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.