Children should have the right to choice and freedom to express themselves however they want. Children learn through their play which should not be undermined by adults who cannot see the significance of this play. Through play children investigate, discover, collaborate, research, experiment, invent and dream with themselves or with others.

I beleive all children have the right to engage in play and make choices no matter what their sex, culture, race, religion, ability or disability may be. All children should be included within early childhood environments and should never experience discrimination or exclusion.

This semester has overall made me understand the many ethical issues that may potentially arise within my practice as an educator and the importance of understanding my own ethical beleifs and values before beginning my future work with young children and their families.

Week 11: Recap of class with quest speaker

A few weeks ago Alex Kuklik a Barrister came to talk to us about our legal responsibilities as future early childhood teachers. I throroughly enjoyed this session and learnt alot from Alex that I wasnt aware of prior to class. Firstly I realised how large my responsibilty as a teacher is towards the duty of care of young children. There are many penalties towards teacher's who fail to supervise children, use inappropriate discipline, fail to keep children aware from harm and hazards and allowing unauthorised persons on the premises. The offence that suprised me the most was the offence relating to required programs for example the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), teachers must keep adequate physical documentation to prove the education for each individual child. I did not realise centres could be fined for this, however I think its wonderful that this is put into place as it gives the EYLF some importance within preschools.

Following this Alex taught us about the different types of discrimmination that could be found within the early childhood environment including racial, disability, sex and homosexuality. These are all great acts and will ensure that no one is excluded whether it be parents, staff or children within the early childhood environment. A little while back in class, we had a case study based on homosexuality and the issue of a parent who didnt want their child to play with another child who had gay parents, I also wrote about this in my (Week 7) post. The discrimination act under the grounds of homosexuality supports my beleive within my week 7 post and strongly supports the directors arguement towards the mother who didnt not want her child playing with another child with gay parents. The act states that it is; "unlawful for an educational authority to discriminate against a student on the ground of homosexuality". This act can be used to explain to the mother that the centre cannot exclude the child who has homosexual parents in any way.

These acts and laws make me as a future educator feel much more supported and comfortable when conflict based on children's rights and ethics arise.

Week 7: social justice model

Within the first few weeks of class we discussed many moral and ethical issues that can potentially arise in any early childhood centre. One was about a parent at the centre wanting her child to play separately from a child who had homosexual parents. Originally as a class we came up with multiple suggestions such as talking to the parent and educating her about gay and lesbian parents and informing her that they are just like anyone else in the centre. Another suggestion was to separate the children via the days they attend kindergarten for example having the child with homosexual parents attend on certain days that were not the same as the child with heterosexual parents. After coming up with a social justice model as a class last week we concluded that social justice is about normalizing difference, respecting and valueing, equality and fairness, inclusion, acceptance and equal opportunity. We mentioned that it is a big responsibility as early childhood teachers to ensure inclusion and the normalization of difference. In relation to this social justice model I decided I had changed my mind about the original decision made about separating the homosexual and heterosexual parents children when attending the centre. Based upon social justice I do not think this is right at all as it completely goes against the normalization of diversity. I came up with a different decision based upon my current beleifs about social justice. As a director I would make very clear within my centre philosophy the centres believes about diversity and equality, I would emphasize respect and value amongst all people and children. By making the centres philosophy clear and by ensuring the centre lives the philosophy every day the parents will understand the centres believes before they enrol. Parents with strong issues about difference can therefore decide not to attend the centre if they wish.

Week 6: social justice and our responsibility as teachers

This week in class we discussed social justice and our duty of care as early childhood teachers. What came to mind the most was that many teachers often claim that they are being socially just and that their centres accept diversity and respect all children within their care. If you read many early childhood centre philosophies it can be seen that they all are aware of inclusion, diversity and discrimination. The centres beleive they are doing the right thing by accepted all children no matter what their skin colour, their background or their gender for example. However most of these centres are in reality not putting to practice their own ideas and values. For example the centre may be full of anglosaxon middle class children, so it is therefore not right to claim that the centre is diverse. Perhaps teachers need to think about what they cannot see in the centre rather than what is there. In other words teachers need to question why their centre is not diverse rather than trying to find diversity where their is not. Centres I beleive need to include diversity and respect through every single aspect, a very small example is having books in the centre written by authors from all over the world and being aware of this. The community is also very important in helping to make a change to the society around the centre, a teacher cannot change this on her own.

Week 5: Children at Risk

Today we did a case on children at risk and our responsibilities as early childhood teachers to mandatory report any case in which children are at significant harm. This topic is a tough one to discuss as it shows the realities of how life can be for some children who really have no power over adults. As a future EC teacher I need to be aware that these realities may well be present amongst the children within my care. We discussed a number of different scenarios some more severe than others however all scenarios brought upon issues of some form of abuse to children whether it be very minor neglect to strong physical and emotional abuse. By using an ethical decision making cycle I found it made the decision making process a little easier and clearer, we also used a decision tree to identify what action to take when presented with certain situations.

Overall I understand that I must act within the best interests of the children as my duty of care, and I hope I don't come across any forms of neglect or abuse in my practice as a teacher however I am aware that I need to be prepared.

Week 4: Speaking about death in early childhood

Today I was involved in a case study which lead the class in discussing the issues around death and whether early childhood teachers should discuss this amongst young children, is it too much for them to handle? Or do we need to expose them to the truths of life?

The situation we discussed in particular was the death of a pet guinea pig that the children had been looking after for a month at the centre. As early childhood educators it is a tough decision to make based on how we would discuss the death of the guinea pig the children loved very much. I think it is a little easier for parents to discuss death with children as they would say what they beleive based on the families morals and religious believes. As an educator it is much harder to discuss as their are much more stakeholders involved, their is a wide range of diverse religious background found within early childhood centres. One of the ideas the class had was to contact the parents first and inform them that the centre will be discussing the topic of death next week and will do so unless anyone does not aggree with it. The other issue is what to do with the guinea pig, should you bury it, dispose of it or cremate it? It was suggested that maybe we could ask the children what they think we should do? This allows them to create their own opinions and have a voice to make their own decisions. However it is very unlikely that all the children will agree, some children may beleive in burying the guinea pig while others may not.

This is obviously a large ethical issue and educators need to be prepared before they introduce pets into the centre. There is no right or wrong answer here with how to discuss death with children. Educators need to be aware of the impacts death may have on children such as: grieving, bed wetting, a behaviour change, bringing up the topic over and over or avoiding the topic all together. All children deal with situations differently and I beleive it is crucial for educators to be wary of this. There are also many resources out their to help with discussing this topic with children such as: reading books about death or discussing the life cycle of a range of living things, so that children understand that death is a natural way of life.

Week 3: What ethical stances are meaningful to me?

I can't completely think about all my ethical stances as I could probably think of millions and I am constantly developing new ones as I grow as both a person and an educator. So far in class we have discussed a few ethical issues that I have developed strong opinions about. My first ethical stance and a very general one is that everyone has the right as a human being to have a say and participate in any aspect of life they wish no matter what their situation is. In saying this I beleive that people with disabilities in particular should be treated as capable beings and should have the right to participate on the same basis as those without a disability.

Another issue we discussed in class regarded gay and lesbians. We looked at a scenario where a child at an early childhood centre had two dads, a mother complained that her child was coming home and talking about her friend haing two dads and she was not happy about this. This issue arose as to how we as teachers would handle the situation. I personally respect those who are gay and lesbian, I beleive they should be treated as human beings just like anybody else, however at the same time I need to respect the mothers opinion.

At the moment their is a push for those who are severely disabled as a result of birth to receive a payment just like someone who becomes disabled due to a car accident. From an equal opportunity perspective this is what would be fair and I think I would take on this perspective myself as I beleive they deserve some sort of financial help as it's not their fault.

As a whole I think I personally take on the perspective of a rights-based approach and an equal opportunity approach when discussing human ethics. However I understand that nothing is black and white, and especially as a teacher I need to take on the perspectives from all persons involved.

Week 2: 'to crib or not to crib'

In class today an issue was raised about child liberty and whether babies should be placed in cribs or not? The article being 'to crib or not to crib' raises concerns about placing babies in cribs to sleep. The argument being that cribs restrict the babies movements and don't allow them to make choices of their own, as the article states; "infant beds are designed to restrict the baby to bed". The article also states that the child is dependent on the parents to place him/her in the crib which also means he/she is dependent on the parents to get them out which usually means the child has to cry to get the attention of the parents. I guess the issues here are is it ethical to restrict your baby in a crib or should they have the right to sleep on a low bed where they can freely choose whether to stay in the bed or not and can have the ability to access his/her toys when he/she pleases. I guess there is no real right answer here as no parent would want to make their child feel restricted or locked up, parents don't usually think about this issue when they buy a crib as majority of society accepts the use of cribs. On the other side I beleive cribs are made in order to keep the child safe from harm while the parents are sleeping as the reality is a young infant is always going to be dependent on the parent as they don't have the mobility to get around by themselves and if a parent were sleeping while the baby is not restricted in some way the baby could get hurt.

Week 1: My believes and ethics

I have not thought about this question much, but I guess if I were to say what my main believes are, I would say that I beleive everyone has the right to have a say and participate in all areas of life that they wish. I beleive no one deserves to feel like a minority or to be discriminated against, including young children whom I beleive are seen as less important members of society compared to adults. I beleive it is important for us to respect each others believes and opinions as well as our own...