Purposeful and Ethical Early Childhood Teacher: The Underlying Values Guiding Finnish Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Purpose The new Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2018) strongly highlights pedagogical knowledge and practice, demanding teachers to develop their pedagogical thinking, evaluation, judgment, and operating culture. Since ethics is viewed as vital characteristics of the teaching profession, our objective is to make these complex ethical issues more visible to be subject to democratic discussion and change. Design/Approach/Methods The framework comprises a broad theory base of codes of ethics and professional codes of ethics of teaching. The research materials were national curricula of early childhood education and care (ECEC)- and preprimary education. The eight-step qualitative analysis process was applied to identify and shed light on the codes of ethics laying the foundations for purposeful and ethical early childhood education (ECE) teacher. Findings The results indicate that through both theoretical lenses, the Finnish ECEC curricula comprise several ethical codes. For the future purposeful ECE teachers as ethical professionals, the results raise questions for further discussion. Particularly, issues related to the ethics of care, intellectual freedom, inquiry stance, and professional competence, and diversity may further enhance our ECEC curricula. Originality/Value During recent decades, the ethics concerning ECEC have gained increasing global attention. Particularly, there is a large international consensus considering ECEC as a prominent policy equalizing opportunities.

Ethical Codes for Early Childhood Teachers: How and Why Should We Use Them

“…They represent two different approaches toward how the ethics of caring for children can be meaningful and result in professional pride (Eidsvåg) or professional happiness (Zhang et al) According to Eidsvåg (2022), colleagues' caring for one another and their students and implementing common virtues can be considered sustainable and justifiable care. This perspective corresponds to that of Melasalmi et al (2022) insofar as the ethics of community reflected in the Finnish curriculum documents for ECEC identify collective professional collaboration as decisive for ethical practice.…”

“…In the second article, Melasalmi et al (2022) explore how ethical codes and regulations are articulated in ECE and pre-primary education curriculum documents (FNAE, 2014(FNAE, , 2018 in Finland. The authors analyze these curriculum documents through the lens of the ethical codes developed by Shweder and colleagues (Shweder et al, 1997;Shweder & Haidt, 1993) and by considering professional ethics (Principles of the Comenius Oath; Sirotnik, 1990;Strike & Soltis, 2009).…”

“…Furthermore, early childhood teachers are responsible for children's well-being, care, and protection. Although care is extended to more than basic physical care to include social and emotional care and the cultivation of positive relationships, Melasalmi et al (2022) call for a more explicit focus on care itself as well as in relation to learning in both curriculum documents.…”

“…Based on their analysis of Finnish curriculum documents, Melasalmi et al (2022) argue that ethical codes are important for framing the socialization of newcomers and students as members of the profession. Ethical codes are important because they inform students and teachers of the values and norms of the profession.…”

“…Indeed, the terms “code of ethics,” “code of conduct,” “ethical principles,” and “ethical standards” are used interchangeably. Ethical codes can also be implicit or explicit in curriculum documents or other guidelines for early childhood education (Melasalmi et al, 2022). Although global influence and communication have resulted in more common values and ethical codes across countries (Gunnestad et al, 2022), cultural, societal, and political conditions and understandings of professionalism play a key role in how ethical codes and values are perceived and contextualized (Golubeva & Kaniņš, 2017; Gunnestad et al, 2022; van Nuland; 2009).…”