Care-full pedagogy: Conceptualizing feminist care ethics as an overarching critical framework to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism within post-secondary early childhood education programs

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical provocation through conceptualizing a pedagogy of care as a means of caring with students and each other to interrupt the dominance of developmentalism in Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs. The authors’ conceptualization of care -full as pedagogy is rooted in the premises that education is always ethical and political, and caring about, for and with others is necessary to establish equitable, democratic spaces at the post-secondary level. In contrast to the developmental framework embraced in many Canadian post-secondary early childhood education programs, the authors describe how a critical, care -full overarching pedagogical framework provides room for educators and students to deeply and meaningfully explore developmentalism and other theoretical frameworks. They argue that a pedagogy of care rooted in feminist care ethics and Freire's critical theory can contribute to establishing a safe learning climate where developmentalism can be critiqued and alternative ways to think about children's development can be contested, explored and debated. As the authors are conceptualizing it, a care-full pedagogical framework intentionally supports the intellectual, ethical and political risk-taking necessary for critique and alternative thinking. They follow this provocation through by imagining what a care -full pedagogy might look and feel like in a post-secondary early childhood education course on child development.

How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy of Oppression?: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Ontario’s Early Years Pedagogical Framework

“…The Ontario government's neoliberal stance on education policy and curriculum oppresses ECEs through the marketization of services, which in turn encourages profits over quality, performance evaluation, and surveillance of professional expectations (Cotton, 2001;Courtney, 2016;A. Davies et al, 2022;Johnston, 2021;Perryman et al, 2017;Richardson & Langford, 2022). This oppression is amplified by poor working conditions, the absence of supports, and burnout.…”

“…ECEs, on the other hand, were not offered early access to vaccines or wage top-ups, nor were they provided with ventilation systems or masks as quickly as schools (A. Davies et al, 2022;Richardson & Langford, 2022).…”

Early childhood educators reflect on their conversations with parents about children’s diverse gender expression

“…Critical Queer Childhood Framework: Many critical ECE researchers and theorists suggest that discourses in developmental early childhood education have created universalized approaches that are commonly used to classify, distribute, and regulate children's bodies (Burke & Duncan, 2014;MacNaughton, 2005;Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2015;Richardson & Langford, 2022;Varga, 2011). Dyer (2017) describes how a "model of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) can be destructive to some children's imaginative and social capacities when not attuned to their possible queer presents and futures" (p. 291).…”

“…A critical shift focuses away from the individual child produced through developmentally appropriate practice models towards more fluid understandings of gender informed by children's affective relations within early learning spaces. This turn to a more critical queer approach is important given developmentally appropriate practice continues to be highly influential and dominant in the Canadian ECE field (Richardson & Langford, 2022). As Richardson and Langford (2022) state, "as college and university educators who have taught ECE students for many years, we are troubled by this dominance because it limits opportunities for students to engage with different perspectives on children's development and experiences" (p. 409).…”

“…This turn to a more critical queer approach is important given developmentally appropriate practice continues to be highly influential and dominant in the Canadian ECE field (Richardson & Langford, 2022). As Richardson and Langford (2022) state, "as college and university educators who have taught ECE students for many years, we are troubled by this dominance because it limits opportunities for students to engage with different perspectives on children's development and experiences" (p. 409). Therefore, in this study, the use of a critical queer childhood framework allows opportunity to explore alternative ways of thinking about gender when working with educators, children, and their families.…”