Sharing Resources

I selected the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators; http://www.naecte.org/ .  NAECTE is a membership organization for teacher educators.   The June 2011 newsletter for NAECTE lists as their purpose:

• To promote the professional growth of our membership.
• To discuss educational issues specfific to our membership.
• To advocate for improvements in early childhood teacher education.
• Provide a forum for consideration of issues and concerns of interest to educators of early childhood teacher educators.
• Provide a communication network for early childhood teacher educators.
• Facilitate the interchange of information and ideas about research and practice.
• Use, as vehicles, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, conferences, resolutions, position papers, and other publications.
• Cooperate with other national and international organziations concerned with the study and education of young children.  (National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators,  2011, p. 6).

There is a page on the website entitled, Position Statements, By-Laws, and Policies.  On this page, I located a document entitled Code of Ethical Conduct Supplement for Early Childhood Adult Educators.  It is a joint position statement developed by three organizations, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE), and American Associate Degree Early Childhood Teacher Educators (ACCESS).  The position statement was adopted in 2004 and provides guidance to ethical guidance to teacher educators.  Specific to this week’s material, the document offers guidance on teacher educators’ responsibilities to children and families “because those we train have a direct impact on children’s lives, early childhood adult educators have some additional responsibilities to children and families above and beyond what is set forth in the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct” (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2004, p. 5).  Ideal 1.2 states an early childhood teacher’s ethical responsibility is “To provide a diverse workforce that reflects the linguistic, racial/ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds of the children served in early childhood programs and their communities” (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2004, p. 5).  Teacher educators also have a responsibility to their community and the field.  Ideal 6.2 states a responsibility “to prepare students to work successfully in and to respect the culture of the communities in which they are placed” (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2004, p. 5).  As adjunct faculty in the early department of Central Ohio Technical College, I must be ethically responsible to my students.  Until now, I did not know of this document.  I was glad to have the opportunity to read it!

On a side note, I have had no response from any of the international organizations I contacted last week.  I am disappointed in this as I was really looking forward to learning about early childhood from a global perspective.  Needless to say, I will be using the alternative activity to complete future course activities.  Has anyone else had better luck?

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2004). Code of Ethical Conduct Supplement for Early Childhood Adult Educators. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators: http://www.naecte.org/docs/ethics.pdf

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. (2011). NAECTE Summer 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators: http://www.naecte.org/docs/Eletter%20summer%202011.pdf