Enthusiasm of a Novice ECE

Enthusiasm of a Novice ECE
by Debra Mayer

As a novice early childhood educator at a preschool centre, you are excited to work with children. You spend hours at home going through all the resources you compiled while an ECE student. You find lots of appropriate ideas to jump start theme-related circle times and numerous children's play experiences. Each evening, you are busy organizing for the next day's fun. Work is so rewarding! However, some staff aren't as open and friendly as you would have hoped and others trivialize your efforts.

One day in the staff room, you talk with a colleague who saw how enthralled the children were with your activity: painting with the ice-cubes. Laughing, you ask if she noticed how reluctant Jamila was to touch the ice initially, and then how she could hardly tear herself away when it was time to move on. The ECE complains, "You're making other staff look bad by being such an eager beaver." She comments that it won't be long before you are doing your activities on the spur of the moment. "You'll figure out the real world of ECE …just takes some of you longer than others." You are taken aback and don't know how to respond. You feel hurt and angry.

You really believe that developing and operating a good quality program doesn't happen on its own; it takes work. You remember your instructors saying that you need to reflect on your practices to create positive learning for children. That's part of being a professional. Yet later in the week, you notice that no one else seems to prepare for their group the way you do. You begin to think, "Maybe that other staff was right….maybe it is different in the REAL world of ECE."

What do you do?

What is your first reaction? Here are some examples. You might …not care what others think, or... express your anger at the staff for being so unprofessional or…feel frustrated and "set up" by your college training. Many feelings may emerge. It's important to recognize your own emotional responses because they are the window into your personal values. Try to capture the most important value in this situation. It may be to do your best or to fit in with the team. This helps you realize which way you are naturally leaning.

The Code of Ethics is your guide to identifying the best choice for action. Read each of the eight principles, and consider which are relevant to this dilemma. Remember, although the principles are numbered one to eight, they are all equally important. Typically, when you feel conflicted about what to do, two or more principles are in opposition to one another. Which ones are they for this situation? If you try this activity with classmates or colleagues, you will realize that the principles in conflict for you may be different than for others. List the principles in conflict. For example:

  • working in partnership with colleagues…to support the well-being of children and their families
  • enabling children to participate to their full potential in environments carefully planned to serve individual needs
  • demonstrating integrity in all of your professional relationships
  • working in ways that enhance human dignity in trusting, caring and co-operative relationships

Now generate a list of all the stakeholders, or the people your course of action may effect: colleagues at the centre; children in your group; parents of these children; your supervisor; the director; the board of directors; the licensing authority; your own family members; yourself, etc. Consider the situation from each person’s perspective.

Some questions may emerge: Why aren't all staff putting in the same effort? Is unpaid planning time a bone of contention at this centre? Is the centre philosophy typical of emergent curriculum or of theme based planning? What are parents' expectations for their children's learning? Are the children having fun and learning? Are there policies that guide planning? These reflect just a few possible stakeholder questions. Don't worry about answering them yet – just remain open to the possibilities.

Brainstorm possible actions. Don't evaluate them yet; list the range of actions you might take. For example, you could: ignore the colleague's comments; continue doing your own thing in the best interests of the children; talk to the director about the crummy attitude of some staff; ask for feedback on how you are doing; be less exuberant in your activities; raise the concern at a staff meeting; begin looking for another job; make an anonymous call to the licensing authority about the laissez-faire programming; or stop planning at home.

Finally, what are the consequences to each stakeholder for each possible course of action? For example, if you complained to the centre's director, would colleagues lose their jobs? If children are bored and short changed in their program, will they be less likely to succeed once they enter the school system? If you graduated with a $20,000 student loan, can you quit your job on principle?

Once you have systematically considered all these factors you are ready to make the difficult "best choice." Your guiding principle is to “cause the least amount of avoidable harm.” The decision you ultimately make declares publicly which principle is the most meaningful in this situation.

Your "best" choice integrates your feeling and thinking processes, crystallizes your values, and hangs them upon a scaffold of ethical principles for child care practitioners. This in turn helps you to become more responsible, effective, self-actualized and fulfilled as a child care professional. So, what do you choose?

Debra Mayer is an early childhood consultant and teaches ECE students for the University of Winnipeg and Assiniboine Community College. She sits on the MCCA Ethics Committee and has helped create the momentum for ethical training in Manitoba.

Interaction, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2002, p. 15-16.