Although the field of early childhood education has strong ethical standards that guide professional practice and inform leadership, ethics often exist as an abstraction. Ethics are moral behaviors that serve to guide action. Behavior is often the focal point of analysis. Ethical standards ideally inform behavior and are used as a tool of reflection for behaviors.
Ethics can serve as a continuous compass shaping our behaviors. Ethics shape how we choose to act, and reflecting on ethics can lend insight into how these ideals influence our actions, interactions, and processing of the world around us. You will interview an early childhood leader to learn more about how he or she has integrated ethics into a dilemma faced within his or her early childhood program. Then, you will analyze his or her response using the NAEYC Code of Ethics and your personal ethical lens.
Conduct the interview, using the Ethics Interview Guide in the Learning Resources.
To complete the Assignment:
Write a 5- to 7-page paper that includes each of the following elements:
• A brief description of the interviewee, the position held, length of time as a leader, and the ethical dilemma described
• An explanation of how ethics informed problem solving related to the ethical dilemma presented, including answers to the following questions:
o Was the ethical code used as a problem-solving strategy in analyzing and responding to the dilemma?
o Was the ethical code used as a reflection tool?
• An explanation of how the behaviors the interviewee engaged in aligned with NAEYC’s Code of Ethics
• An explanation of how the behavior the interviewee engaged in aligned with your own ethical standards, including whether there are aspects of the challenge you would have handled differently
• An explanation of how you would handle opportunities for greater ethical and organizational clarity, as evidenced by this challenge.
Interview
1. Please identify your current position and how long you have been in this position.- Library branch manager and 15 years
2. Describe an ethical dilemma you have experienced within your current role.
3. How did you use ethics to solve problems related to the ethical dilemma presented? Did you use the ethical code as a problem-solving strategy in analyzing and responding to the dilemma? Did you use the ethical code as a reflection tool?
4. As you reflect on this situation, were there things you would have handled differently? Why or why not?
5. What advice would you give to others for ensuring ethics are incorporated into their practice?
