A Caring Curriculum within an Early Childhood Teacher Education Program

Abstract

The process of caring is an integral feature of every facet of the early childhood education profession. As Bronfenbrenner (1979) has noted, the core value of this caring is in the relationships that adults and children develop through trusting, nurturing, and mutually respectful acts. The caring curriculum, as presented in this article, is represented by an ever widening circle of attentive interactions that include self, family, friends, and other people and human events (Noddings, 1992). The need for a caring perspective in early childhood education is based in the conception that no society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 53). Early childhood educators must have experience that promotes the caring ethic as a primary value in their work with children and families. In an effort to attain a caring curriculum for students in early childhood teacher education, the University of South Carolina (USC) Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is utilizing a four-level, constructivist caring curriculum framework. This framework is structured with the purpose of assuring students a variety of experiences that will equip them with dispositions and skills to interact with children and families in nurturing and responsive ways. Students encounter caring on four levels: 1) experiencing caring, 2) practicing caring, 3) initiating and sustaining caring relationships, and 4) continuing reflections and refinements. Each of these levels of caring are interrelated with the others, providing students with intensive involvement in the caring process. Experiencing Caring As Erikson (1982) notes, the psychosocial process of development is continuous, linked to the person's experiences and to their reflections and actions on these experiences. Thus, students best realize their caring potential within an intentionally planned arrangement. The caring curriculum in the University of South Carolina's Early Childhood Teacher Education Program uses three means to promote caring in students: 1) faculty modeling of the caring process, 2) student involvement in courses and professional activities where caring is a substantive activity, and 3) student sharing of personal experiences with giving and receiving care. Faculty members model caring in a variety of ways as they work with students and each other. One way is through the advisement process where faculty work individually with students and respond sensitively to their needs. Informal student visits with faculty are frequent, providing opportunities for faculty to encourage, support, guide, and model the caring process. Formal student orientations, meetings, and counseling activities communicate to students that faculty view their relationship with students seriously. In-class interactions also demonstrate faculty responsiveness to student interests and concerns. Courses often begin with a short needs assessment survey so that professors can tailor assignments, lectures, and class activities to student skills and interests. Class content is structured to encourage student questioning and invites them to add their personal perspectives. Class meetings further personalize the instructional process, engaging students in expressing their ideas related to current issues and topics in early childhood education. This caring effort is also present in advanced programs where faculty collaborate with graduate students on research projects, mentor scholarly approaches to professional study, and engage in social exchanges that enrich everyone's sense of ownership of the program. Student sharing of personal involvement in caring activities occur often in courses and seminars. Faculty use inquiry strategies that invite students to keep personal journals, share these journals with each other, and to then reflect upon their experiences in light of course content. …