In Early Years/Reception Phase, Is ‘Caring’ Valued Or Under Threat?
Introduction
The early years of a child are critical in determining the future temperaments of a child. During the first years of the child, it is crucial to provide good quality care, avail adequate learning opportunities to the child, give proper nutrition, and offer sufficient community support of the child’s family. When these essential requirements are met, the child acquires the ability to adequately develop their cognitive, social, and psychomotor skills (Ann and Abigael, 2003). It is also essential to render a listening ear to the children. Bath (2013) posits that listening to children is a critical aspect of developing confidence in a child. Listening to children is, therefore, considered as an ethics of care in early childhood development. A child who is properly taken care of, in the long run, develops excellent attachment relationships, good interpersonal skills are they are more likely to face life more confidently.
Relational Pedagogy: Gender And Work With Young Children
Brownlee and Joanne (2005) explain that education, as well as teaching, and learning, have a very close relationship. These processes are associated in the sense that one aspect complements the other. Relational pedagogy, therefore, seeks to provide a conceptual framework on how different factors, such as; the level of education of early childhood education teachers and their epistemological beliefs, will significantly predict the extent to which a teacher will provide care to a child. At the same time, relational pedagogy tries to unravel the relationship between the gender of the early childhood teacher and the quality of care provided to the child. Jo and Vina (2015) argue that early childhood education has, for a long time, been considered as the most gender-biased profession. They further explain that there is a need to make this sector deliver a pedagogy that is gender flexible. A need to build a workforce that is of mixed gender. In most countries, early childhood education has been associated with the female gender. Most countries harbor the notion that female teachers will offer a more all-rounded training to children than male teachers.
Brownlee & Joane (2005) sought to establish an understanding between gender, personal epistemological beliefs, and how they are related to pedagogical practice in early childhood education. After interviewing several women, 135 to be precise, from both academic and non-academic backgrounds to interrogate the extent of their way of thinking and development in cognitive, moral and identity issues, they come into a conclusion that epistemological beliefs are socially constructed and that women are more inclined to working with young children more flexibly than men. For early childhood teachers to deliver effectively, they must carry out an interrogation of their knowledge base in early childhood education and evaluate their epistemological beliefs regarding the provision of care to young children.
Brownlee & Joane (2005) further postulates that early childhood teachers who harbor relativistic views and are reflective of their knowledge base tend to engage in constructivist teaching practices, and they are more likely to develop teaching and learning practices that are more active than those who hold dualistic beliefs. A relativistic teacher is more likely to deliver connected teaching as opposed to a dualistic teacher. The primary outcome of connected teaching is that it enables a balance between relational (the ability of children to access their own experiences) and impersonal way of learning (encouraging the learner to learn from others, especially the experts) (Brownlee & Joane, 2005). They argue that relational pedagogy to be successful is dependent on mutual respect between the child peers and teachers. They further explain that the act of learning being an emotional process, cognitive and affective dimensions are, therefore, inseparable (Belenky et al., 1986).
Care, Feminism And Ethics
Van and Ogunbanjo (2014) argue that for a long time, there has been and a constant debate on what feminism is and how it related to the care of young children. Different feminist waves that emerged during different periods fronted different views about the meaning of feminism. The first feminist wave fought for the rights of women. Feminists of this era challenged the assumption that women are inferior beings. They argued that they should be allowed to vote just like their male counterparts. The second wave feminism sought to demystify the assumption that the ultimate role of women is bearing children. They refused to be assigned a biological function. The third wave feminists argued that women’s specificity and ability to perform the role of care selflessly gives leeway to abuse of that caring. However, what is mutually agreeable by whatever feminist wave is that care is a core feminist value. Women are said to have been endowed with the disposition of benevolence; they can perform caring acts effortlessly. Lisa (2008) points out that the term “caring” has become a widespread word in the education sector. In the understanding of many people, caring only embodies showing the young children love through sweet smiles and warm hugs. Lisa (2008) further argues that seeing care in this light is misconstrued and detrimental. Instead, she suggests a feminist moral theory (ethics of care) to develop a more inclusive understanding of caring that takes into consideration its deep ethical, experiential, and philosophical roots. The ethics of care will, therefore, be used to shed light on what it means to be caring and loving teachers.
The Nature of the Teaching Profession: Performativity and Accountability
Understanding the teaching profession is a complex process. Ursula, 2016) points out that one of the difficulties surrounding the meaning of teaching standards is that they are dynamic; they are ever-evolving. Teaching standards that were ideal in the 20th century are considered outdated in the 21st century. Nations worldwide are agitating to brand themselves as admirable educational destinations. Because of this lobbying, institutions are now under pressure from the governments re-define the learning process, expectations of learners from the teachers, and the impetus of teaching profession in general to suit the international specifications (Ursula, 2016). Holloway and Brass (2018) argue that, for the past three decades, national and state systems of education are adopting a test-based and numbers-driven accountability criterion to propel their educational agenda. They further argue that, in a situation where the country is more concerned with the outputs and efficiency as opposed to inputs and practices, the concept of teacher performance is to be understood as that that can be quantified or measured using different measurement tools and performance benchmarks. Similarly, privatization and New Public Management strategies have come up with new modalities to address the inefficiencies and weaknesses in the teaching profession.
In his work on performativity, Ball (2003) suggests critical policy technologies, namely; markets, performativity, and managerialism, which have worked perfectly well to realign professions in the public sector like teaching to the ethics, values, and cultures of the private sector with a sole purpose of improving productivity. The work of market technologies is to promote the level of competition both at the individual and school level. Managerial techniques are essential in the management of behavior aimed at promoting self-discipline and teamwork mentality that work towards the betterment of the organization. Performativity technologies will be used to direct the teacher’s behavior towards a set of indicators of quality while at the same time, providing frameworks on how to be competent teachers. Ball (2003) argues that if this model is adopted, the teacher will be more ‘productive.’
Denton and Norris (1979) identified several qualities that an accountable teacher is supposed to possess. They argued that a responsible teacher is one who can; specify performance objectives, diagnose learner’s needs and aspirations, carefully select instructional strategies that suit his learner’s interact with his learners, and carefully evaluate the effectiveness of his instructional methods. However, Ursula (2016) postulates that the educational sector is surrounded by negative pressures from both state and non-state actors. In this kind of environment, therefore, accountability will be used as a means of providing positive motivation to the teachers. It is, however, difficult for teachers to remain true to their professional, ethical values while trying to conform to the demands of the managerial controls. Performativity, on the other hand, holds to the belief that in education; ‘good’ teachers can close the gap of individual student achievements
Reflection On Your Experience: Is Care Valued Or Under Threat?
Before making a presupposition on whether care is valued or is under threat, it is vital to make a reflection on what are the ideal practices of practicing teachers on the ground. According to Pianta, et al. (2005), a child’s success in school depends upon several factors, namely; the extent of care from home caregivers and at school caregivers, the learning environment provided by the school authorities, the preparedness of the teachers in terms of their educational background on early childhood education, and the school program being implemented. If all the above factors are favorable to the child’s needs, the child is likely to do well in both affective and cognitive spheres. From their research, they concluded that care and learning are inseparable. They explain that a child who is given proper care from home is likely to perform well in school.
The question of whether care is valued or under threat is, therefore, debatable. From the above explanation, it is difficult to give a conclusive answer to this question. However, it will be logical to note that many early childhood teachers do not value caregiving as they should. This partly dependent on their attributes (epistemological beliefs) and their level of exposure to early childhood education requirements (level of education on early childhood education). It is, therefore, to conclude that, if care is not taken, care is under threat.
Examples Of Sustaining Care: Appreciative Inquiry, Mindfulness, Wellbeing Initiatives
Appreciative inquiry is an approach that has been used in several fields such as corporate organizations, hospitals, and educational institutions for different purposes. Belinda (2011) explains that the appreciative inquiry model can be used by caregivers in the hospital to give compassionate care to older patients in a hospital. Similarly, early years caregivers can borrow from this model and use it in sustaining attention in young children. Since the model emphasizes the need to use the innate strengths to achieve results, early years caregivers can exploit this model to reduce weaknesses in these children, thus enhancing their happiness.
Albrecht (2018) explains that being mindful of the needs of young children will also go a long way in improving their affective and cognitive aspects. Mindfulness has a very critical role in a child’s early years of education. For one to a teacher to teach children mindfulness, they must be deeply connected to its practices. It is also essential to create a mindful school culture to inculcate mindfulness in children.
Developing well-being initiatives will also go a long way as a means of sustaining care among children. Coates and Howo (2015) explain that well thought out being initiatives for children are likely to improve the child’s mental health significantly. They argue that, just like adults, young children also suffer from stress arising from several factors both at home and at school. To develop these well-being initiatives appropriately, it is crucial to target the child’s source of stress and needs. The well-being initiatives will, therefore, be designed to work against the stressors.
Way Forward
Having discussed several factors that affect a child’s well being, it is crucial to find means and approaches that will be beneficial in the improvement of this sector. Piper and Smith (2003) suggest that change of policy will go a long way in addressing the dilemma faced by early childhood education teachers. They lament that formal educational guidelines, particularly in the UK, concerned with child protection have implemented protection controls that are not primarily concerned with the needs associated with the care of children. They further argue that future policy formulation should be informed by objective research that takes into account the intricacies of caregiving to children. In a nutshell, proper training of early childhood teachers should also be given priority. Teachers should be trained in the best way to care for these children physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally.
References
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