Three ideals contained in the NAEYC and DEC codes of

ethics that are meaningful to me.

“Foremost, is our value of respecting the autonomy of families as they make decisions for their young children. . . .”  (DEC, 2000)

            -This, to me, is so important.  As professionals –even as individuals who are in positions where we have more than the layman’s knowledge of child development and have authority over lives of children, it is so easy to condescend to families and think we know what is best.  I have encountered this attitude myself several times when explaining to medical professionals my informed decision not to vaccinate my children.  Because they thought they knew better the subtle disrespect I had to endure turned me off form the medical profession completely.  We don’t want to alienate families, and we don’t want to fall into believing that our way is the only way.

“Recognize that children are best understood and supported

 in the context of family, culture,* community,

and society. . . “  (NAEYC, 2004)

Having worked with children in a community that is both part and outside of mainstream society – a religious community school- I learned very quickly that the context of a child’s culture is integral to how you educate, communicate and assess them.  To try and take every child as if their experiences are the same as our in own our niche of society is foolish and arrogant and also invalidates the child and his/her family.  The NAEYC has it on the nose – it is impossible to separate a child form their community and culture, even and especially if it is a culture we are not familiar or in agreement with.  That is counterproductive and ultimately harmful.

“I-1.6—To use assessment instruments and strategies

that are appropriate for the children to be assessed, that

are used only for the purposes for which they were designed,

and that have the potential to benefit children.”  (NAEYC)

Studying assessment and special education in my undergraduate program, I learned about the tendency of some professionals to rapidly diagnose certain populations as at risk and challenged because of both a need for the extra funds and because of their prejudices against the population.  I strongly hold to this ethic, that assessment should only be used with the purest of intentions and should be appropriate to the population being assessed.

References

The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved 8/17/2013, from http://www.dec-sped.org/

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved 8/17/2013 from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf