Spotlight on Ethics: Code of Ethical Conduct

by Dr. Nancy Freeman

Welcome to Spotlight on Ethics, a new feature on the ABC Child Care Program's website. I'm thrilled to have been asked to discuss ethics here where so many will have a chance to learn how to make the Code of Ethical Conduct a well-used resource in their professional toolbox. I hope you will come to appreciate how the Code helps us think systematically about some of the most difficult questions we encounter in our work – the kind of problems that keep us up at night and make us wish we knew what "the good early childhood educator" would do in a similar situation. My goal is to help you learn about the Code and learn how to use it in your work with young children and their families.

I have found that it's always best to begin discussions of professional ethics by establishing definitions of words we use in specific ways. Creating shared definitions will, hopefully, help to clarify your thinking while helping us avoid confusion.

The first word we need to define is morality, peoples' views of what is good, right, or proper; their beliefs about their obligations; and their ideas about how they should behave. Morality concerns our duties and obligations to one another and is characterized by words such as right, ought, just and fair. When we think about our personal morality we realize it has been shaped by our family, faith, and friends. Morality is a necessary foundation for professional ethics, but it is not always enough to guide our decision-making in the workplace. Your mother didn't help you know what to do when an angry parent wants to know who bit her 2-year-old this afternoon, how to respond to the colleague who regularly takes personal phone calls when she should be focused on supervising the children entrusted to her care, or any number of thorny issues we may encounter in our work.

Values are attributes an individual believes to be intrinsically worthwhile or desirable. Truth, beauty, honesty, justice, and respect for the environment are examples of widely held values. As early childhood educators we do not need to agree about all our personal values, but it is essential that we agree about our field's core values. They are part of our Code of Ethics and provide a foundation for ethical practice.

Ethics is the study of right and wrong, duties and obligations. "Doing ethics" involves us in thinking critically about moral issues, making choices between values, and examining the moral dimensions of relationships. You are NOT "doing ethics" when you instinctively reach down to return the $20 bill that accidentally dropped out of your colleague's pocket when she was buying a snack at the vending machine, but you ARE doing ethics when you deliberate about what to do with the $20 in extra change you got at the grocery store. It's the thinking about the right course of action, balancing responsibilities, and finally deciding what to do that makes decision-making "ethical." We engage in ethical decision-making in our personal lives and also in our work. It is the difficult decisions of the workplace that turn practitioners' attention to their professional code of ethics.

A professional code of ethics is an agreed-upon statement of the field's values and principles. It identifies the issues its members care about and wants new members to care about, communicates with the public what they can expect from its members, and creates for its members a sense of identity.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) identifies the special vulnerability of young children and the tremendous power of the adults who care for them as two unique characteristics of the work of early childhood educators that make practitioners' reliance on agreed-upon ethical standards particularly important. The Association first turned its attention to ethics in 1976, and in 1980 they embarked on a several-years-long collaborative process to solicit input from many stakeholders. It asked them "what would the good early childhood educator do?" when faced with a number of common professional dilemmas. These efforts resulted in the adoption of the first version of NAEYC Code of Professional Ethics in 1989 (Feeney & Kipnis). Since its initial adoption, the Code has been revised three times: in 1992, 1997, and, most recently, in 2005. It is available in English and Spanish. Inexpensive brochures are also available in English and Spanish from the Association.

The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct document addresses those working directly with children and families. It identifies the field's Core Values, beliefs that are essential and non-negotiable; describes our responsibilities to children, families, colleagues, and community and society; spells out ethical responsibilities that are actions we must and must not take; and guides ethical decision-making. It is an essential tool for early childhood educators committed to becoming informed and skilled because it shifts the discussion of ethics from personal values and personal ethics to professional values that have been identified by experienced early childhood educators and are shared by the over 90,000 members of the Association. This is why using our professional code of ethics requires study and reflection. Ethical practice is not instinctive or arbitrary. Ethical practice requires careful thought and consideration that is guided by our field's best thinking. When you become knowledgeable and skilled in applying the Code of Ethical Conduct and when you make decisions by relying on the Code you can know that if you were challenged, that is, if your back were against the wall, the entire 90,000+ members of the Association would be "holding up the wall." You are not alone when your decision-making is guided by the best thinking of this largest of professional organizations that address the needs of those who work with young children.

I hope you will look for our next "Spotlight on Ethics." We will begin to examine particular sections of the Code to help you develop knowledge of this important resource as well as know-how in applying it to your work.

I hope you will help us keep ethics in the spotlight!