scholarly journals Early childhood educators’ experiences with and perspectives of the Early Learning and Child Care Supplement in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Lynn Russell
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Early Childhood Educator ◽  
Feminist Ethics ◽  
Education And Care

This major research paper presents findings from a qualitative study with eight early childhood educators working in licensed childcare settings in St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador. The study used the political economy of care and feminist ethics of care theory to interpret participants' experiences with and perspectives of the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Supplement in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Based on participants' views, this study's primary findings suggest that participants perceived the ELCC Supplement as an incentive or bonus to top off the low wages of an early childhood educator. Second, participants articulated a shared appreciation of some features of the ELCC Supplement. At the same time, they asserted several dislikes. As we dug deeper, participants reported a significant number of abuses in the distribution of the ELCC Supplement. Finally, the participants shared their thoughts on recommendations for changes to be made to the ELCC Supplement. Key words: Early learning and child care supplement, early childhood educator, early childhood education and care, childcare, care, carework, political economy of care, feminist ethics of care

scholarly journals Early childhood educators’ experiences with and perspectives of the Early Learning and Child Care Supplement in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Lynn Russell
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Early Childhood Educator ◽  
Feminist Ethics ◽  
Education And Care

This major research paper presents findings from a qualitative study with eight early childhood educators working in licensed childcare settings in St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador. The study used the political economy of care and feminist ethics of care theory to interpret participants' experiences with and perspectives of the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Supplement in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Based on participants' views, this study's primary findings suggest that participants perceived the ELCC Supplement as an incentive or bonus to top off the low wages of an early childhood educator. Second, participants articulated a shared appreciation of some features of the ELCC Supplement. At the same time, they asserted several dislikes. As we dug deeper, participants reported a significant number of abuses in the distribution of the ELCC Supplement. Finally, the participants shared their thoughts on recommendations for changes to be made to the ELCC Supplement. Key words: Early learning and child care supplement, early childhood educator, early childhood education and care, childcare, care, carework, political economy of care, feminist ethics of care

scholarly journals Ontario Early Childhood Educators’ understandings of care, carework and care practices in ECEC Program

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Early Childhood Educator ◽  
Major Research ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care Practices

This major research paper presents findings from a critical qualitative inquiry study, that includes how seven registered early childhood educators (RECEs) understand care, carework and care practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The study used a political economy of care theoretical framework. Findings suggest that RECEs feel: (1) their carework is devalued; (2) care and education activities are different; and (3) there are barriers to caring well in ECEC programs. This paper provides recommendations that can potentially assert the value of care in the ECEC sector and aims to modestly give a voice to the marginalized perspectives of RECEs on the value of their carework in ECEC programs. Key words: Early childhood education and care, care, carework, registered early childhood educator, political economy of are, maternalism, feminization, marginalized, racialization, critical qualitative inquiry

scholarly journals Ontario Early Childhood Educators’ understandings of care, carework and care practices in ECEC Program

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Early Childhood Educator ◽  
Major Research ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care Practices

This major research paper presents findings from a critical qualitative inquiry study, that includes how seven registered early childhood educators (RECEs) understand care, carework and care practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The study used a political economy of care theoretical framework. Findings suggest that RECEs feel: (1) their carework is devalued; (2) care and education activities are different; and (3) there are barriers to caring well in ECEC programs. This paper provides recommendations that can potentially assert the value of care in the ECEC sector and aims to modestly give a voice to the marginalized perspectives of RECEs on the value of their carework in ECEC programs. Key words: Early childhood education and care, care, carework, registered early childhood educator, political economy of are, maternalism, feminization, marginalized, racialization, critical qualitative inquiry

Caring about care: Reasserting care as integral to early childhood education and care practice, politics and policies in Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-322
Author(s):  
Rachel Langford ◽  
Brooke Richardson ◽  
Patrizia Albanese ◽  
Kate Bezanson ◽  
Susan Prentice ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Feminist Ethics ◽  
Care Policy ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Early Childhood Settings

Care and education have deep historical divisions in the Canadian policy landscape: care is traditionally situated as a private, gendered, and a welfare problem, whereas education is seen as a universal public good. Since the early 2000s, the entrenched divide between private care and public education has been challenged by academic, applied and political settings mainly through human capital investment arguments. This perspective allocates scarce public funds to early childhood education and care through a lens narrowly focused on child development outcomes. From the investment perspective, care remains a prerequisite to education rather than a public good in its own right. This chapter seeks to disrupt this neoliberal, human capital discourse that has justified and continues to position care as subordinate to education. Drawing upon the feminist ethics of care scholarship of philosopher Virginia Held, political scientist Joan Tronto, and sociologist Marian Barnes, this chapter reconceptualizes the care in early childhood education and care rooted through four key ideas: (1) Care is a universal and fundamental aspect of all human life. In early childhood settings, young children’s dependency on care is negatively regarded as a limitation, deficit and a burden. In contrast, in educational settings, older children’s growing abilities to engage in self-care and self-regulate is viewed positively. We challenge this dependence/independence dichotomy. (2) Care is more than basic custodial activities. The premise that care is focused on activities concerned with the child’s body and emotions, while education involves activities concerned with the mind, permeates early childhood education and care policy. Drawing on Held’s definition of care as value and practice, we discuss why this mind-body dualism is false. (3) Care in early childhood settings can be evaluated as promoting well-being or, in contradiction to the meaning of care, as delivering poor services that result in harm to young children. We will explore the relevancy of Barnes’s contention that parallel to theorizing about good care in social policy, “we need to be able to recognize care and its absence” through the cultivation of “ethics sensibilities and skills applied in different practices in different contexts.” (4) Care must be central to early childhood education and care policy deliberation. Using Tronto’s concept of a “caring democracy,” we discuss how such deliberation can promote care and the caring responsibilities of educators in early childhood settings, thereby redressing long standing gendered injustices. We argue that these four ideas can be framed in advocacy messages, in ways that bridge the silos of care and education as separate domains and which open up the vision of an integrated early childhood education and care system. A feminist ethics of care perspective offers new possibilities for practitioners, advocates, researchers, and decision-makers to reposition and reclaim care as integral to the politics and policies of early childhood education and care.

scholarly journals Child care and COVID: Precarious communities in distanced times

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-326
Author(s):  
Beth Blue Swadener ◽  
Lacey Peters ◽  
Dana Frantz Bentley ◽  
Xiomara Diaz ◽  
Marianne Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
The Other ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
The Us ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
The Individual

Drawing from an analysis of responses to COVID affecting the ECCE sector in the US, including the narratives of early childhood educators, we engage with several questions. These include: How is care work with children constructed and affected by COVID-19? How might current responses and policies be understood through the lens of social citizenship and the collective/the individual? How do these issues reflect the precarity of the ECCE sector? How are embodied and emotional aspects of care work manifesting in early educator/caregiver lives in the time of the pandemic? Who is caring for the caregivers and what care may be needed? How can we re-imagine the care of ourselves, and in relation to an ethics of care for the other?

Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Johnston ◽  
Leah Shoemaker ◽  
Nicole Land ◽  
Aurelia Di Santo ◽  
Susan Jagger
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Child Care ◽  
Education And Care

The field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Canada has been informed by a myriad of influences and these factors continue to shift and shape the curriculum, pedagogy, research, and practice in Canadian ECEC. Historically, following many of the theories and practices embraced by the United States, early child-care centers, day nurseries, and kindergartens were established to alleviate pressures on overcrowded schools and allow for mothers to work outside of the home. At the same time, Canadian child care took on a broader role in social welfare and later social justice, working to reduce inequities and inequality. These motivations have not been shared across all ECEC, and this is particularly evident in Indigenous early education. Here, Indigenous children and families have endured the horror of the residential school system and its legacy of colonialism, trauma, and cultural genocide. Along with these underpinning histories, Canadian ECEC has been informed by, is continuing to be shaped by, and is beginning to be guided by a number of models and movements in early learning. These include developmentalism, child-centered pedagogies, Reggio Emilia approaches, children’s rights, holistic education, the reconceptualist movement, and postdevelopmentalism, and many of these approaches are not mutually exclusive. Finally, the policies and practices at federal, provincial, and municipal levels and the unique tensions between these levels of government structure Canadian ECEC policy and practice. Provincial and Indigenous early learning frameworks are created to enhance educator understandings and application of program principles, values, and goals, and these embrace responsive relationships with children and families, reflective practice, the importance of the environment and play in learning, and respect of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to name but a few shared principles. Taken together, the complexity of ECEC in Canada is clear, with historical approaches and attitudes continuing to preserve structures that devalue children and those who work with them, while concurrently efforts continue to honor the rights and voices of all children, advocate for professionalization in the field of ECEC, and reveal and reconcile past and current truths and injustices in Indigenous children’s education and care, in order to support and heal all children, families, and communities.

scholarly journals Developing an Integrated Model to Early Childhood Education and Care in Vietnam: Perspectives of Early Childhood Educators

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-65
Author(s):  
Thanh Van Thai ◽  
Hien Ngoc Nguyen ◽  
An Nhu Nguyen ◽  
Thu Hung Phan ◽  
Hung Van Bui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

The partnership between school, family and community for the development and care of children has been interested in research by many scientists. This study aims to investigate Vietnamese early childhood educators’ perspectives on an integrated model to early childhood education and care in Vietnam. A self-assessment tool with 5 standards and 15 criteria was administered to 420 teachers working in 30 kindergartens across 6 provinces of Vietnam. The self-assessment tool considered 5 areas of the school, family and community partnerships, including: planning and building childcare education environments; connecting and sharing information between the school, family and the community in child care and education; coordinating in individual child education; making decisions about policies related to child care and education; and evaluating child development. Through average score analysis, the results show that early childhood educators in Vietnam stressed the significance of school, family and community involvement in early childhood education and care.

scholarly journals Animating a Curriculum Framework Through Educator Co-Inquiry: Co-Learning, Co-Researching, and Co-Imagining Possibilities

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-53
Author(s):  
Jane Hewes ◽  
Tricia Lirette ◽  
Lee Makovichuk ◽  
Rebekah McCarron
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Transmission Modes ◽  
Curriculum Frameworks ◽  
Curriculum Framework

The shift toward a pedagogical foundation for professional practice in early childhood along with the introduction of curriculum frameworks in early learning and child care, calls for approaches to professional learning that move beyond transmission modes of learning towards engaged, localized, participatory models that encourage critical reflection and investigation of pedagogy within specific settings. In this paper, we describe ongoing participatory research that explores educator co-inquiry as an approach to animating a curriculum framework. A story of curriculum meaning making that opened a hopeful space for critical pedagogical reflection and changed practice serves as a basis for deeper reflection.

scholarly journals Thinking with Doors and Perspectives: Reimagining Early Childhood Spaces

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Sherry Rose ◽  
Kim Stewart ◽  
Candace Gallagher ◽  
Pam Malins
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Communal Responsibility

This paper explores, through a posthumanist lens, child care as a communal responsibility, taking into account varied partial perspectives produced through human and more-than-human intra-actions. Multiple narratives illustrate embodied and experienced complexities within child care spaces allowing us to reflect on uncomfortable truths to enact affirmative ethics as a way to transform the ways we care for children, their families, each other, and the spaces of child care. Specifically, we think with actual and virtual doors as producers and enablers to create spaces where early childhood educators might collaboratively interrogate how materiality and socially constructed hierarchies are embedded in the inequities that separate us, inequities further exposed and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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