Abstract:
This presentation examines the cultural traditions that constrain open reporting about unsafe practices in early childhood settings. It draws on verbal and documented evidence from early childhood student teachers, and is focussed on a forecast for future research in this area. The concept of a blame culture emerged from personal experience in listening to and documenting stories from teaching professionals and early childhood students. The result was a conviction that parts of the early childhood education sector employ teachers who lack the abilities to advocate for children and their families in centre settings; thus depriving children of the right to an emotionally and physically safe environment, and personal wellbeing. Of equal concern is the castigation, from colleagues, of those who do have the courage to report an unsafe incident. In some centre settings, signs of inappropriate and dangerous practice are intentionally hidden. They are hidden from official (ministerial) sources. They are hidden when people from different disciplines attend the centre. They are hidden from parents who are searching for appropriate education and care for their children and, alarmingly, from parents who have children attending the centre. Noteworthy, however, is that unworthy practices are not hidden from student teachers engaged on professional practice placements in early childhood centres. Employing ideologies of social justice related to children's rights, this presentation also takes into consideration the early childhood regulatory framework in New Zealand. It claims that the early childhood sector could benefit from investing in a culture change. It asserts that a culture change would enhance practice by removing the blame culture that epitomises some early childhood settings. In addition, it investigates the possibilities of the establishment of a no-blame culture in early childhood centres. The presentation pilots the creation of a research project in this area in order to ascertain collegial response, and to determine if there is similar unease from others in the early childhood sector and how widespread this might be.