Barriers to Ethics of Care: The Perceptions of Early Childhood Teachers

Early childhood teachers are instrumental in creating cognitively, emotionally, and socially supportive environments for their students and an ethic of care is an integral part fostering such an environment. One possible way to redesign schools is to integrate an ethic of care with the tenets of social and emotional learning (SEL). Although SEL practices, tools, and programs align with understandings of the theory of ethic of care, teachers may continue to struggle on a day-to-day basis as they confront barriers in implementing such supports. In this research study, we explore the barriers teachers face in their schools as they work to understand SEL and grapple to foster an ethic of care in their early childhood spaces. The study participants included 1,313 early childhood teachers (preschool through 2nd grade) from the state of Colorado who filled out an online survey. The findings revealed five dominant barriers: (a) a lack of support, (b) minimal time, (c) scarcity of resources and training, (d) large classes, and (e) a lack of fit between SEL programs and the age groups they taught. The study highlights the need to go beyond supporting teachers’ knowledge, skills, and their attitudes in their efforts to foster an ethic of care.