Announcement of Articles from Early Childhood Education Experts

We are pleased to announce a new feature to our website. Selected experts in early childhood education will be invited to contribute articles on topics of interest to early childhood education professionals, and the articles will be posted to our website.

Spotlight on Ethics is the topic selected for the first series of articles. The importance of addressing the ethical dimensions of early childhood education was first identified by Lilian Katz and Evangeline Ward in the early 1980's. Their early work started the collaborative process that eventually led to the adoption of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct in 1989. The Code has been revised 3 times, with the most current version published in 2005. The National Education Association (NEA) adopted a code of ethics in 1972, but it has not been revised since its initial adoption and there are no materials to support its use. There are also codes of ethics for elementary school principals, biology teachers, and some others, but the NAEYC Code is the only one specifically addressing early childhood educators. The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) has endorsed the NAEYC Code and it has been adopted by the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).

We are very delighted that Dr. Nancy Freeman has agreed to write the first series of articles for us. As most of you know, Nancy is a noted expert from our state. She is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at USC in Columbia. Nancy is a nationally-known expert on the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. She has co-authored two ethics books published by NAEYC: Ethics and the Early Childhood Educator (Feeney & Freeman, 1999/2005) and Teaching the NAEYC Code of Ethics (Feeney, Freeman, & Moravcik, 2000/2008), has presented on ethics at conferences and meetings throughout the country, and has written articles and book chapters on professionalism and the application of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct.

Nancy has also played a leadership role in revisions of the Code and in the development of its Supplement for Adult Educators (2004) and Supplement for Program Administrators (2006).

We hope you will find the Spotlight on Ethics articles helpful and that you can incorporate the information into your daily decisions! As times goes by we will include other topics and we welcome any suggestions or feedback about topics you would like to see in the future. Suggestions or feedback should be sent to elaine.justice@dss.sc.gov.

Leigh Bolick
Child Care Services Director

Spotlight on Ethics Articles

Article 2: Responsibilities to Children

Article 1: Code of Ethical Conduct