F0cus 0n
What do you think a good early childhood educator should do in this situation?
How can Alicia use the NAEYC Code to
guide her thinking and decision making?
Ethics
Messy Play
The response
In the November 2011 issue of Young
Children, we presented a dilemma
related to messy play. In this analysis of
the dilemma, we pay special attention to
the 2011 reaffirmation and update of the
NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct, which
highlights the importance of nurturing
two-way communication between teachers/caregivers and families and stresses
the importance of ensuring cultural
consistency between children’s homes
and early childhood programs.
This is the situation:
The parent of one of the children in Alicia’s class of 3-year-olds has asked Alicia
to keep her daughter, Mia, clean. She
does not want Mia to participate in any art
or sensory activities that may be messy or
dirty. She tells Alicia,
When Mia’s clothes get dirty, it
is very difficult to remove the paint,
glue, dirt, and other stains she brings
home. We’ve tried every type of
detergent, but nothing works. It’s very
important to me that she looks neat
and clean when she comes to school.
That means I have had to replace
many of her everyday pants, tops,
and dresses. I cannot continue to
spend that extra money.
What’s more, she often gets paint
under her nails and on her hair, arms,
and legs. It is taking me even longer
to give her a bath when she comes
home dirty, and she cries when I have
to wash the stains out of her hair. With
our busy schedule, we don’t have the
time to do this every night. I have to
cook, help my other children with their
homework, and get everyone to bed in
time to wake up early in the morning.
60
Alicia wants to honor the family’s value
that Mia come to school in clean clothes
and certainly understands how hectic
evenings can be for working mothers.
At the same time, she knows how much
Mia enjoys participating in all the activities provided during the school day—
especially the messy ones. Alicia firmly
believes Mia needs these hands-on,
concrete activities to support her development and learning. Alicia also knows how
important it is to Mia to have opportunities to play with her classmates. She is a
social child who enjoys the give-and-take
of the classroom and the choices she can
make each day. Alicia believes it would
be a real disservice to Mia to limit her
choices in the classroom.
The process for resolving
a dilemma
1. Identify the problem and
determine if it involves ethics.
The first step in addressing a workplace
problem is to determine if it involves ethics. To do this you ask whether the terms
right and wrong or fair and unfair can be
applied to the situation. The messy play
situation clearly involves ethics. Alicia
knows that it would be right to honor
the mother’s needs and wishes and that
it would also be right to allow Mia to
engage in sensory and social experiences she enjoys and appears to need.
The next step in addressing a problem is to decide whether it is an ethical
dilemma—a situation that has at least
two possible justifiable resolutions. In
this case there is a conflict between
the needs of the child and the needs of
the parent. This kind of situation is a
complex client case, because it involves
conflicting obligations to individuals to
whom the early childhood educator has
commitments. In looking at this predicament, we can identify two possible reso-
Stephanie Feeney, PhD, is professor emerita of education at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa. She has served on the governing boards of NAEYC and the
National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). Since the
1980s she has been involved in developing and teaching the NAEYC Code of
Ethical Conduct. [email protected]
Nancy Freeman, PhD, is an associate professor of early childhood education at
the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where she is the director of the
Yvonne and Schuyler Moore Child Development Research Center. She chairs the
Governor’s Advisory Committee on Child Care Regulation and is currently the president of the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).
[email protected]
The authors thank everyone who offered their thoughts about how this situation
could be addressed—participants in sessions on professional ethics at the annual
conference of the Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children (OAEYC)
and at the 2011 NAEYC Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, and second-year
early childhood education students at Chemeketa Community College in Salem,
Oregon. Special thanks go to Jannie Umeda, who submitted and analyzed this case
for a course on ethics and professionalism taught at the University of Hawaii.
An archive of the Focus on Ethics columns is available at www.naeyc.org/yc/
columns/focusonethics.
Young Children • March 2012
lutions—each of which could be justified
using the NAEYC Code.
3. Identify the stakeholders
affected by the situation.
• Support the child’s need for sensory
and creative learning experiences and
deny the mother’s request.
We refer to those who are touched
by a dilemma as stakeholders to suggest that they have some stake in the
outcome. Alicia has obligations to the
following people who will be affected by
her decision:
or
• Honor the mother’s wish for the child
not to come home from school dirty by
preventing the child from participating
in messy activities.
2. Identify applicable Core Values.
• Mia, who needs hands-on learning and
deserves to experience a program that
supports all aspects of her development;
Respondents to this dilemma thought
that a number of Core Values could be
applied to the situation:
• Mia’s mother, who has a busy work
schedule and deserves respect from
the school staff and assurance that her
wishes will be respected;
• Base our work on knowledge of how
children develop and learn.
• Mia’s siblings, who also need their
mother’s attention in the evening;
• Appreciate and support the bond
between the child and family.
• Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of
family, culture, community, and society.
• Respect the dignity, worth, and
uniqueness of each individual (child,
family member, and colleague).
• Respect diversity in children, families,
and colleagues.
• Recognize that children and adults
achieve their full potential in the context
of relationships that are based on trust
and respect.
Because so many Core Values are relevant,
Alicia needs to reflect on how they should
be prioritized.
• Herself, as a teacher who is committed
to meeting the needs of the children and
who wants to do her job with professional integrity; and
• Colleagues and administrators, who
have an interest in the quality of the program and its relationship to its clients
and with the community.
4. Look for guidance in
the NAEYC Code.
Respondents’ careful review of the
Code led them to identify 13 Ideals and
Principles that related to responsibilities
to children and another 13 related to
responsibilities to families.
The NAEYC Code emphasizes our
strong historical commitment to sup-
porting all areas of children’s development and an equally strong commitment
(highlighted in the 2011 affirmation of
the Code) to work in close collaboration with children’s families and respect
their needs and wishes. In this situation
Alicia is faced with the thorny dilemma
of determining whether it is more important to honor the relationship with the
mother or the needs of the child.
5. Identify the most ethically
defensible course of action.
There was strong consensus among
those who discussed this case that the
first thing Alicia should do is to seek a
clear understanding of the nature of the
mother’s request. Participants in one
workshop suggested that Alicia should
arrange for a private talk with the
mother in which she sensitively sought
to understand the underlying reason for
her request. They emphasized that it
was important for her to suspend judgment and to listen attentively. Tamara
Trattner, from Chemeketa College in
Salem, Oregon, pointed out, “We have to
be seekers of knowledge; if we just give
our knowledge, it’s not a partnership.”
A number of those discussing the
case conjectured about what the mother
might really mean by the request. Several participants pointed out that some
cultural groups have a strong sense of
pride about sending their children to
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61
Above all, we shall not harm
children. We shall not participate
in practices that are emotionally
damaging, physically harmful,
disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to
children. This principle has precedence over all others in this Code.
— NAEYC Code, Principle 1.1,
Ethical Responsibilities to Children
clean at night, then there are a number
of things that she can do to honor the
mother’s wishes while continuing to
allow the child to participate in messy
activities. Suggestions included having
Mia bring an extra set of clean clothes
from home and helping her change
before she leaves school, washing
clothes at school (contingent on having
a washing machine), tying back long
hair, providing shower caps and big
shirts or smocks for all the children to
wear, and using invisible gloves for the
children (a hand lotion type of protection available in art stores).
school clean and well dressed. They
may feel that dressing their child up
for school reflects their respect for the
teachers and the school as an institution. Other participants pointed out that
families may worry that a dirty child or
dirty clothes may cause the school staff
to think that a child is neglected or that
it could reinforce negative stereotypes
about a group of people.
There was general agreement among
the respondents that the quality of the
communication between families and
school personnel is key in this situation. They emphasized that the teacher
should engage in two-way dialogue and
listen carefully without discounting the
mother’s wishes or judging her viewpoint. They stressed that it was critically
important to understand the parent’s
views and to be aware of and respect
cultural differences.
Modifiy the school program. Schedule messy activities early in the day
or provide longer transitions between
activities so there is more time for thorough cleanup. Or schedule messy play
for a particular day of the week when
Mia’s mother would be less rushed in
the evening. This strategy would also
give her the opportunity to dress Mia
with messy activities in mind.
Trying ethical finesse
If ethical finesse does not work
When Alicia is sure that she understands the meaning of the mother’s
request, she can begin to think about
whether ethical finesse can be applied.
This term refers to strategies that early
childhood professionals might use to
meet the needs of everyone involved in
a situation and to avoid having to make
a difficult decision. In other words it is
a way to arrive at a “win-win” outcome.
Everyone who worked on this case
thought of things that Alicia could do
that could lead to a happy resolution.
Everyone who discussed this case
thought that ethical finesse would
probably be all that was needed in this
situation. However, it is always a good
idea to think about what would happen
if finesse did not work. If that were the
case, Alicia would face a difficult choice.
Help Mia to get home clean. If Alicia
determines that the mother’s request
really is about how hard it is to get Mia
Modify the activities or the program.
These included providing materials that
are easier to clean—washable paint (and
avoiding red paint), playdough instead
of clay, washable markers and other
art media that do not stain people or
clothes—and painting on sidewalks or
fences with water. It was also recommended that children could learn ways
to control materials in order to not get
so dirty.
Tell Mia’s mother that she cannot
honor her request and that she will
not prevent Mia from participating in
messy activities. This approach was
endorsed by some respondents and
could be supported by a number of
items in the NAEYC Code. One person
said, “The priority should always be
what is best for the child.”
As in all ethical situations that involve
children, Alicia must first consider
P-1.1—Above all we shall not harm
children. We shall not participate in
practices that are emotionally damaging,
physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to children. This principle has precedence over all others in this Code.
Other ethical responsibilities to chil-
dren that apply to this case are:
I-1.2—To base program practices upon
current knowledge and research in the
field of early childhood education, child
development, and related disciplines, as
well as on particular knowledge of each
child.
I-1.5—To create and maintain safe and
healthy settings that foster children’s
social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their
dignity and their contributions.
If, after careful observation and reflection, Alicia determines that it would be
detrimental to Mia not to be allowed
to engage in messy activities, then
she would be justified in declining the
mother’s request. She could argue that
excluding Mia from sensory activities
would deprive her of meaningful learning experiences and would be harmful
to her development (especially, as one
person pointed out, if she had sensory
integration problems) or emotionally
damaging if she were deprived of significant peer interactions.
Do what the mother asked and prevent Mia from participating in messy
activities. This approach was supported
by some respondents and could also
be justified by referencing items in the
Code that highlight the importance of
respect for and collaboration with families. These include:
I-2.2—To develop relationships of mutual
trust and create partnerships with the
families we serve.
I-2.5—To respect the dignity and preferences of each family and to make an
effort to learn about its structure, culture,
language, customs, and beliefs to ensure
a culturally consistent environment for all
children and families.
I-2.6—To acknowledge families’ childrearing values and their right to make
decisions for their children.
(cont’d on p. 64)
62
Young Children • March 2012
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P-2.6—As families share information
with us about their children and families,
we shall ensure that families’ input is an
important contribution to the planning
and implementation of the program
Alicia would be justified in honoring
the parent’s request if she determined
that it would not be harmful to Mia,
and that denying the request could be
detrimental to Alicia’s relationship with
the parent or create tension between the
mother and child. This option honors
the mother’s wishes while communicating respect and increasing the likelihood
that their relationship would be productive in the future. In one lively discussion of these alternatives, several people
in a session articulated the view that
respect for the parent and developing a
bond between teacher and family was
as important as meeting the immediate
needs of the child.
Some discussants pointed out that if
Alicia decided to agree to the mother’s
request, it would be important not to
single Mia out in a way that would be
embarrassing to her. Alicia would need
to offer Mia alternatives and might need
to limit access to messy activities for all
of the children so that Mia did not feel
excluded.
There was strong consensus in every
group that discussed the case that,
whatever she decided to do, Alicia
needed to make a concerted effort to
help the mother understand the value of
sensory play. It was pointed out that the
mother might not understand the value
of these kinds of activities and how her
child was benefitting from them. It was
recommended that Alicia cheer Mia’s
creativity and document her learning
adventures in messy sensory art in
order to explain to the mother what
she is doing and why. Alicia could also
share some ways that other families had
handled this situation.
Some people thought that to show
respect for the mother’s wishes, Alicia
could curtail messy play for a while or
redirect Mia to other kinds of activities.
Alicia would engage in a dialogue and
problem-solving process in which she
acknowledged the mother’s feelings and
asked for her suggestions about how to
handle the situation.
One group wanted to remind Alicia
that she is the trained professional.
While she should take the mother’s
request seriously, she should not deny
her own knowledge of child development and honor the mother’s wishes
without trying to help her understand
the program and Mia’s needs. They felt
that a skilled early childhood educator should be able to help the mother
understand the benefits of sensory
activities.
Discussion
A program could prevent this kind
of situation from occurring by providing a family orientation that includes
a demonstration of all of the activities
offered to the children and explanations
of the developmental rationale for each
one. It would include an opportunity
for parents to air their concerns and
discussions of possible problems and
solutions. School policies and a parent
handbook could address the benefit of
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sensory play for children and guidelines
for participation in it.
A strong case could be made for both
alternatives in this situation and either
of the possible resolutions could be justified. Alicia’s decision would ultimately
be based on the success of her efforts
at ethical finesse and her assessment of
the particulars of the situation, including how much Mia was benefitting from
sensory activities, how she might react
to being excluded from them, and how
important it was to build trust with the
mother.
All of the respondents agreed that
the key to a successful resolution
would be Alicia’s good-faith efforts to
work with Mia’s mother. Many of them
advised Alicia to make an effort to listen
thoughtfully, to be sure that she understands the mother’s perspective, and to
make it clear that she wants to reach a
mutually agreed upon decision. Alicia
must assure Mia’s mother that her final
decision will be based on a foundation
of trust and respect. This approach
reflects the field’s growing commitment
to engaging families in their young children’s everyday experiences in early
care and education settings, which
was the principle that guided the 2011
update of the NAEYC Code. One of the
groups that participated in this discussion highlighted the fact that the Code,
including its strengthened emphasis
on building partnerships with families,
helped them to do a better job of considering the parent and involving her in this
process. This is the outcome that those
who worked on this recent update to the
Code hoped to accomplish.
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64
Copyright © 2012 by the National Association for the
Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints
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Young Children • March 2012